CHAPTER 16

Questions Under Oath

The hearing room was smaller than it looked on television. There were no chandeliers, only ceiling panels and a clock that advanced with an audible click. Mara sat between Nessa and Ruth, holding a folder thin enough to make her feel unprepared.

Inside were her notes, the verified transcript, the messages, and nothing else.

Gideon arrived with two lawyers. He greeted several committee members by name. When he saw Mara, he inclined his head as if they were colleagues attending an inconvenient meeting.

She looked back without returning the fiction.

Celia opened the session by explaining its scope. The committee would review procurement, installation representations, and the handling of known deficiencies. Separate employment matters and any possible criminal allegations belonged to other processes. Public anger would not substitute for evidence.

Mara was relieved to hear it said.

The independent interpreter testified first. She confirmed the substance of Mara's translation and described the single location correction Mara had submitted afterward. Gideon's lawyer asked whether an initial mistake undermined confidence in the whole account.

“No,” the interpreter said. “Corrections should be evaluated for their effect. This correction improved location accuracy and did not change the manufacturer's warning.”

Mara stopped gripping the folder so tightly.

Mr. Zhou followed through the accredited interpreter. He described the three notices, the requested equipment specifications, and his refusal to certify the installed system. Dr. Lin presented photographs from the inspection.

The empty battery compartments appeared on the screen without music.

Then Mara's name was called.

She took the oath, adjusted the microphone, and placed her notes flat on the table. The chair asked her to recount the dinner.

She began with the projected caption.

Not Gideon's laugh. Not the check. The caption.

She explained that she had heard Mr. Zhou describe a postponed test while the English slide indicated completion. She had not initially intended to intervene. Gideon had addressed her, she had disclosed that she spoke Mandarin, and he had proposed the wager.

“Did the payment affect your translation?” the chair asked.

“No.”

“Can you explain why the committee should rely on that answer?”

“Because you have the recording and an independent review. You don't have to rely only on me.”

Ruth lowered her eyes. Mara knew she was smiling.

Gideon's lawyer stood.

“Ms. Ellis, you are not an accredited interpreter.”

“Correct.”

“You are not a qualified engineer.”

“Correct.”

“Yet you have become the public face of allegations concerning a technical project.”

“I can answer questions about what I witnessed.”

He moved to the settlement offer. The chair limited the inquiry, but allowed a question about whether Mara expected further financial benefit from the controversy.

“No.”

“You have received interview offers?”

“Yes.”

“Paid offers?”

“Yes.”

“Have you accepted any?”

“No.”

He glanced at his notes.

“Your mother had an employment dispute involving a Vale subsidiary.”

“Yes.”

“So your family had a preexisting grievance.”

“I learned the company's involvement after the dinner.”

“Your mother never mentioned it?”

“She described the dismissal. I did not know which company the representative worked for.”

“Convenient.”

Celia leaned toward her microphone. “Ask a question.”

Mara waited while the lawyer rearranged a page.

“Did you approach Mr. Vale intending to embarrass him?”

“No. I approached his table to serve dinner.”

The answer produced a small sound from the public seats. The chair asked for silence.

The lawyer asked about her university studies, her incomplete degree, her acoustic project. Mara answered without defending the years she had spent caring for Ruth. He was trying to build an absence into a character flaw. She could feel it and still refuse to help.

When asked whether she had diagnosed the Larch Court pump, she said she had reported observed symptoms and requested qualified assistance. The contractor's inspection was the contractor's evidence.

One question concerned the threatening message. The lawyer asked whether Mara had any evidence connecting it to Gideon. She said no. He asked whether she had nevertheless allowed people to assume he sent it. She answered that she had provided the message to investigators and made no public attribution. The exchange felt dangerous because anger wanted to supply the missing connection. She remembered the screen at dinner, the difference between postponed and completed. A fact did not become less important when it failed to favor her. The chair asked that the distinction be reflected in the minutes. Mara drank water and waited for the next question. From the public seats, she could hear a chair scrape across the floor. She did not turn to see who had moved. Her task was still at the table. She placed both feet flat beneath it, loosened her fingers, and listened to the whole question before beginning an answer. The lawyer repeated part of it, looking for a different response. She gave him the same accurate one, without adding anything to make it sound braver.

The clock clicked. This time, she noticed it without counting how many questions might remain before she could leave.

At last, Celia asked whether Mara wished to clarify anything within the scope of her testimony.

She looked at the folder.

“Yes. I don't know everything that happened inside the company. I don't know what Mr. Vale believed at every stage. I know what was said in that room, and I know the people who live behind those green markers deserved accurate information.”

She stopped there.

No applause followed. The hearing had work left to do.

During the break, Ruth handed her a bottle of water.

“You spoke slowly.”

“I was terrified.”

“Both can happen.”

Across the corridor, Adrian stood with his lawyer. He gave Mara a brief nod before entering the room. His turn would be worse. He had signed the slide revision and received the manufacturer's warnings. Telling the truth now did not make those actions disappear.

Mara returned to her seat.

On the screen, the next exhibit loaded: an email headed DISPLAY CONTINUITY BEFORE FINANCE VOTE.

Gideon leaned toward his lawyer. Beatrice, waiting at the witness table, put on her glasses.