The Answer She Owned

The prosecutor asked for Sera again before the court had finished sorting the morning’s papers.

Imogen watched the clerk bring the witness chair back into place. Sera crossed the floor without looking toward her. She had spent the recess standing by the tall window, hands folded, while the harbor disappeared and reappeared in the fog beyond it. Now she sat with her shoulders square and her gaze on the magistrate.

The prosecutor kept his questions narrow. He did not ask whether Sera had touched the recovered ring. The ruling had shut that door. He asked when she had first told the police that she once picked up a two-stone ring while cleaning Quill’s washstand.

“After they asked me about the rings,” Sera said.

“After the police had found one in Mr. Quill’s coat?”

“Yes.”

“And you had not mentioned the incident before then.”

“No.”

The prosecutor paused, leaving the answer where it was. Sera’s chin lifted a fraction. She knew the pause was meant to make the room supply its own conclusion.

“Why did you leave it out?”

Imogen’s pencil rested above her notebook. The answer had been given before, but now it had a different use. The prosecution wanted the delay to color every other statement Sera had made. Imogen could object to the suggestion forming around it. She could also make Sera look like a witness whose answers needed rescuing.

“I was afraid it would be used against me,” Sera said.

“Because you knew it might be important?”

“Because I knew you’d make it important.”

A murmur moved through the benches. The magistrate glanced up. Sera’s mouth tightened as if she had meant to keep that last part in. She did not take it back.

The prosecutor asked whether she understood that a failure to mention something could affect the court’s view of her truthfulness.

“I understand now.”

“Did you understand it when you first spoke to the police?”

“I understood that anything I said could be put against me. I’ve had practice.”

The prosecutor let that land, then asked whether she had deliberately kept the ring incident secret.

“Yes.”

Imogen felt the word settle harder than the earlier answers. Sera could have said she had forgotten. She could have claimed confusion. Instead, she had given the prosecution what it wanted in the plainest form, and kept her reason attached to it.