Chapter 4
CHAPTER 5 — The Weakest Link
The interrogation room at the state capital was deliberately uninviting.
Fluorescent lights buzzed loudly overhead.
The walls were painted a sterile, depressing shade of gray.
The metal table was bolted directly to the concrete floor.
I stood behind the two-way mirror, watching Arthur shiver in his orange jumpsuit.
He had been sitting there for three hours.
Isolation breaks a suspect down faster than aggressive questioning.
It lets their own guilt chew on their nerves.
Marcus stood beside me, holding a file folder.
"Brooke isn't talking," Marcus noted.
"She demanded a lawyer the second she was processed."
"And Dr. Vance?" I asked.
"He folded in ten minutes. Confessed to forging the medical documents in exchange for a fifty-thousand-dollar cut of your mother's estate sale."
I nodded.
"What about Landry?"
"Captain Landry is arrogant. He thinks his local union rep can get him out of this."
"He refuses to speak to anyone below the Attorney General."
I smiled. A thin, dangerous smile.
"Then let's give him a reason to talk."
"I'm going in with Arthur."
I walked out of the observation room and entered the interrogation box.
The heavy metal door slammed shut behind me.
Arthur jumped, his head snapping up.
His eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he had aged ten years in a single morning.
I sat down opposite him.
I didn't open a file.
I didn't read him his rights again.
I just looked at him.
"Mom is out of surgery," I said quietly.
Arthur swallowed hard.
"Is she... is she going to be okay?"
"Her wrist required three titanium pins."
"She'll likely never write properly with her left hand again."
"The hand she used to grade your math tests, Arthur."
He squeezed his eyes shut, a fresh wave of tears leaking out.
"I didn't want this, Clara. I swear to God I didn't."
"But you allowed it."
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the cold metal table.
"Here is the reality of your situation, Arthur."
"You are currently facing charges of conspiracy to commit elder abuse, accessory to assault with a deadly weapon, and felony fraud."
"That carries a mandatory minimum of fifteen years in state prison."
Arthur gasped, shaking his head frantically.
"No, no, no. I can't go to prison, Clara. I wouldn't survive."
"You should have thought about survival before you let your wife beat an elderly woman."
"But I can offer you a singular opportunity."
He looked at me with desperate, pathetic hope.
"Anything. Tell me what to do."
"Brooke is remaining silent," I explained.
"Captain Landry is refusing to cooperate."
"I need the entire chain of command that allowed Landry to operate this corrupt precinct."
"I want the names of the officers who helped him cover up other crimes."
"I want the financial records of where Brooke was hiding the debt."
"If you testify against your wife, and against Captain Landry, I will recommend the judge drop the accessory charge."
"You'll still serve time for the fraud."
"But it will be three years in a minimum-security facility, not fifteen in maximum."
Arthur stared at the table, his breathing shallow and rapid.
He was weighing his loyalty to a wife who had destroyed his life, against the terrifying reality of a concrete cell.
"If I testify..." he whispered.
"Brooke goes away for a very long time."
"Yes," I confirmed.
"She'll hate me forever."
I let out a harsh, bitter laugh.
"She doesn't love you, Arthur."
"She used you to get to Mom's bank accounts."
"The moment the money dried up, she would have discarded you anyway."
Arthur sat in silence for another agonizing minute.
Then, he slowly nodded.
"Okay."
"I'll tell you everything."
"I have an encrypted hard drive hidden in my office desk."
"It has all of Brooke's communications with Landry."
"Text messages planning how to provoke Mom."
"Emails with Dr. Vance."
"Everything."
I stood up from the table.
"Good."
"Marcus will be in to take your official statement."
As I turned to leave, Arthur called out to me.
"Clara?"
I stopped, my hand on the doorknob.
"Will Mom ever forgive me?"
I didn't look back at him.
"That's between you and her."
"But as your sister?"
"You're dead to me."
I opened the door and walked out into the hallway.
May you like
The weakest link had snapped.
Now, it was time to bring down the precinct.
