The deposition was on a Thursday.
Damien's lawyer was a woman named Caroline Marsh. Fifties. Sharp in the way of someone who had been sharp for thirty years and had stopped performing it because she no longer needed to. She had met with me twice before Thursday. Not to tell me what to say. To make sure I understood what I was walking into.
"They will try to establish the original terms as quickly as possible," she told me in our second meeting. "They want the contract on record. The duration. The allowance. The specific clause about the debt transferring if you left early. They want it all stated plainly and on record before they let you say anything else."
"And then," I said.
"And then they will try to close the door," she said. "Make it look complete. A business arrangement entered i
