"What's her name?"
"The nurse's? Major Astor. Catharine Astor."
"Is she based on any real person?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"An older girl at Pratt. Her name was Cathy Ascot, and she told Dris where he could find me. You see, I was sick in bed for a week or so after we met, and Dris didn't know where I lived or anything."
"And in the book?"
"In the book, Coop can't find her because she's in Japan, of course, on leave, and he makes contact with the major who tells him the whole story. Then he gives her a note to pass on to Jan when she gets back. So she's… she's instrumental in getting them together, you see. In starting their… their romance."
"Is there anything else you can tell us about Cathy Ascot?"
"Yes. She had a broken arm that November. She was always breaking something. She was accident prone."
"Is Major Astor accident prone in the novel?"
"No, but she's always predicting dire happenings and such."
"Are you familiar with the character Peter Colman?"
"I am."
"Is he based on anyone you or your husband knew?"
"He is based on someone we both knew."
"Upon whom is he based?"
"He is based upon a boy who used to live upstairs from us on Myrtle Avenue."
"What was his name?"
"Peter Malcom."
"Your Honor," Willow said, "may I again call the Court's attention to this same device of transposition, where a real name becomes a fictitious name. The letters in both names are almost identical, with the exception of substituting a final n for what would have been a final m."
"Yes, I see that," McIntyre said. "Please go on."
"Wasn't the fictitious Peter Colman an actor before going into the Army?"
"Yes."
"What was Peter Malcom's profession?"
"He was an actor."
"Now you said that you and your husband lived in the same building with this man…"
"Yes. Well, when we got married, Dris moved into my apartment. Peter had always lived upstairs, you see. So Dris knew him, too."
"Was Peter Malcom a homosexual?"
"No, he was not."
"The character Peter Colman in your husband's book is a homosexual. How do you explain this discrepancy?"
"Your Honor," Brackman said, rising, "I don't know what we're doing here, but earlier we allowed Mr. Driscoll to testify concerning the plaintiff's intent, and now it seems we are calling upon Mrs. Driscoll to speculate on her husband's intent. I don't see how she can possibly explain why or how her husband happened to conceive a character…"
"I can tell you exactly how," Ebie said.
"Your Honor, I have made an objection," Brackman said.
"Yes, Mr. Brackman. The objection is overruled."
"Mrs. Driscoll?"
"I was going to say… I was only going to say that Dris was very jealous of Peter and so he… he…" Ebie stopped.
"Yes?"
"He first conceived of the character as just a… a man, you know, and then later when Mr. Danton suggested the business about the major having been killed, well then it… it… he decided to make the character less of a man, a homosexual. Because, as I say, he was very jealous of him."
"Does the physical description of Colman in The Paper Dragon match the description of Malcolm in real life?"
"Exactly."
"In other words, Mrs. Driscoll, is it correct to say that The Paper Dragon is based on your husband's courtship of you, and subsequent marriage to you, and his jealousy of a real person you both knew?"
"Yes, and other things as well. His childhood background and the people he knew and thoughts he's had, and expressions he uses, and mannerisms… and… it's his book. It's him."
"Thank you, Mrs. Driscoll."
"Is that all?" Brackman said.
"That's all," Willow said.
Brackman walked slowly toward the witness stand. Ebie was suddenly frightened. Apprehensively, she watched as he moved closer to her, and then turned to look fleetingly at her husband, who was staring straight ahead, looking through the tall windows at the sky beyond.
"Mrs. Driscoll, when did you decide to reveal this information to the Court?" Brackman asked.
"Last night."
"What prompted your decision?"
"I felt that my husband might lose the case unless I spoke up."
"Did you discuss this with Mr. Willow?"
"No."
"You did not tell him you wanted to testify?"
"Not until just now. When he asked for the recess."
"I see. Mr. Willow, then, knew nothing of your plans until you surprised us all this morning."
"Yes."
"You did discuss this with your husband, however?"
"Yes."
"What did you say to him?"
"That I would tell."
"Tell what?"
"About… the book. Everything."
"And what did he say?"
"He asked me not to."
"Why would he do that?"
"He said the case was closed."
"As indeed it was," Brackman said dryly. "But why would he have objected to you giving testimony that would help him?"
"It was finished in his mind."
"What was finished?"
"The case. It was closed."
"You do feel this testimony will help your husband, don't you?"
"I hope so."
"It certainly won't injure his case, will it?"
"No."
"Then why would he have objected to it?"
"I don't know."
"Perhaps because it makes some of the testimony he gave earlier sound a bit suspect, could that be the reason?"
"Objection, your Honor."
"Sustained."
"Are you aware, Mrs. Driscoll, that your husband earlier claimed 'Peter' was a phallic reference and that the name 'Colman' was a literary pun on iceman, his mother's iceman, are you aware of that?"
"Yes."
"You were sitting in the courtroom when he gave that testimony, so I'm sure you are aware of it."
"I said I was aware of it."
"Yet your testimony seems in direct contradiction to what your husband swore to. You have just told us that there was a real person named Peter Malcom and that your husband based his fictitious character upon this individual."
"Yes."
"Well, Mrs. Driscoll, which of you are we to believe?"
"There was a real Peter Malcom. There is a real Peter Malcom."
"Then why didn't your husband mention him? Surely the existence of a real man who is so similar to the fictitious character would have been a stronger argument for independent creation than a story about an iceman. You do agree with that, don't you, Mrs. Driscoll?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then why would your husband have — I hesitate to use the word, Mrs. Driscoll, because perjury is a serious charge and a charge that can be prosecuted by the district attorney — why would your husband have sounded as though he were trying to, shall I say, mislead this Court? Do you think he simply forgot about Peter Malcom, the man who lived upstairs?"
"No, but…"
"You just testified that he was jealous of him. So how could he have forgotten him?"