“I did.”
“Do you recall who the opposing counsel was?”
“I believe it was Paul Haverty.”
“Do you recall who his second chair was?”
“No. I mean, it was a young woman; I don’t recall her name.” Stone blinked. “Was that Susan Bean?”
“You remember now?”
“I remember a rather plump, plain young woman who rarely spoke, at least, to me.”
“That was Susan Bean.”
“Really? She’d changed a lot by the time I met her at Brougham’s house.”
“So you were acquainted with Ms. Bean?”
“I was introduced to her, I suppose.”
“On how many occasions did you see her socially after meeting her in court?”
“None.”
“I ask you again, Mr. Barrington: on how many occasions?”
“None whatever.”
“You are an habitué of Elaine’s restaurant, are you not?”
“I’m in there a couple of times a week.”
“For how long?”
“For many years.”
“Have you forgotten that Susan Bean was also an habitué of Elaine’s?”
“I was never aware of that.”
“You have no recollection of seeing her there?”
“None.” Stone began to wonder where this was going.
“On at least one occasion, you picked her up at the bar at Elaine’s, took her home, and had sex with her, did you not?”
Stone was brought up short by the question. He racked his brain for any memory of such an incident. He had, he knew, met women at Elaine’s, and sometimes those meetings had resulted in sex, but that had not happened for a long time, not since he had left the police force. “I have no recollection of such an incident,” Stone said.
“Would it surprise you to learn that Susan Bean remembered such an incident?”
“It certainly would. When was this supposed to have occurred?”
“Do you have any recollection of meeting a woman named Jean Martinelli at Elaine’s?”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Ms. Martinelli also works for the District Attorney’s Office, and she was also an habitué of Elaine’s, often in the company of Susan Bean. She recalls meeting you there on several occasions. She recalls your leaving the restaurant in the company of Ms. Bean, and she recalls being told by Ms. Bean the following day that the two of you had gone to her apartment and had sex. Do you deny that this occurred?”