about it, if I don’t talk about it, then I won’t lie. Won’t that be good enough?”
Gelber: “You know it won’t. You have to believe it, Beth. Now tell me about the night before your accident. That’s where all the lies start.”
Beth: “I don’t remember that night.”
Gelber: “That’s not acceptable. Can’t you feel the pain start?”
Beth: “Yes, I can’t—I remember. I do remember. I was so happy. Rick had called to tell me that he’d rented a chalet for a week. It was only about ten miles from the lodge, and he said that he’d be able to see me the next day. Maybe we’d even go skiing. He laughed and said that I had to take it easy when we were on those slopes together. I was getting too good for him.”
Gelber: “You’re lying again.”
Beth: “No, I’m not. I don’t feel any pain yet. That must mean I’m telling the truth.”
Gelber: “No, it only means that the lies have to hit home first. Stop being defiant. Go on.”
Beth: “I was so excited. I hadn’t seen Rick for over a year. I didn’t want to wait until the next day. I wanted to see him right away. I decided to go to his chalet and surprise him. But I didn’t have a car, and I had to ask Cara to take me.”
Gelber: “Your friend, Cara Sandler.”
Beth: “That’s right. But she wasn’t really my friend. She said she’d take me, but she wouldn’t just drop me off at his chalet. She wanted to come in and meet him. She’d heard about Rick from me, but she was more impressed by the stories about how he was going to be the next senator from South Carolina.”
Gelber: “And you agreed to her terms.”
Beth: “I wanted to see him.”
Gelber: “What time did you get to the chalet?”
Beth: “I’m not sure. A few hours later. Ten or ten thirty.”
Gelber: “Tell me about it. You arrived at the chalet. What did you see?”
Beth: “Rick’s car. He’d bought a new Mercedes the year before and took me for a ride in it.” Pause. “And another car, a black Cadillac with rental plates. I was disappointed. I was hoping Rick would be alone. But I was going to go knock on the door anyway. Cara parked down the road, a little distance from the chalet, and I unlocked my door.”
Gelber: “But you didn’t get out of the car.”
Beth: “The front door opened, and a woman came out. She was older and dressed in a fur coat with a hood. She hurried down the steps and turned to call to the man behind her. ‘Hurry, Rick. I have to get her to the hospital.’ Then Rick came out of the chalet. He was carrying a girl wrapped in a green blanket. She had long black hair, and I think she was Asian. She had her eyes closed, and one bare arm was outside the blanket.”
Gelber: “Dead.”
Beth: “I didn’t say that. I don’t know. If the woman was going to take her to the hospital, then she wasn’t dead. Right?”
Gelber: “But you were afraid she might be.”
Beth: “I didn’t know what to think. I was just confused and scared.”
Gelber: “What happened next?”
Beth: “Rick put the girl in the backseat of the Cadillac. He looked scared, too. He slammed the door of the car and stepped back. He said, ‘You shouldn’t have done it, Mother. Why did you hit her with that statue? It wasn’t her fault.’ She said, ‘No, it was yours. You know the rules. And it was only an accident, but I’ll fix it. She’ll be fine once I get her to the hospital. You just stay out of it.’ He nodded. ‘She’s only a kid. You take good care of her.’ She pulled away from the chalet. ‘Don’t I always take good care of everything? I’ll call you later, Rick.’ Then she started down the road.”
Gelber: “That was when she saw you and Cara parked by the side of the road.”
Beth: “Yes, her headlights were directly on us, and she saw us sitting there. I knew she saw us. She turned her head and stared at us as she passed. She looked … angry.”
Gelber: “It was Rick’s mother. Did she recognize you?”
Beth: “I don’t know. I recognized her from photographs though I’d never met her. Rick said she thought it best for me not to be around the family. People might guess the truth about me, and that would be awkward.”