The hush in the courtroom was so complete I could hear the jurors in the first row breathing.

"Do you need a break, Brittany?"

Her next words came out in a rush, but they were clear enough.

"No, I have to finally say this. I have to tell the truth." She glanced at Ian with sad, angry eyes, then turned back to me. "Because Ian told me to say that Tommy raped me at the holiday party. He said if I didn't, Tommy would ruin everything. And he promised me if I did that, he and Russell would make sure I always had work. Actually, he promised I'd always have a starring role in Russell's films."

Someone in the gallery gasped, but otherwise the courtroom was completely still. I could feel the tension in the jury box. There was something particularly monstrous about Ian, a former child actor himself-and one who'd made himself their champion, no less-putting a young actress in this hideous position.

"And did he? Did Tommy rape you?"

"No-no, never!"

"Did you see him at the holiday party?"

"Yes, I ran into him when I was heading back to my trailer. He was really drunk, and kind of, you know, teary and sad. He said he knew he wasn't coming back next season and he said he'd miss writing for me. That's all that happened!"

"Now, when Ian said you had to tell that lie, what did you say? Did you agree to do it?"

"No. I was scared, I-I didn't know what to do. I didn't say anything to Ian. I went back to my trailer. But then my mother came and got me. She said she'd heard what happened to me and that I had to tell Chuck-"

"Chuck?"

"Chuck Viener, the head of the studio."

"Did your mother ask you if it was true that Tommy raped you?"

"No. She just grabbed my hand and the next thing I knew, I was standing in Chuck's office and my mom and Ian were there and they were telling Chuck that they wouldn't let me be on the lot with that...rapist."

"Objection, hearsay!"

"Overruled. It's an admission, or at least an adoptive admission," the judge said.

"And what happened next? Did Chuck ask you whether it was true?"

"Objection! Hearsay!"

"It's a question, Your Honor. A question can't be hearsay," I said, annoyed.

"Again, thank you for the evidence lesson, Ms. Knight," the judge said acidly. "Overruled."

Brittany nodded, at first unable to speak. Finally she choked out, "Yes."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't know what to do, I was scared." She looked around the courtroom beseechingly, her sorrowful expression a heart-wrenching portrait of a broken spirit. "I-I did it. I told him it was true." Brittany stopped to catch her breath.

"Brittany, at that time, who was supporting the family-financially, I mean?"

"Um...me."

"And you knew that if you didn't go along with Ian's story, you might lose your job?"

"Yes-I knew I'd lose my job, and I might never work again."

"So you went along with the lie because you felt you had no choice?"

"Yes."

"What happened next?"

"Ian and my mother said that if Tommy was removed from the lot that day, we wouldn't call the police."

"So Mr. Viener never knew that it was a lie?"

Brittany shook her head. "No."

"Was Tommy removed from the lot that day?"

"Yes."

"Did you see Tommy again after he left the lot that day?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Fresh tears rolled down her face, and Brittany had to struggle to get the words out. "Because the day they sent him home, he shot himself. He killed himself. And it's all because I lied!" Brittany covered her face with her hands, and her choking sobs filled the courtroom.

This time an audible gasp went up from the audience. The jury sat absolutely still; they seemed to be barely breathing. The energy in the courtroom had shifted completely as the awful implications of Brittany's testimony sank in. I glanced at the defense table. Ian's shoulders were hunched around his ears and he stared down at the legal pad in front of him. Terry and Wagmeister had their poker faces on, but the law clerks looked shell-shocked.

"Shall we take a break, Brittany?"

After a few moments, she reached for more Kleenex, wiped her eyes, and took a deep, ragged breath. "No, that's okay."

"Is this the first time you've publicly admitted that you falsely accused Tommy of rape?"

"Yes."

"Was Russell Antonovich in on this lie about Tommy?"

"Objection, calls for speculation!"

It might, and Russell wasn't on trial, but I wanted the whole truth of this sordid story to finally be told. Brittany looked at me, a deer in the headlights. She opened her mouth to continue, but the judge spoke first.

"Unless she has personal knowledge, the objection is sustained," the judge said. "But I do see the relevance, Ms. Knight. So ask your next question."

