Miracle Creek

Elizabeth is overwhelmed by Teresa’s announcement and even more by Teresa getting up and coming to sit behind her. Shannon had asked Elizabeth if she had any friends who could come and sit behind her during the trial, to humanize her to the jury, but Elizabeth has no friends.

Once Henry was diagnosed with autism, she spent all her time on Henry: “During the day, she drove Henry to seven types of therapy—speech, occupational, physical, auditory processing (Tomatis), social skills (RDI), vision processing, neurofeedback—and between those, roamed holistic/organic stores for peanut/gluten/casein/dairy/fish/egg-free foods. At night, she prepared Henry’s foods and supplements and went on autism-treatment boards such as HBOTKids and AutismDoctorMoms” (121-122).

Elizabeth spots one of the protestors, Ruth Weiss, and blames her for Henry’s death, thinking that if it weren’t for Ruth “her son would be alive right now. He’d be nine, about to start fourth grade” (122). Indeed, Elizabeth knows that it was “her hatred for Ruth Weiss” that “was to blame for Henry’s death” (123).

After Teresa’s announcement, Shannon cross-examines the arson investigator, who also teaches a seminar on evidence gathering. Shannon has obtained the materials that the investigator used to teach the class, including a chart comparing direct evidence, which he had characterized as “Better, Reliable!!!” versus indirect evidence, which he described as less “reliable, need more than 1 category” (124).