“Were you summarily dismissed, or were efforts made to help you stop drinking?”

“I wasn’t fired for drinking.”

“Your record states that you were. But I’m interested. Why do you think you were fired?”

“For drawing my service weapon on Leo Marston in the lobby of the Watergate office complex.”

Livy doesn’t bat an eye. “There’s no mention of such an incident in your record. Were there any witnesses to it?”

“My partner, Henry Bookbinder.”

“Will he corroborate your story?”

“He would if he were alive.”

“Any other witnesses?”

“Not that I know by name. Only Marston himself.”

Leo actually smirks from his table. He loves seeing Livy perform this way. This is what he fantasized about before she ran off to Virginia and then Atlanta.

“Let’s return to your dismissal,” she says. “I admired the candor of your earlier testimony. Being honest about things like losing your wife and child must be very hard. I know, because I’m going through a divorce myself.”

Livy wins instant points with the jury for this personal revelation, one with stratospheric value in the Natchez gossip market. Stone stands with a resigned frown on his face, like a soldier being court-martialed, one who knows something bad is coming and that he has no choice but to endure it.

“I wonder,” Livy says with false spontaneity, “were you completely honest about your dismissal?”

Stone just waits.

“Do you know a woman named Catherine Neumaier?”

His face sags.

“Would you like some water?”

Stone’s jaw clenches. He is clearly offended by Livy’s feigned concern. “I did know Catherine Neumaier. She’s dead now. Dead twenty-five years.”

“Did Miss Neumaier have a profession?”

“She was a dancer.”

“A dancer. She had no other profession?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“FBI records indicate that Miss Neumaier was a prostitute.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“How did you meet Miss Neumaier?”

“I was working an organized crime task force. I was assigned to try to compromise her as an informant.”

“Because she had ties to organized crime?”

“She danced in a club owned by Sam Giancana.”

“The Mafia boss of Chicago?”

“Yes.”

“Did Miss Neumaier become your informant?”

“Yes.”

“Was she an alcoholic?”

“No.”

“FBI records indicate that she was. Also that she took drugs.”

Stone sighs. “She had a severe health problem. Lupus. She took pills to help her stay awake for work. Pills to help her sleep.”

“Did you have a sexual relationship with Miss Neumaier?”

His eyes don’t waver. “Yes.”

“Wasn’t it this relationship that caused the breakup of your marriage?”

“Yes.”

“Were you reprimanded for unprofessional conduct because of this sexual relationship with Miss Neumaier?”

“Officially. And only after the fact. Unofficially, Hoover encouraged it from the start.”

“You were encouraged by the director of the FBI to have an affair with a Mob prostitute? I find that difficult to believe.”