Chapter 16

I had resolved not to lie. I don’t believe in it and besides, if you lie you have to keep track: this cop was taking notes. My preferred habit was to be discreet: to allude rather than say, to euphemize, or simply not to say anything about certain events. This cop, however, was dogged, determined not to get me get away with that. His, “Could you please elaborate on that?” became a regular feature of our exchange. I was half-way through my glass, and the drink had been strong, so the merciful swath of alcohol came as a welcome protection for my nerves.

He finally had me admitting that I had been getting together with Shawn for sex. My face burned when I admitted that, but I held my head up and looked back at the iron features of the cop resolutely. But then, to my astonishment, I discovered that this apparently wasn’t enough. The cop wanted more details.

“Could you please elaborate on that?” he said.

“What?”