“Okay.”

“What were you doing at Morgan’s that night?”

“I was meeting someone.”

“Charles Talbot?”

“Yes.”

“Now, you were meeting him there to sort of size up whether you wanted to lead him back to your place to engage in sex for hire, correct?”

She hesitated but then nodded.

“Please answer verbally,” the judge told her.

“Yes.”

“Would you say that practice is a safety precaution?”

“Yes.”

“A form of safe sex, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Because in your profession you deal intimately with strangers, so you must protect yourself, correct?”

“Yes, correct.”

“People in your profession call this the ‘freak test,’ don’t they?”

“I’ve never called it that.”

“But it is true that you meet your prospective clients in a public place like Morgan’s to test them out and make sure they aren’t freaks or dangerous before you take them to your apartment. Isn’t that right?”

“You could say that. But the truth is, you can never be sure about somebody.”

“That is true. So when you were at Morgan’s you noticed Mr. Roulet sitting at the same bar as you and Mr. Talbot?”

“Yes, he was there.”

“And had you ever seen him before?”

“Yes, I had seen him there and a few other places before.”

“Had you ever spoken to him?”

“No, we never talked.”

“Had you ever noticed that he wore a Rolex watch?”

“No.”

“Had you ever seen him drive up or away from one of these places in a Porsche or a Range Rover?”

“No, I never saw him driving.”

“But you had seen him before in Morgan’s and other places like it.”

“Yes.”

“But never spoke to him.”

“Correct.”

“Then, what made you approach him?”

“I knew he was in the life, that’s all.”

“What do you mean by ‘in the life’?”

“I mean that the other times I had seen him I could tell he was a player. I’d seen him leave with girls that do what I do.”

“You saw him leave with other prostitutes?”

“Yes.”

“Leave to where?”

“I don’t know, leave the premises. Go to a hotel or the girl’s apartment. I don’t know that part.”

“Well, how do you know they even left the premises? Maybe they went outside for a smoke.”

“I saw them get into his car and drive away.”

“Ms. Campo, you testified a minute ago that you never saw Mr. Roulet’s cars. Now you are saying that you saw him get into his car with a woman who is a prostitute like yourself. Which is it?”

She realized her misstep and froze for a moment until an answer came to her.

“I saw him get into a car but I didn’t know what kind it was.”

“You don’t notice things like that, do you?”

“Not usually.”

“Do you know the difference between a Porsche and a Range Rover?”

“One’s big and one’s small, I guess.”

“What kind of car did you see Mr. Roulet get into?”

“I don’t remember.”

I paused a moment and decided I had milked her contradiction for all it was worth. I looked down at my list of questions and moved on.

“These women that you saw leave with Mr. Roulet, were they ever seen again?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Did they disappear? Did you ever see them again?”

“No, I saw them again.”

“Had they been beaten or injured?”

“Not that I know of but I didn’t ask.”

“But all of this added up to you believing that you were safe as far as approaching and soliciting him, correct?”

“I don’t know about safe. I just knew he was probably there looking for a girl and the man I was with already told me he would be finished by ten because he had to go to his business.”

“Well, can you tell the jury why it was that you did not have to sit with Mr. Roulet like you did with Mr. Talbot and subject him to a freak test?”

Her eyes drifted over to Minton. She was hoping for a rescue but none was coming.

“I just thought he was a known quantity, that’s all.”

“You thought he was safe.”

“I guess so. I don’t know. I needed the money and I made a mistake with him.”

“Did you think he was rich and could solve your need for money?”

“No, nothing like that. I saw him as a potential customer who wasn’t new to the game. Somebody who knew what he was doing.”

“You testified that on prior occasions you had seen Mr. Roulet with other women who practice the same profession as yourself?”

“Yes.”

“They’re prostitutes.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know them?”

“We’re acquaintances.”

“And do you extend professional courtesy to these women in terms of alerting them to customers who might be dangerous or unwilling to pay?”

“Sometimes.”

“And they extend the same professional courtesy to you, right?”

“Yes.”

“How many of them warned you about Louis Roulet?”

“Well, nobody did, or I wouldn’t have gone with him.”

I nodded and looked at my notes for a long moment before continuing. I then led her in more detail through the events at Morgan’s and then introduced the video surveillance tape from the bar’s overhead camera. Minton objected to it being shown to the jury without proper foundation but he was overruled. A television on an industrial stand was wheeled in front of the jury and the video was played. I could tell by the rapt attention they paid to it that they were enamored with the idea of watching a prostitute at work as well as the aspect of seeing the two main players in the case in unguarded moments.

“What did the note say that you passed him?” I asked after the television was pushed to the side of the courtroom.

“I think it just said my name and address.”

“You didn’t quote him a price for the services you would perform?”

“I may have. I don’t remember.”

“What is the going rate that you charge?”

“Usually I get four hundred dollars.”

“Usually? What would make you differentiate from that?”

“Depends on what the client wants.”

I looked over at the jury box and saw that the Bible man’s face was getting tight with discomfort.

“Do you ever engage in bondage and domination with your clients?”

“Sometimes. It’s only role playing, though. Nobody ever gets hurt. It’s just playacting.”

“Are you saying that before the night of March sixth, you have never been hurt by a client?”

“Yes, that’s what I am saying. That man hurt me and tried to kill -”

“Please just answer the question I ask, Ms. Campo. Thank you. Now, let’s go back to Morgan’s. Yes or no, at the moment you gave Mr. Roulet the napkin with your address and price on it, you were confident that he would not be a danger to you and that he was carrying sufficient cash funds to pay the four hundred dollars you demand for your services?”

“Yes.”

“So, why didn’t Mr. Roulet have any cash on him when the police searched him?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t take it.”

“Do you know who did?”

“No.”

I hesitated for a long moment, preferring to punctuate my shifts in questioning streams with an underscore of silence.

“Now, uh, you are still working as a prostitute, correct?” I asked.

Campo hesitated before saying yes.

“And are you happy working as a prostitute?” I asked.

Minton stood.

“Your Honor, what does this have to do with -”

“Sustained,” the judge said.

“Okay,” I said. “Then, isn’t it true, Ms. Campo, that you have told several of your clients that your hope is to leave the business?”

“Yes, that’s true,” she answered without hesitation for the first time in many questions.

“Isn’t it also true that you see the potential financial aspects of this case as a means of getting out of the business?”

“No, that’s not true,” she said forcefully and without hesitation. “That man attacked me. He was going to kill me! That’s what this is about!”

I underlined something on my pad, another punctuation of silence.

“Was Charles Talbot a repeat customer?” I asked.