False Witness

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. At work, Leigh learns that Andrew/Trevor has had four separate issues with his ankle monitor GPS going off in the last two months. There was no evidence of tampering, but each time, Andrew/Trevor was offline for three to five hours before an officer could get to him to fix the device.

Leigh reviews the evidence in Tammy Karlsen’s case against Andrew/Trevor, including the video in which Tammy is interviewed by a detective after reporting the assault. Tammy was assaulted after she left a bar where she’d met Andrew/Trevor. Although her assailant wore a mask, Tammy recognized his voice as Andrew/Trevor’s. Leigh meets with the senior law firm partner, Cole Bradley, to update him on the case and the strong evidence against her client. Bradley asks her, “Assuming Andrew is guilty of the assaults, how are you going to feel if you get him off scot-free and he does it again? Or he does something even worse the next time?” (190).

Leigh meets with Andrew/Trevor and his private investigator, Reggie, to discuss his case. Andrew/Trevor and Reggie reveal that Tammy was raped and had an abortion when she was 16 years old. Reggie obtained this sensitive and protected information through illegal means. Andrew/Trevor wants Leigh to use it against Tammy on the stand, arguing, “Tammy Karlsen has falsely accused a man of rape before. She murdered her unborn child. Can a jury really believe a word she says?” (192). Andrew/Trevor has clearly anticipated Leigh’s plan to throw his case and has prepared an entire defense strategy, covering everything from Tammy’s past to how much she drank on the night that she met Andrew/Trevor.

Toward the end of the meeting, Andrew/Trevor and Reggie complain about having to wear masks due to COVID. Andrew/Trevor says, “I’ll tell you what it feels like. Like—what’s that kitchen stuff called? Is it plastic film? Cling film? […] Do you ever have that feeling? Like somebody took a roll of cling film from the kitchen drawer and wrapped it around your face six times?” (203). Leigh is horrified; she realizes that Andrew/Trevor somehow saw her wrap the plastic wrap around Buddy’s head and finish off his murder.

Callie is riding the bus and reflecting on Leigh’s reentry into her life: “As much as Callie enjoyed having Leigh back in her life, there was always the downside of seeing her own miserable existence through her sister’s eyes” (205). Callie thinks about Leigh and the dissolution of her marriage:

If Callie had a needle fixation, Leigh had a chaos fixation. Her big sister longed for the calm normalcy of life with Walter and Maddy, but every time she reached a certain level of tranquility, she found a way to blow it up. Over the years, Callie had watched the pattern play out dozens of times (208).

When Callie gets back to Phil’s apartment, Leigh is there. Leigh and Callie go for a walk, and Leigh tells Callie about Andrew/Trevor’s plastic wrap comment. They wonder what exactly Andrew/Trevor knows and how. The sisters walk past the Waleskis’ old home and see it’s for sale. They go inside and discover a hidden panel above the kitchen that leads to a crawlspace. Inside, they find remnants of old recording equipment. They realize that Buddy set up a camera here to record his assaults on Callie. The camera must have recorded Callie and Leigh killing Buddy—and Andrew/Trevor must have found the old tapes while cleaning out the old house to sell it. They have their answer: “Andrew knew everything because he had seen everything” (232).

The next day, Leigh visits Andrew/Trevor’s home and the two have an honest conversation about Buddy. Andrew/Trevor tells Leigh that Callie liked what Buddy did to her; Leigh reminds him that Callie was 12 when it began and Buddy almost 50—there was no way Callie could consent, as a child. Andrew/Trevor doesn’t care, insisting that Callie and Buddy were in love and that Leigh took that away from them. Andrew/Trevor tells Leigh, “I want to be normal. I want to fall in love, to get married, to have kids, to live the kind of life I would’ve had if you hadn’t taken my father away from me” (246). Leigh laughs at Andrew/Trevor’s wish for normalcy and Andrew gets angry, telling her, “Do you know what happens to women who laugh at me?” (246).

Andrew/Trevor puts his cards on the table: He tells Leigh that he knows she’s going to try to use some legal maneuvering to get him convicted and make it look like a mistake. He tells her that he has the tapes of Callie and Leigh killing Buddy. Leigh points out that she can use the tapes of Buddy’s death to ensure Andrew/Trevor is convicted—because Andrew/Trevor cuts his victims on the upper thigh, near the femoral artery. This is the spot where Callie cut Buddy. It’s mutually assured destruction. However, Andrew/Trevor has one more card to play: If Leigh doesn’t do as he wishes and help him, he will leak the tapes of Callie and Buddy on the internet. Leigh knows that Callie is already haunted by the fact that other men have seen Buddy’s “movies” and lives in fear of running into someone who would recognize her from them. To protect her sister, Leigh must make sure Andrew/Trevor is found innocent.

Leigh also talks to her daughter, Maddy, on the phone. Maddy is currently staying with Walter. She tells Leigh that the mother of one of her friends, Ruby, has disappeared.