The Police Interrogation

The Earthquake Bird

This flow traces the questioning of Lucy Fly as investigators test her account, reveal new evidence, and elicit an invented confession.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Interpreter’s Questions The Interpreter’s Questions from "The Earthquake Bird". The Interpreter’s Questions Establishing Identity Police begin with Lucy’s name, work, and knowledge of Japanese, mistakenly assuming she needs an interpreter.

The Interpreter’s Questions from "The Earthquake Bird". The Interpreter’s Questions Establishing Identity Police begin with Lucy’s name, work, and knowledge of Japanese, mistakenly assuming she needs an interpreter.

The Interpreter’s Questions Establishing Identity Police begin with Lucy’s name, work, and knowledge of Japanese, mistakenly assuming she needs an interpreter. Lucy answers selectively and watches how the officers treat her. Reconstructing the Last Meeting Kameyama asks about the night Lily disappeared and challenges Lucy’s account of the argument and the alleged bundle. Her omissions and evasions increase suspicion without establishing what happened.

The Body in the Shed The Body in the Shed from "The Earthquake Bird". The Body in the Shed A New Discovery Investigators tell Lucy Fly that the torso from Tokyo Bay was not Lily Bridges.

The Body in the Shed from "The Earthquake Bird". The Body in the Shed A New Discovery Investigators tell Lucy Fly that the torso from Tokyo Bay was not Lily Bridges.

The Body in the Shed A New Discovery Investigators tell Lucy Fly that the torso from Tokyo Bay was not Lily Bridges. Lily’s body has instead been found in an unused shed near Lucy’s home. Shock and Collapse The revelation overwhelms Lucy physically. Police use her apparent certainty about the earlier body and her connection to Lily to frame her as an unusually suspicious friend.

The Invented Confession The Invented Confession from "The Earthquake Bird". The Invented Confession A Convenient Narrative Exhausted and overwhelmed, Lucy tells police she killed Lily with stockings.

The Invented Confession from "The Earthquake Bird". The Invented Confession A Convenient Narrative Exhausted and overwhelmed, Lucy tells police she killed Lily with stockings.

The Invented Confession A Convenient Narrative Exhausted and overwhelmed, Lucy tells police she killed Lily with stockings. She supplies an emotionally coherent motive and sequence, although she knows she is inventing the account. Choosing Uncertain Guilt Lucy does not resist the role completely, because she believes her actions helped bring Lily into danger. Her statement gives the officers a story, not a reliable answer to the murder.

The afternoon Lucy Fly is taken from her office

During a later police interview

After police describe Teiji’s departure