“Mrs. Shafer, how long have you and your husband known each other?”

Lucy Shafer spoke in a gentle but clear voice. “I’ve known Geoffrey for most of my adult life, actually. My father was his commanding officer in the army. I believe I was just fourteen when I first met Geoff. He was nine years older. We married when I was nineteen, after my second year at Cambridge. Once, when I was studying for exams, he showed up at university in full military dress — polished saber, medals, shiny black leather riding boots — right in the middle of the library. I was studying in a sweatshirt or some such awful getup, and I don’t think I’d washed my hair in days. Geoff told me it didn’t matter. He didn’t care a bit about appearances. He said he loved me and always would. I must tell you, he’s kept that promise.”

“Very nice,” Jane Halpern said, seemingly utterly charmed, as if she’d never heard the story before. “And has he remained romantic?”

“Oh, yes, even more so. Scarcely a week goes by when Geoff doesn’t bring me flowers, or perhaps a beautiful Hermès scarf, which I collect. And then there are our ‘ouch’ excursions.”

Jane Halpern wrinkled her nose, and her dark-brown eyes twinkled. “What are ‘ouch’ excursions?” she asked with the exuberant curiosity of a morning TV-show host.

“Geoff will take me to New York, or maybe Paris, or back to London, and I get to shop for clothes until he says ‘ouch.’ He’s very generous, that way.”

“A good husband, then?”

“The best you could imagine. Very hardworking, but not so much that he forgets about his family. The children adore him.”

“Yes, we could tell that from this morning’s film, Mrs. Shafer. Was the party an unusual occasion?”

“No. Geoffrey’s always throwing parties. He’s very joyful, full of life, full of fun and surprises. He’s a sensitive, very creative man.”

I looked from Lucy Shafer to the jury box. She had the jurors in a spell, and they couldn’t take their eyes off her. She was also credible. Even I had the sense that she genuinely loved her husband, and more important, that she believed he loved her.

Jane Halpern milked the testimony for all it was worth. I couldn’t blame her. Lucy Shafer was attractive and seemed nice, kind, and obviously was very much in love with her husband and adored her children, but she didn’t appear to be a fool. Just someone who had found exactly the man she wanted and valued him deeply. That man was Geoffrey Shafer.

It was the indelible image the jurors took away with them at the end of the day.

And it was an amazing lie, spun by a master.

Chapter 93