“All right, Mr. Forrester, what is your occupation?”
“I’m a magazine writer.”
“And what brings you to St. Marks?”
“I intend to write an article about this trial for an American magazine.”
“I see. Now, were you acquainted with Paul Manning?”
“Yes, I knew him in college.”
“Tell us how you met him.”
“We were on the same basketball team.”
“Hang on, Jim; I thought you told me you played against him.”
Forrester shook his head and raised the glass from which he was drinking. “I’m sorry, Stone; the booze must be going to my head.”
“Let’s start again; tell the court how you and Mr. Manning first met.”
“We went to college in nearby towns—he to Cornell, I to Syracuse.”
“Spell it out for them; say Cornell University and Syracuse University in New York State.”
“Okay.”
“Go on.”
“We were both members of the same fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and we had an interfraternity basketball league that included both universities.”
“Just say club, and don’t bother with the Greek; this jury isn’t likely to know much about American college fraternities. In fact, just say you played in the same league.”
“Right. Paul Manning and I both played on basketball teams, and we sometimes played against each other.”
“And how well did you know him?”
“Fairly well, but we were not close.”
“Just say fairly well, don’t say you weren’t close. Sir Winston may worm that out of you on cross-examination, though. Don’t lie about it.”
“Right. I knew him fairly well.”
“How would you describe his personality?”
“He was friendly and outgoing. We got along well.”
“Did there then pass a number of years when you did not meet?”
“Yes; I didn’t meet him again until recently.”
“Please tell the court of those circumstances.”
“I was in the Canary Islands, working on a magazine piece, and I met him at the local marina.”
“Not the yacht club?”
“Right, the yacht club; it has its own marina.”