“Emmett!”
Abby took him in: icing smeared around his mouth, chin dripping, a glob of ketchup streaking the front of his shirt like evidence of a murder.
He turned and strode out of the kitchen.
“It’s okay, I just— Where are you going?” she called after him.
He didn’t answer, bursting through the front door and climbing into his car. She shouted his name from the doorway as he tore off down the street, desperate to be where prying eyes could not follow.
Appendix D—Interview Transcript
FD:It’s, oh, 1:13 p.m. on Wednesday, November 13, 2024. This is Frank Darrow, principal investigator for Prentice & Darrow LLP on behalf of Monstera BioSciences, at the law offices of Newlin, Farah & Combs in Solana Beach, California. I’m here with—would you introduce yourself for me? Name, age, occupation?
AT:Abigail Truesdale, Esquire. Thirty-six. Attorney.
FD:And your relationship to the participant?
AT:Emmett’s sister.
FD:Thanks for sitting down with me, Ms. Truesdale. I know your time is valuable and you’ve been kind enough to do this pro bono, so I’ll keep this short. The Monstera team has hired my firm to investigate your brother’s alleged crimes, to understand what might’ve caused him to act out as he did.
AT:Act out?
FD:All that nastiness in the news. The cannibalism.
AT:Alleged cannibalism.
FD:You’re right. Thank you. As I was saying, my clients are eager to understand whether hisallegedcannibalism was in any way related to the clinical trial, or whether it might have been something from his past. If there were warning signs, say, of violent behavior or—
AT:Absolutely not. And if that’s the kind of evidence you’re looking for, then—
FD:Not at all. We’re a neutral party here. Just trying to get to the bottom of this.
AT:How neutral can you be? Monstera’s funding this little witch hunt, aren’t they?
FD:We can stop right now if you’re uncomfortable. But to be frank, with your mom refusing to talk to us and your dad not responding, we’re lacking a family perspective here. If there’sanother side to Emmett, one the outside world doesn’t know about, it could make a big difference to our findings.
AT:[Pause.] What exactly do you want to know?
FD:Just a bit more about your brother. The real him. Maybe start at the beginning. Where was he born?
AT:Here. San Diego. December 8, 1994.
FD:You were living in North County, correct? Poway?
AT:Not then. That was after Mom remarried. We were in Old Town at the time.
FD:We?
AT:Me, my mom and dad, and my dad’s son from a previous relationship, Chris. My half brother.
FD:Chris. I didn’t realize there was another. Your parents later divorced, I take it.
AT:When Emmett was two. A couple years after that Mom met her second husband, Hank Stauder. I’m sure you know all about him.
FD:Hank, you said?
AT:He never liked his first name. Said it was silly. He went by his middle name instead.
