Page 104 of Nightshade

Stilwell looked away from them and up at the camera, knowing he was looking at Corum.

“Let’s continue,” Harrington said. “We want to move on to what happened in the trailer. Something’s not adding up for us.”

“What’s that?” Stilwell responded.

He braced himself. These men had had hours to analyze the actions he had taken in a matter of seconds.

“You told us you kicked in the door and entered the trailer,” Harrington said.

“That’s right,” Stilwell said.

“You did not identify yourself or instruct Spivak to freeze, correct?”

“That’s correct. There was no time for that. But I didn’t have to identify myself—he knew who I was.”

“There was almost no light in the trailer. Just the computer screen. Would he have been able to see your face and identify you?”

“Good question. I don’t know. I’m sure additional light came in through the open door But I identified him. I could see his face.”

“You said he had just taken his shirt off and was unbuckling his pants.”

“I said he had no shirt on. I don’t know if he had just taken it off, because I wasn’t there. You may be confusing what I said with what Tash—uh, Natasha—told you.”

“My mistake. His shirt was already off when you entered the trailer. His hands were at his belt buckle, is that what you told us?”

“It’s what I told you and it’s what happened.”

“Why did you fire your weapon if his hands were occupied at his belt?”

Stilwell was prepared for the question, although he knew his answer would break his own rule about not outright lying.

“His gun was tucked into his pants,” he said. “He let go of the belt and was reaching for it when I fired.”

“Tucked into the front or back of his pants?” Harrington asked.

“The front.”

“And he was facing you when this happened?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it odd that he didn’t remove the gun before unbuckling his belt?”

“I don’t know—is it? I can’t speak for what he was thinking, only what I saw.”

“And you told us he was facing you.”

“That’s right.”

“So, facing you, on what side of his body was his gun?”

Stilwell knew that Tash had put the gun on the floor on the left side of Spivak’s body, but he also knew that only one in ten people was left-handed. He went with the percentages.

“His right side, my left,” he said.

Harrington looked down at his notes and something about his face told Stilwell that the percentages were wrong.

“That’s kind of curious,” Harrington finally said.

---