Chapter 8 - The Brother’s Bargain
The hallway outside the interrogation room felt remarkably cold.
Detective Collins was waiting for me.
She held up a small digital recorder.
“We got it all on tape,” she said.
“She just confessed to the motive.”
“Coupled with the mechanic’s statement and the diary, we have an airtight case.”
I let out a breath I felt like I had been holding for two years.
“It’s really over,” I whispered.
“Almost,” Collins corrected.
“We still have to deal with your brother.”
“He is in holding cell block B.”
“His public defender just requested a meeting with the district attorney.”
“Michael says he has more evidence.”
“He wants to trade it for a reduced sentence.”
Anger flared in my chest all over again.
Michael was a coward until the bitter end.
He was always looking for the easy way out.
“Let’s go see what he has,” I said.
We walked down to the basement level of the precinct.
The smell of stale sweat and cheap disinfectant hung heavy in the air.
Michael was sitting behind a thick pane of reinforced glass.
He was wearing an oversized orange jumpsuit.
He looked completely pathetic.
He picked up the phone on his side of the glass.
I picked up the receiver on my side.
“Daniel,” Michael pleaded immediately.
His voice was cracking.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I didn't know about Anna.”
“I swear to God, I didn't know she murdered Anna.”
“Save it, Mike,” I said harshly.
“What do you want?”
Michael swallowed hard.
“I have a flash drive.”
“It’s hidden inside the lining of my leather jacket back at the house.”
“It has audio recordings.”
“I started recording Evelyn a month ago.”
“I was scared she was going to screw me over.”
“The recordings prove she masterminded the whole custody petition.”
“They prove she planned to tamper with Lily’s food.”
He pressed his hand against the glass.
“Tell the DA to give me a deal, Daniel.”
“Tell them I was manipulated.”
“I can give them the final nail in her coffin.”
I stared at the hand pressed against the glass.
It was the same hand that had patted my back at my wife's funeral.
It was the same hand that had signed away my rights to my child.
“The police already have the mechanic, Mike.”
“They have her diary.”
“They have her on tape confessing.”
“They don't need your flash drive to put her away.”
Michael’s eyes widened in sheer panic.
“No, wait.”
“You have to help me, Daniel.”
“I’m your brother!”
“You stopped being my brother the day you decided money was more important than your niece’s life.”
I hung the phone up.
I placed it gently on the metal hook.
Michael was screaming something through the glass.
He was slamming his fists against the reinforced window.
I could not hear him.
I did not want to hear him ever again.
I turned my back on him and walked upstairs into the sunlight.
My family was completely broken.
May you like
But my daughter was safe.
And that was the only thing that mattered.
