She said, A game?

You should sleep. Get rested for tomorrow.

Let’s play. You take white, she said.

I set up my board quickly and said, e4.

d5, she said.

I took her pawn on d5. She moved her knight out, Nf6.

d4.

She said, Nxd5.

We played, c4 Nb4, then Qa4+ N8c6.

I heard her light a cigarette.

I asked, Are you ready? Is your mother all right? d5.

She said, b5. She is fine. Her assistant takes care of her. They try to avoid us being together so we don’t talk about the trial.

I know, I said. Qxb5.

Then she made a cunning move, took her knight into my territory, Nc2+.

She said, I want it to be over. Do you listen to the news? They call us traumatized victims. What does the world know about the shattered insides of my body? I am no victim. Your turn.

Her knight perplexed me. I said, Kd1.

She liked that, said, Bd7.

I said, The world knows nothing. You will tell them.

I was already on the run. I said, dxc6.

Bg4 double check, she said.

I only had one move, king captures c2. I asked, What is your worst fear about tomorrow?

Edina played, Qd1 check. She said, I am afraid of seeing him. Your move.

Again, I could only see one move, Kc3.

She said, Qxc1+.

You have me, I said. I played, Kb3.

Edina said, Bd1+.

Damn, I said. I resign.

She laughed.

She seemed ready.

—

The blind was down. On the other side of the glass he would be a few metres away from Edina. No filthy uniform. Hair still greasy. Even here. What did she smell? His sweat? Stale tobacco? Did she imagine the stench of alcohol on his breath and the smell of oil from his gun? She told me that sometimes the smells came back to her. She talked about his eyes.

I said, Don’t look.

She said, I know.

I heard Karla begin. She showed Edina photographs of her hometown, her high school, the apartment where she grew up, the Partizan Sports Hall where she sang in school choirs and its small field where she played soccer as a girl. She identified the riverbank where Ivo first kissed her. She identified the mosque before it was blown up. She identified the Ribarski restaurant where Žarko sometimes rented her out. She identified the road to Miljevina, and to her grandmother’s farm. She verified court charts with dates, and timelines of when they were taken to the Foča High School, to Partizan Sports Hall and to Karaman’s house. She identified the Lepa Brena apartments, her childhood home and where she had been locked up waiting for men.

Karla showed Edina the list of witness names and numbers and asked her to verify where and when she had been with her mother, then her daughter. Dark stink. Crowded cars. Punching and forcing her through strange doorways. Memories must have pulled like quicksand but she kept answering in a clear and sure way. Then suddenly, not able to stop herself, she spoke of an incident she had forgotten until that moment in this powerful place of listening.