He nodded. “Well, I'm sure we all, ah, hope for the best here” he said. “She's a fine officer, and her dad was, uh —your dad, too, of course.” He cleared his throat and went on. “The, uh, doctors at Jackson are the best, and I want you to know that if there's anything the department can do, um ...” The man beside him glanced up at Matthews, and then at me, and Matthews nodded. “Sit down” he said.

I hooked a chair back away from the table and sat, with no idea what was going on, but an absolute certainty that I wouldn't like it.

Captain Matthews confirmed my opinion right away. “This is an informal conversation” he said. “Just to, ah, ahem.” The stranger turned his large and brittle eyes on the captain with a somewhat withering expression, and then looked back at me. I represent Alex Doncevic” he said.

The name meant absolutely nothing to me, but he said it with such smooth conviction I was sure it ought to, so I just nodded and said, “Oh, all right.”

“In the first place” he said, I am demanding his immediate release. And in the second ...” He paused here, apparently for dramatic effect and to let his righteous anger build up and spill out into the room. “In the second place” he said, as if he was addressing a crowd in a large hall, “we are considering a lawsuit for punitive damages.”

I blinked. They were all looking at me, and I was clearly an important part of something a little bit dire, but I really had no idea what it might be. “I'm sorry to hear that” I said.

“Look” Matthews said. “We're just having an informal, preliminary conversation here. Because Mr Simeon here, ah —has a very respectable position in the community. Our community” he said.

“And because his client is under arrest for several major felonies” Irene Cappuccio said.

“Illegally under arrest” Simeon said.

“That remains to be seen” Cappuccio told him. She nodded at me. “Mr Morgan can possibly shed some light on that.”

“All right” said Matthews. “Let's not, uh.” He put both hands on the conference table, face down. “The important thing is, just —uh, Irene?”

Cappuccio nodded and looked at me. “Can you tell us exactly what happened yesterday, leading up to the assault on Detective Morgan?”

“You know you would never get away with that in court, Irene” Simeon said. “Assault? Come on.” Cappuccio looked at him with a cold, unblinking stare for what seemed like a very long time, but was probably only about ten seconds. “All right” she said, turning back to me. “Leading up to the time his client stuck a knife in Deborah Morgan? You're not denying he stabbed her, are you?” she said to Simeon.

“Let's hear what happened,” Simeon said with a tight smile.

Cappuccio nodded to me. “Go on” she said. “Start at the beginning.”