Page 63 of Grave Danger

Chapter 22

Righley’s Saturday-morning soccer game was a family event. Jack watched with pride, but unlike some parents, he accepted that he probably wasn’t witnessing the next Mia Hamm or Abby Wambach. Andie wasn’t an official team coach, but seeing her daughter on the field seemed to bring out the old Junior Olympian in her, and she couldn’t help weighing in from the sidelines.

“Righley, run to open space!”

It was Andie’s answer to youth soccer’s perennial problem: two teams surrounding the ball and kicking each other in the shins as an amoeba-like glob of children inched across the field. All it took was one kid to break from the pack—“Run to open space!”—and a teammate with the presence of mind to pass her the ball, and it was an easy goal. It struck Jack as a metaphor for life.

Somehow, the ball found the back of the net. The fact that it was thewrongnet didn’t preclude the usual reaction.

“Gooooooooooooal!”

The game was over before nine o’clock, followed by a visit to Righley’s favorite pancake house. A weekend off would have been nice, but phase two of Zahra’s case—the dispositive phase—was less than forty-eight hours away. Jack had an 11:00 a.m. meeting with a child psychiatrist at his office.

Dr. Margot Vestry arrived right on time. She was about fifteen years older than the headshot on her website, having reached the age where many women tire of their long hair and opt for a more practical shoulder-length cut. The kitchen felt less like a workplace on a Saturday, and it got the best natural light in the morning, so their meeting began at the table over coffee.

“Have you worked with a psychiatrist before?” the doctor asked.

“Well, my wife and I are seeing a marriage counselor who’s a psychiatrist.”

“I meant, have you ever engaged a psychiatrist as an expert witness in your past cases?”

Jack chuckled with embarrassment.Andie on your mind much, Swyteck?

“Yes, many times,” he said. “Mostly in the sentencing phase of capital cases. Being the victim of child abuse or other trauma is irrelevant to guilt or innocence, but a jury might consider it when deciding whether to recommend the death penalty.”

“So you’ve actually worked withchildpsychiatrists?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that comes as a relief,” she said. “When you told me this was your first proceeding under the Hague Convention, I thought—”

“God help us?”

She smiled. “I wouldn’t go that far. Luckily, this is not my first rodeo.”

Not by a long shot. Harvard Medical School, residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and postgraduate fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital made for an impressive résumé. But her experience in international child abduction cases was the reason Jack had selected her—and the reason Myra Weiss’s Washington law firm had agreed to pay for her.

“Our job isn’t going to be easy,” said Jack. “You should assume that we won’t be able to prove that Farid directed any physical or verbal abuse at Yasmin. Our theory of the case is that Yasmin witnessed the abuse of her biological mother, Ava, and then her adoptive mother, Zahra. If the judge returns Yasmin to her father, it will be more of the same.”

“Abusers rarely change their ways, and if they do, it’s a long-term process. Farid’s pattern will likely continue in future relationships.”

“That’s our argument,” said Jack. “My plan is to put you on the stand to render an expert opinion as to whether witnessing abuse can cause psychological harm to a child.”

“It certainlycan,” she said. “I’ve published a number of peer-reviewed articles on that topic and seen it countless times in my practice. Childrenexposed to violence can develop everything from ADHD to Tourette’s syndrome.”

“That’s what I need you to explain to the judge.”

“And that’s fine, but it only goes so far. I would be a much more compelling witness if I could take it to the next step.”

“Which would be?”

“I would need to conduct my own forensic psychological examination of Yasmin. I would then render a professional opinion as to whether she is already exhibiting symptoms of having witnessed Farid’s abuse of her mothers.”

“I agree that would be ideal. But here’s the problem. If you examine Yasmin, Farid’s lawyer will hire another psychiatrist to examine her. Before we know it, Yasmin isthekey witness in the hearing, which Zahra wants to avoid at all costs.”

“I understand. But does she want to win the case or not?”

Jack had hired quite a practical-minded psychiatrist. “Fair question,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s Zahra’s decision.”