BRIE
I’ve been in this room for four hours. I know, because every second is marked by a ticking clock
A bedraggled lawyer called Sinclair is sitting next to me, taking notes. He’s overweight, unshaven, and looks like he hasn’t slept in days. He hasn’t told me where he came from, but I assume he’s one of the free lawyers the court gives out.
“How did you come to be working for the Littles?” Detective Gelman asks.
“I told you. I answered an ad at college.”
“Who did you speak with?”
“Bradley.”
“Did you know Bradley was Grace Frost's husband?”
“No.”
“Were you a fan of Grace Frost’s novel?”
“I’d never read it.”
Gelman leans back in her chair, frowning as if nothing I say makes any sense.
“How long until you developed a crush on Mr. Little?”
This seems like an inappropriate question, but I glance at my lawyer, and his face is blank.
“I don’t know.”
“When do you claim to have slept with Mr. Little? The first time?”
“A couple of weeks after moving in. I don’t know.” I feel them judging me, so I add, “It was after I told him that Grace was sleeping with Jesse.”
“Hold on. Who’s Jesse?”
“Her agent. I forgot his last name.”
Holland turns to Gelman and raises an eyebrow, as if I’d just attempted a particularly embarrassing joke.
“How on earth would you know that?”
I tell them about that night, the ‘party,’ when Grace poisoned me, and I’d seen Jesse and Grace kissing.
“Wait, wait,” Gelman says. “You say Grace poisoned you. Tell us about that.”
My lawyer taps my arm, then scribbles in his notebook. The word CAREFUL is underlined. He quickly turns the page, but I get the point. I don’t want to give them a motive.
“Humor us,” Detective Holland says with a growl.
“It was an accident,” I say.
“Just a second ago, you said poison.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Well.” Gelman flips open her notebook and begins to read. “Mr. Little says that you thought she was trying to kill you. You told him this on multiple occasions.”
When I don’t answer, she keeps talking.
