"Yeah, that was then."
"Dolly . . ." Wade said warningly.
"I mean it," she said. "I don't know."
"Okay," he said, "let's go up the station house, okay?"
"No, wait a minute," she said. "Please."
The Q&A took place in Lieutenant Byrnes's office at twenty minutes to ten that night. That was how long it took everyone to assemble. Nellie Brand had to come all the way uptown from her apartment on Everetts. The police stenographer with his video camera had to come all the way uptown, too, from the Headquarters Building on High Street. Pauline Weed's attorney, a man named Henry Kahn, had to come all the way crosstown from his office on Stockton. Brown, Carella, and Byrnes were the only ones who'd just had to walk down the hall from the squadroom to the Interrogation Room.
Nellie was here to find out if this was real meat. It had sounded that way when they'd filled her in on the initial interrogation, but you never knew. She was wearing a lightweight beige suit with a straw-colored handbag and pumps. She still wore her tawny hair in a wedge that gave an impression of speed, someone on the move, windswept, almost airborne. She knew that as assistant DA she'd be asking most of the questions unless she needed Carella or Brown to fill in something specific. She wasn't expecting any problems; Pauline's lawyer looked like a dip - but, again, you never knew. Tall and thin and wearing a wrinkled brown suit that matched his watery eyes, he sat alongside Pauline at the far end of the long table, whispering something Nellie couldn't hear. The stack of steamy letters were on the table in front of her. She had read them when she'd got here. Some letters. From a woman who looked as if butter wouldn't melt.
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Carella started to read Pauline her rights again, but Kahn interrupted with a curt, "We've been through all that already, Detective," to which Carella replied, "Just for the record, Counselor," each of them using the respective titles in a way that made them sound derogative and somewhat dishonorable. Kahn gave his permission with an impatient patting of his hand on the air, and Pauline listened and affirmed that she knew her rights and that she was willing to answer the questions about to be put to her.
Carella looked up at the clock, and - for the videotape and the stenographer - announced that it was now nine-fifty p.m. Nellie began her questioning:
Q: Can you tell me your name, please?
A: Pauline Weed.
Q: Is that your full name?
A: Yes.
Q: What I'm asking you, Miss Weed . . .
A: (from Mr Kahn) She's answered the question.
Q: I don't believe she has. I'm asking if that's the name on her
birth certificate.
A: (from Mr Kahn) All right, go ahead then.
Q: Is that the name on your birth certificate? Pauline Weed?
A: No.
Q: What is the name on your birth certificate?
A: Pauline Byerly Weed.
Q: Then that's your full name.
A: Yes.
Q: Thank you. Where does the Byerly come from?
A: It was my mother's maiden . . .
A: (from Mr Kahn) Excuse me, but what's any of this got to
do with . . .?
Q: I think you'll see where I'm going, Mr Kahn.
A: Well, I wish I knew where you were going now. You drag
my client down here in the middle of the night . . .
Q: Excuse me, Mr Kahn. If your client doesn't want to answer
my questions, all she has to do is . . .
A: Oh, please, spare me First-Year Law, will you please?
Q: Just tell me what you want to do, Mr Kahn. Do you want
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the questions stopped? That's your prerogative, your client
said she understood her rights. Does she wish me to stop?
If not, please let me ask my questions, okay? A: Go ahead, go ahead, it's always the same old story. Q: Miss Weed, are you ever known by the nickname Bye? A: Sometimes.
Q: Wouldn't you say it's more than just sometimes? A: Occasionally. I would say occasionally. Q: Well, do you answer to that name? Bye? A: Yes.
Q: If I called you Bye, you'd answer to it, wouldn't you? A: Yes.
Q: What does that stand for? Bye? A: Byerly.
Q: Which, of course, is your middle name. A: Yes. Q: So it's really a common thing, isn't it? Your being called
Bye, your answering to the name Bye. A: I sometimes use the name Bye. But I'm also called Pauline.
And Byerly, too, sometimes. Q: Do you ever sign your letters with that name? A: Byerly, do you mean? Q: No, I mean Bye. Do you ever sign your letters with the
name Bye? A: Sometimes.
Q: Miss Weed, I show you copies of letters . . . A: (from Mr Kahn) May I see those, please? Q: They're copies of letters Detectives Brown and Carella
recovered from Arthur Schumacher's safe-deposit box. We
don't want the originals handled any more than they've
already been.
A: Let me see them, please. Q: Sure. Don't burn your fingers. (Questioning resumed at 10:05 p.m.) Q: Miss Weed, did you write these letters? A: No.
Q: You did not sign the name Bye to these letters? A: Nobody signed a name to those letters. Q: Yes, excuse me, you're absolutely right. Did you type the
name Bye to these letters?
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A: No, I didn't. I didn't write those letters.
Q: We have a typewriter the detectives recovered at your
shop . . . A: (from Mr Kahn) What typewriter? I don't see any
typewriter. Q: It's on the way to the lab, Mr Kahn. It was recovered at
Bide-A-Wee Pets at 602 Jefferson Avenue and is now being
examined as possible evidence ...
A: Evidence? Of what? %
Q: Evidence in the crime of murder. A: I don't see the connection, Ms Brand, I'm sorry. Even if
Miss Weed did write those letters. . . and I certainly hope
you have proof of that since the letters in themselves would
appear damaging to her reputation . . . Q: That's why the typewriter's at the lab, Mr Kahn. But if
you'll excuse me, we're not trying a case here, we're simply
trying to question a suspect, aren't we? So may I be
permitted to do that? Or, as I suggested earlier, do you
want me to stop the questioning right now? A: (from Miss Weed) I have nothing to hide. Q: Mr Kahn? May I take that as permission to continue? A: Sure, go ahead, it's always the same old story. Q: Miss Weed, when did you first meet Arthur Schumacher? A: January a year ago. Q: That would've been . . . what's this? A: (from Mr Carella) July thirty-first. Q: So that would've been . . . what does that come to?
Eighteen, nineteen months? A: (from Mr Carella) Eighteen. Q: Is that right, Miss Weed? A: A bit more.
Q: How did you happen to meet him? A: His wife bought a dog from me. For a Christmas present.
He came in a month later to ask about a collar. Q: And that was the start of your relationship. A: I didn't have a relationship with him. He was a customer. Q: Nothing more than that. A: Nothing.
Q: Then how do you explain these letters? A: I didn't write those letters.
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Q: You do know, do you not, that under the Miranda
guidelines . . .
A: (from Mr Kahn) Here comes First-Year Law again! Q: We are permitted to take your fingerprints, for
example . . .
A: (from Mr Kahn) I would strenuously object to that. Q: Yes, but it wouldn't change the law. Are you aware of that,
Miss Weed?
A: If you say that's the law . . . Q: I say so.
A: Then I guess it's the law. Q: Are you also aware that whereas a great many people have
already handled the originals of these letters . . . A: I didn't write those letters. Q: Whoever wrote them, the writer's fingerprints may still be
on the originals, are you aware of that? A: I don't know anything about those letters. I don't know
whose fingerprints are on those letters. Q: Have you ever seen the originals of these letters? A: No.