Chapter 14: The Confession
The interrogation room at the Seattle Police Department was aggressively bleak. The gray walls, the hum of the fluorescent lights, and the scarred metal table were designed to make a suspect feel isolated and hopeless.
It was working perfectly on Arthur.
He sat hunched over the table, shivering despite the warmth of the room, his expensive suit wrinkled and stained with nervous sweat. Across from him sat two SPD detectives. Behind the two-way mirror, Harry stood in the dark observation room, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Fifteen million dollars to an offshore account linked to the Macau triads," Detective Miller said, tossing a thick file onto the table. "That carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in federal prison, Arthur. And that's just the wire fraud. Add the embezzlement, and you're looking at a lifetime behind bars."
"I had authorization," Arthur mumbled, staring at his handcuffed wrists. "Harry signed it."
"Harry signed a document allowing you to manage philanthropic grants, not pay off illegal gambling debts," Miller countered sharply. "The FBI has your bank records, your phone logs, and your laptop. You are dead to rights on the financial charges."
Arthur buried his face in his hands, letting out a pathetic, stifled sob. "My life is over."
"It is," the second detective, a seasoned woman named Carter, agreed bluntly. "Unless you give us something we want more than a greedy trust-fund kid."
Arthur looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "What do you mean?"
Carter leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "We have the audio recording of you and Beatrice in your office. We know what happened on those stairs at the Foundation. We know she pushed Chloe."
Arthur swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously. "I... I didn't touch her. I swear to God, I didn't touch Chloe. I was just standing there."
"But you helped cover it up," Miller pointed out. "You deleted the security footage. That makes you an accessory to attempted murder."
"She made me do it!" Arthur cried, his survival instinct finally overriding his loyalty to his wife. "Beatrice told me to wipe the servers. She said if I didn't, the loan sharks would kill me anyway! She pushed Chloe! She wanted the baby dead so I wouldn't lose my inheritance. It was all her idea!"
Behind the glass, Harry felt a sickening mixture of vindication and disgust. Arthur was a coward to his very core.
"We need a full, sworn statement," Carter said smoothly, sliding a legal pad and a pen across the table. "You testify against Beatrice in open court regarding the attempted murder, and we'll talk to the federal prosecutor about a plea deal for the wire fraud. You'll still do time, Arthur. But you might get out before you're eighty."
Arthur didn't hesitate. His hand shook violently as he grabbed the pen, frantically scribbling out a detailed confession that threw his wife completely under the bus.
May you like
Harry didn't stay to watch him finish. He turned away from the glass, walking out of the precinct and stepping into the cool Seattle evening. The air felt cleaner, lighter. The monsters who had haunted his family were locked in cages, and they were already tearing each other apart.
It was time to go back to the hospital. It was time to go back to his girls.
