“So you listen and take notes while Russell drives?” Bailey asked.
A perplexed look from Uma. “Um, Russell doesn’t usually drive.”
Of course not. He has a driver.
“And his driver’s name is?”
“Lee. He dropped us here but then he left, so he never came in the house.”
“But you did, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. And I remember that after we got home, Russell said he couldn’t find his private cell phone, hadn’t seen it all day. I found it for him. He’d accidentally left it in the car.”
“And it’s unusual for him to forget his phone somewhere?” I asked.
“No, not really. He’s got so much going on.” Uma licked her lips nervously. “I just remember that because when he checked the phone, he looked really weird.”
“Weird?”
“Um…upset?” Uma paused. “Shocked, kind of.”
“Did he tell you what was in the message?”
“No. I mean, I know now, but at the time, I didn’t.”
“Who else was around?” I asked.
Uma frowned. “I’m pretty sure Angie was here-”
Angie, assistant to Russell’s wife, Dani. “So Dani must’ve been here,” I said.
“Yeah. I don’t remember seeing her, but she was probably around somewhere. She usually takes Angie with her if she goes out.”
That Russell would have an assistant-or even more than one-made sense, given his workload. But it was hard to fathom what his wife would need one for. I supposed it was something everyone who was anyone had to have-like a Prada purse.
“Anybody else?” Bailey asked.
“Maybe Jeff? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Jeff was here.”
Jeff, yet another of Russell’s assistants. But one step below Uma, the main assistant. This assistant business was complicated.
“Did you see Russell again after he went into his study?” I asked.
Uma looked off to the right. Supposedly an eye shift to the right is a sign of truthfulness. Assuming the person being evaluated doesn’t already know about those “secret” cues.
She slowly replayed the events in her mind. “Yeah. But it was later. He said he had to go out for a little bit and asked me to stay with Dani.”
“Did he tell you where he was going?” Bailey asked.
“No.”
“Did you see him leave?” she asked.
Uma paused for a moment. “I didn’t see him walk out the door, but I didn’t see him around the house for about an hour. Maybe a little more.”
“And when Russell got back, how did he look?” Bailey asked.
“Kind of tired. Depressed.”
“Did he say where he’d been?” I asked.
“No. He just went back in his study and closed the door. I wanted to ask him if I could leave, but he was in a bad mood and sort of out of it, so I decided it’d be better to wait. And I’ve crashed here before, so…”
