“I did.”
“How many times?”
“Twice.”
“For what purpose?”
“There was a problem with my brakes. It was supposed to have been fixed the first time. Since it wasn’t, I had to take it back.”
“Was it fixed then?”
“Yes.”
“So you didn’t have to return a third time?”
“No.”
Woodward straightened his shoulders and looked at the jurors. “That first time you brought your car in—when was that?”
She’d already said it twice, but she said it again. “In January.”
“Is it not true that at that time you were acutely aware of your husband’s financial problems?”
“I was aware of those problems long before then.”
“And you’d tried to help, but nothing was working?”
“I was only doing the books. I didn’t expect to be able to turn the business around.”
“Who did you expect to do that?”
“I had faith that Will would. I still do.”
“But last January, whatever he was doing wasn’t working, was it?”
Telling herself to stay calm, Megan took a breath. “No.”
“Last January, you were aware that something had to be done or the business would go under, isn’t that true?”
“Will and I had both been aware of that for a long time.”
“Please answer the question, Mrs. Vandermeer—”
“Objection,” Savannah called. “The witness has already answered the question. Defense counsel is playing with words.”
“A yes or no is all I want,” Woodward said firmly.
“Sustained,” the judge decided.
Woodward rephrased his question. “Is it not true, Mrs. Vandermeer, that at the time you brought your car to be serviced by the defendant you were aware of the precarious state of your husband’s business?”
Megan didn’t see how she could get around that one, so she said with as much dignity as she could, “Yes, that’s true.”
“Were you aware of the insurance policy your husband had taken out to cover ransom demands in a kidnapping?”
“Yes. He told me about it soon after we were married.”
“Since you worked with the books, you knew that three million dollars would be a comfortable boost for the business, did you not?”
