False Witness

The next day (Tuesday, spring 2021) Callie wakes up in Phil’s apartment, craving drugs. She compares addiction to a gorilla on her back: “She could feel the gorilla’s claws digging into her skin” (160). Callie has promised Leigh to taper off the drugs temporarily—she needs to keep a clear head while they deal with the Andrew/Trevor situation. Callie suspects that Andrew/Trevor’s private eye, Reggie, is already following her, and she’s right.

Callie and Phil get into a fight over breakfast, and Phil punches Callie, causing her to flash back to Buddy, who seemed to be the only person who cared about her when she was a child.

Callie uses Phil’s computer to visit the website of Tenant Automotive Group, the car dealership that Linda and Andrew/Trevor own. Andrew’s bio reads: “An avid reader, Andrew enjoys the fantasy novels of Ursula K. Le Guin and the feminist essays of Mary Wollstonecraft” (155). Callie’s response is skeptical: “He should’ve mentioned Hamlet, because she thinks the rapist doth protest too much” (155). Callie leaves Phil’s apartment with a backpack full of drugs.

Leigh is determined to throw Andrew/Trevor’s case in a discreet way—she can’t look like she’s messing it up on purpose, or she’ll get in trouble with her boss.