Chapter 14 - Derek Talks
Derek’s attorney called Detective Pierce before sunrise.
His client wanted to cooperate.
By noon, Derek sat in an interview room with his hands folded on the table.
He looked older than his forty years.
“I took the picture,” he said.
Pierce’s face showed nothing.
“Of Ellie?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Grant paid me.”
“How much?”
“Two thousand.”
“From Emily’s money?”
Derek nodded.
Pierce leaned back.
“Start at the beginning.”
Derek admitted the old contracting company had used fake invoices to cover debts. He claimed Grant had been the one to begin using Emily’s identity after legitimate credit dried up.
“I told him it was insane,” Derek said.
“But you participated.”
“I did.”
“And Linda?”
Derek looked at the one-way mirror.
“She knew about the money.”
“All of it?”
“She knew enough.”
“What about the insurance policy?”
Derek’s eyes shifted.
Pierce noticed.
“You know something.”
Derek rubbed his face.
“Grant said it was leverage.”
“What does that mean?”
“He said Linda wanted Emily dependent. No money, ruined credit, nowhere to go.”
“That doesn’t explain a life insurance policy.”
“No.”
Pierce waited.
Derek finally whispered, “Grant said if Emily ever figured out the business stuff, they needed protection.”
“Protection from what?”
“From her taking everything down.”
Pierce stared at him.
“What were they planning?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer isn’t good enough.”
“I swear, I don’t know. I never heard them say they would hurt her.”
“But?”
Derek looked at the table.
“But Linda asked me once if accidental deaths were investigated differently if the person already had a history of anxiety.”
Pierce went still.
“When?”
“About a year ago.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her to never ask me something like that again.”
Pierce ended the interview and called Sarah.
He did not call Emily first.
He needed to plan how to tell her.
But Emily was already standing in the hallway outside the interview suite.
She had arrived early for a meeting with the victim advocate.
And through the partly open door, she had heard the last sentence.
Accidental deaths.
History of anxiety.
Linda.
May you like
Emily looked at Pierce.
“Were they waiting for me to die?”
