Stella’s forehead is sweaty. Her fear creeps through this confining room and attaches to my skin like a sticky goo. Desperate, I scratch and tear at myself.
You can do it, Stella. Don’t lose courage now!
“We had stopped spending time with Chris,” she said, looking at the prosecutor.
“You had?” Jansdotter stares at her for a long time, but Stella won’t give in. “You had an agreement?”
“Something like that.”
Jansdotter hardly listens to this response. She’s already on to her next question.
“You say that you biked home when no one answered the door at Chris’s apartment. What time was it then?”
“I don’t know,” says Stella.
She glances at Michael. It’s so quick that most people in the room likely don’t even notice. But I see it. And I know that this is a critical juncture. If Stella continues to claim that she came home at two o’clock, that’s the end of Adam’s testimony. He can’t sit before the court and contradict Stella. My chest feels like it’s filling with cement.
Michael tugs at the knot of his tie. Sweat is beginning to soak through his shirt. We are about to learn whether he has succeeded in his task.
“You have no idea whatsoever what time it was?” Jansdotter says.
Stella’s lips purse slightly.
“I suppose it was around eleven thirty, midnight. That seems reasonable.”
The cement block in my chest feels a little lighter. Air trickles into my lungs.
“During police questioning you said you came home at two o’clock,” Jansdotter says sharply. “Isn’t that correct?”
Stella looks down.
“I said that to punish Dad.”
Jansdotter seems genuinely surprised.
“Please explain.”
“When I learned that Dad had given me an alibi, I wanted to make him seem like a liar.”
Not an ounce of hesitation in her voice. I breathe calmly, peacefully.
“Are you saying that you lied in a police interrogation to punish your father?”
Stella nods.
“Why would you want to punish your father, Stella?”
“He’s always been so overprotective. Sometimes we have a rough time. I was being childish.”
I’m glad Adam can’t hear this. I knew he wouldn’t get to hear it, otherwise I’m not sure it would have been possible.
“I’m sure you understand that this sounds strange,” Jansdotter says.
“It is what it is.”
“Is it really? Are you sure you’re not lying right now, Stella? To protect your father?”
She looks up and shakes her head firmly.
“No!”
Jansdotter pages through her documents.
“When did you arrive home that night, Stella? When the police questioned you, you said you came home at two o’clock…”
“I was home before midnight. Between eleven thirty and twelve.”
The prosecutor sighs loudly.
“So you and Amina Be?i? had an agreement that neither of you would see Christopher Olsen again,” says the prosecutor. “Have I understood this correctly?”
“It wasn’t an agreement. We just said we wouldn’t.”
The prosecutor moves her eyes as if to suggest that Stella is splitting hairs.
“Why did you say so, then? Why would you stop seeing Christopher?”
“We found out that he was lying. It was as if he was trying to play me and Amina against each other, and we would never allow anyone to do that, ever.”
“Wasn’t it the case that you knew Amina and Christopher had a sexual relationship?”
“They never had a sexual relationship.”
“Did you discover that Christopher was going behind your back, Stella?”
“Absolutely not.”
I recognize that sharp tone in her voice. Her patience is wearing thin.
“Isn’t it true that you found out that your best friend and the man you had just begun a relationship with were spending time together without your knowledge? Surely you couldn’t have believed that everything was strictly platonic between them.”
I hold my breath.
Stella gazes around the room. For a fraction of a second we look at each other. It’s enough.
Does she know that I know too?
“Platonic means…，” Jansdotter begins, but Stella brushes off her explanation.
“I know what platonic means,” she says. “At least I think I know what you’re getting at. Actually, though, Plato never meant that true spiritual love can’t involve physical closeness and sex, but it’s a very common misunderstanding, so don’t feel stupid.”