Chapter 21: The Statement

Jonah sat in a grey interview room on the Saturday morning after the gala, with his hands flat on the table.

He had not slept.

A tape recorder sat between him and the detective with a red light on it.

He looked at the light because it was easier than looking at her.

She was the woman with the notebook from the atrium.

She had put a paper cup of coffee in front of him an hour ago, and he had not touched it.

"Start with the first session," she said.

"The first was nineteen months ago."

"Name."

"She was twenty-three. Her name was..."

He stopped, and said the name.

He had never said it aloud.

He had carried it for nineteen months in a small notebook, with the date beside it.

"Next."

He gave her ten names, in order, with the dates.

He gave her the night and the room for each, and what Hester had said.

He gave her what he had said back.

When he had finished, the detective turned a page and was quiet for a while.

"Mr. Pell, you understand what this is."

"A statement."

"It's a confession to your part in ten deaths."

She turned her pen over.

"My supervisor wants you to know the district attorney will call you a cooperating witness."

She waited.

"It would help you a great deal."

"What does it say, the paper?"

"That you came forward. That you assisted."

"Does it say I ran the sessions?"

She looked at him over her glasses.

"It doesn't have to."

"Then I don't want it," Jonah said. "Write that I was senior staff and I strapped them in."

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