The judge was signaling me to take another tack. I wasn't sure there was one.

Brittany looked deflated. I flashed her a supportive smile as I mentally regrouped.

"Was it after Tommy committed suicide that you began to have...emotional trouble?"

"Yes. I got into drugs and drinking. Anything to make myself forget what a horrible person I am, and what I'd done."

"Brittany, how old were you when all this happened?"

"Thirteen."

"And you're how old now?"

"Twenty-three."

"So you started drinking and drugging when you were thirteen?"

"Y-yes. That's when it started."

"And did you begin to have problems at work as a result of your drug and alcohol problem?"

"Yes. I'd be too hungover to make it to the set. Or I'd get to the set and forget all my lines..." Brittany sighed and hung her head.

"What about after Circle of Friends? Did you continue to have drug and alcohol problems?"

"Yes, it only got worse."

"But you continued to get work, didn't you?"

"Yes, Russell put me in all of his films. Gave me starring roles. But I couldn't get insured, so no one else would cast me."

"And that has continued to the present time?"

"Basically, yes. Until I walked off the set of Russell's new production, so I'm not working at all now. But...yes, he's still the only one who hires me."

"And it's been that way since the day you lied about Tommy raping you, since the day Ian Powers promised you'd always have work, right?"

"Yes."

That was probably as close as I could get. I consulted my notes to give the jury a chance to catch the underlying message: that Russell was the only one who'd hire her because he was in on the deal that promised Brittany job security for life in return for her lie about Tommy. That wrapped up the history of things.

"I'd like to move on to events just before Hayley's...death. Do you remember when was the last time you saw Hayley?"

"I think...you showed me a phone bill, right? It would've been around that time because she called me to ask if we could get together and then we met up at a club."

I brought out Hayley's cell phone bill, and Brittany identified her number as one of the calls.

"So that would've been about three weeks before she was killed, then?"

"I guess so, yes."

"Did you know that Tommy's son, Brian, was involved with Hayley at that time?"

"No, she never told me about him."

"And when you met her at the club, did you tell Hayley about accusing Tommy of rape?"

Brittany's face crumpled and slow tears rolled down her cheeks. "See, that's the thing. My memory's...not so good. A lot of things are still hazy, because I was drunk and stoned almost all the time. I know she started asking me stuff about the past, about what happened with Tommy when I was in Circle of Friends. And so I think I must have. Because, if Hayley knew about it, I was the only one who could have-or would have-told her."

"Objection, speculation," Terry said in a flat voice.

"Well...sustained," the judge said.

I tried again. "Brittany, to the best of your knowledge, who besides yourself knew that the story about Tommy Maher raping you was a lie?"

"For sure?" Brittany asked.

I nodded.

"For sure, only Ian. But possibly also my mom...and Russell."

Terry could have objected to those possibles, but there was no point to it. Mother Caren and Russell were none of her concern.

I paused to let the jury reach the obvious conclusion: that no one but Brittany would have told Hayley, because they'd be implicating themselves in the plot to frame Tommy for rape. But just in case, I made a note to drive the point home in closing argument. "One last area, Brittany. You did not come forward to volunteer this information to the prosecution, did you?"

"No. The last time I spoke to you, I knew Hayley was...missing. But I didn't know she was..." Brittany stopped, unable to say it.

"And a little while after we spoke, you left the country?"

"Yes. I'd been fighting with almost everybody on the set for weeks. I was just sick of...everything, mostly myself. I couldn't stand my life anymore. Valerie, my dresser, my only friend on the set, told me about this rehab center, called-"

"You don't have to tell us the name. It's not in this country, correct?"

"Yes."

"So you checked yourself in?"

"Yes."

"And do they allow you to see newspapers, news programs, things of that nature at the center?"

"No. When you came this weekend and told me about Hayley..." Brittany began to cry softly.

"It was the first you'd heard that she was dead?"

Brittany wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yes."

"When you finish your testimony, will you go back to the center?"

"My therapist is taking me back." She nodded toward the doctor, who was sitting nearby. "I still have another two months to go and I'm not allowed to be out alone."