Page 79 of The Writer

[Morrow] She was my husband’s mistress. It’s okay—you can say it.

[Brown] Hoffman did all this, hurt these people, because you were writing a book that could potentially expose him as a serial killer. He wanted to stop you.

[Morrow] Yes.

[Brown] [Shakes head.] I can’t imagine.

[Morrow] When I… I first suspected David was having an affair, I confided in him, in Geller. He used his resources to confirm it was true.

[Brown] Hoffman found the other woman. Showed you pictures. Proof.

[Morrow] I was devastated. The person I gave my lifeto… When you’re all in and you suddenly find that he’s not, it’s heavy, you know?

[Brown] You wanted to fix things. Most women would be angry.

[Morrow] Oh, I was angry, but…

[Brown] But you loved him.

[Morrow] [Nods.] David was my soulmate. I didn’t want to lose him. When you’ve been with someone as long as we were together, when you’ve worked through some of the worst this world can throw at youtogether, then you get through it, same as any other crisis. I wanted to save us. We were bigger than this.

[Brown] Geller Hoffman, he knew all that. He was your attorney, and you confided in him.

[Morrow] David and I knew Geller for years. He sometimes vacationed with us. We regularly shared meals. We were all very close. At first, I thought he wanted to help. Who knows, maybe in the beginning he did, but that all changed…

[Brown] It changed when Geller Hoffman learned you were writing a book about a teenage girl who had been brutally assaulted and murdered in Central Park in 2018.

[Morrow] Maggie Marshall.

[Brown] Did you know he had a connection to that case?

[Morrow] [Shakes head.] No. He never mentioned her name.

[Brown] You had no suspicions?

[Morrow] Suspicions? No. Why would I? Things with Geller weren’t like that. David and I saw a side of him most people didn’t—he was funny. Sarcastic, but funny. He was an early reader of my books. He helped me get the legal aspects correct. He’d always been there for me. MeandDavid. I had no reason to suspect he was involved in Maggie’s case.

[Brown] Not at first.

[Morrow] Not until I started speaking to the man convicted of her murder.

[Brown] Ruben Lucero.

[Morrow] Yes.

[Brown] What did Lucero tell you?

[Morrow] In one of our early interviews, he said his public defender had accepted a job in the private sector and he felt she had one foot out the door and didn’t provide the defense he deserved. Ruben felt betrayed by the system.

[Brown] Rightfully so. The woman’s focus was no longer on her caseload; she was looking at her cushy new job. But that’s not the worst of it, right?

[Morrow] No. During my research, I learned her new employer was my attorney.

[Brown] Geller Hoffman.

[Morrow] Correct. Now keep in mind, Lucero’s trial, Hoffman hiring Lucero’s attorney, thatall happened four years ago. I had no clue back then. I only learned of that connection recently.

[Brown] When you started researching your book. When you first interviewed Lucero…