“It was in a drawer. It was a knife I used for filleting fish. Not too big but very sharp.”

“Okay. You had this knife with you. And you showed it to Brock Baer?”

“I didn’t show it to him like a photograph. I held it up in the air and told him to let her go. I was not only defending myself but also Pauline.”

“Right,” Decker said. “You held the knife up and told Brock … what?”

“I told him that if he didn’t let her go, I would stab him. And that’s when he tried to take it from me.”

“And you stabbed him?”

“I stabbed Pauline … accidentally. She got between us—Brock and me. He still was trying to take my knife, so I slashed his hand.” She made a sweeping motion. “That’s when Pauline made a grab for the knife.” An errant tear trickled down her cheek. “She started screaming at me. Not at him! At me! I was trying to help her and she’s angry with me? Such ingratitude!”

Decker said, “It’s hard when you’re trying to do the right thing and it backfires.”

“Backfires?”

“You’re trying to help and she’s getting mad at you instead of him.”

“Yes, exactly. She was the one that called me. I was sleeping soundly.”

“When she yelled at you, you became angry at her,” McAdams asked.

“Of course I was angry at her!” she barked. “I didn’t want her to go with that asshole in the first place.”

“And now you were involved in this mess because of her,” Decker said.

“I wasn’t involved. I was just trying to get him away from her. And then she has the nerve to yell at me and tries to take away my protection?”

Decker said, “That would make me mad.”

“Yes, I was mad.”

“And that’s when you stabbed her again?”

Elsie shook her head. “I didn’t stab her. I was protecting myself.”

“I see,” Decker said. “And Pauline kept trying to get the knife?”

“Yes. Stupid fool.”

Decker said, “Elsie, she was stabbed three times.”

“If you say so.”

“Yes, I do, and so does the coroner.” Decker waited. No response. Then he said, “Stabbed, Elsie. Not superficial scratches. Stabbed.”

“She kept getting in the way. That was not my fault.”

“Was Pauline alive when you got her to your house?”

“I’m not sure.” A pause. “Perhaps.”

“If she was, why didn’t you just take her to a hospital?”

She looked upward and sighed. “I knew they’d ask questions about what happened. I knew they wouldn’t understand. I didn’t have time to explain it because of my other plans.” Decker waited. She said, “I promised Bertram to take him home to Germany. It wasn’t his fault that she messed up. But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I knew she wasn’t going to make it.” A pause. “Now what?”