Chapter 16 - Interrogation under Fluorescent Lights
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Across town, inside the stark, windowless interrogation room of the 17th Police Precinct, Ethan Hayes sat strapped to a metal chair, his hands cuffed behind his back.
His expensive designer suit was wrinkled and stained, his hair was disheveled, and the smug arrogance that had defined him for five years was rapidly disintegrating into sheer, unadulterated panic.
Across the metal table sat Detective Miller and Detective Vance, two veteran investigators who had spent the last twelve hours reviewing the video footage recovered from my apartment.
“I’m telling you, it’s a setup!” Ethan yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. “My wife is mentally unstable! She’s suffering from severe pregnancy psychosis! She attacked my associate, Vanessa, and when I tried to restrain her, she slipped on the tile!”
Detective Miller slowly opened a manila folder, pulling out a series of high-resolution photographic stills printed directly from the cloud camera footage.
He slapped the first photo onto the table. It showed Ethan holding a tumbler of whiskey, stepping over me while I curled on the floor in agony.
“Does this look like restraining her, Mr. Hayes?” Miller asked coldly.
He slapped down a second photo. It showed Vanessa smiling while holding my stolen phone.
“Does your associate always smile like she’s watching a comedy special when a pregnant woman is bleeding at her feet?” Detective Vance added, leaning forward on his elbows.
Ethan’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. “I... I was in shock! I didn don't know what to do!”
“You knew enough to order takeout twenty minutes later,” Detective Miller stated, pulling out a printout of Ethan’s credit card transactions from that night. “While your wife was crawling toward a coal chute with a broken tibia, you ordered a thirty-dollar sushi platter.”
Ethan slumped back in his chair, sweat dripping down his forehead. “I want my lawyer.”
“Your corporate firm already dropped you thirty minutes ago, Ethan,” Vance informed him with a dark smile. “And five minutes ago, the District Attorney officially added attempted murder and twenty million dollars worth of insurance fraud to your indictment.”
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Ethan’s face went completely ash-white. “Insurance fraud? What are you talking about?!”
“We found the forged policy, Ethan,” Miller said softly, leaning in close. “And we know who Vincent Moretti is. You tried to play a dangerous game with the wrong man’s daughter. You’re never seeing the outside of a state prison again.”
