As Peter takes the stand for Quentin Brown at my bail revocation hearing, he shoots me a look of apology. He can't lie, but he doesn't want to be the one responsible for landing me in jail. To make this easier on him, I try not to catch his eye. I concentrate instead on Patrick, sitting somewhere behind me, so close I can smell the soap he uses. And on Brown, who seems too big to be pacing this tiny courtroom.
Fisher puts his hand on my leg, which has been jiggling nervously without my even noticing. "Stop,"
he mouths.
"Did you see Nina Frost that afternoon?" Quentin asks.
"No," Peter says. "I didn't see her."
Quentin raises his brows in absolute disbelief. "Did you walk up to her?"
"Well, I was coming down the produce aisle, and her cart happened to be placed along the path I was taking. Her son was sitting in it. He's the one I approached."
"Did Ms. Frost walk up to the cart as well?"
"Yes, but she was moving closer to her son. Not to me."
"Just answer the questions as I ask them."
"Look, she was standing next to me, but she didn't speak to me," Peter says.
"Did you speak to her, Mr. Eberhardt?"
"No." Peter turns to the judge. "I was talking to Nathaniel."
Quentin touches a stack of papers on the prosecutor's table. "You have access to the information in these files?"
"As you know, Mr. Brown, I'm not working on her case. You are."
"But I'm working in her former office, the one right next to yours, aren't I?"
"Yes."
"And," Quentin says, "there aren't any locks on those doors, are there?"
"No."
"So I guess you think she approached you so that she could squeeze the Charmin?"
Peter narrows his eyes. "She wasn't trying to get into trouble, and neither was I."
"And now you're trying to help her out of all that trouble, aren't you?"
Before he can answer, Quentin turns over the witness to the defense. Fisher gets up, buttoning his jacket. I feel a line of sweat break out on my spine. "Who spoke first, Mr. Eberhardt?" he asks.
"Nathaniel."
"What did he say?"
Peter looks at the railing. He knows by now, too, that Nathaniel has gone mute again. "My name."
"If you didn't want Nina to get into trouble, why didn't you just turn around and walk away? "
"Because Nathaniel wanted me. And after . . . after the abuse, he stopped talking for a while. This was the first time I'd heard him speak since all that happened. I couldn't just do an about-face and walk away."
"Was it at that exact moment that Mr. Brown rounded the corner and saw you?"
"Yes."
