Chapter 11 - The Arrest That Was Already PlannedThey Wanted Me to Look Guilty
The police station smelled like disinfectant and cold coffee.
I sat in an interrogation room with dried blood on my sleeves.
My mind kept returning to Leo's scream.
Roman had been taken to the hospital.
My mother had disappeared.
Victor was gone.
And I was being charged with trying to kill the man I had saved.
A detective entered.
He placed photographs on the table.
Me holding a bloody apron.
Me standing over Roman.
A knife near my hand.
"This is your knife?"
I stared.
"No."
He placed another photograph.
The knife was inside my restaurant locker.
My prints were supposedly on it.
"It's not mine."
He sat.
"Your DNA is on the handle."
I almost laughed.
"Of course it is. I work there."
He didn't smile.
"Roman Vale says you were involved."
"What?"
The detective leaned forward.
"Your former manager claims you approached Roman before the attack."
"That's a lie."
"He says you wanted money."
"I saved him."
The detective opened another file.
"He says you had financial problems."
I thought about Leo's medicine.
My rent.
My final paycheck.
Everything David knew about me.
He had built a story around my desperation.
A poor single mother.
A dying billionaire.
A convenient murder.
I suddenly realized.
He didn't need the police to believe I was evil.
He only needed them to believe I was believable.
The door opened.
A lawyer entered.
He placed a card on the table.
"Get out of this room immediately."
"Who are you?"
"Roman Vale's attorney."
I stood.
"Where is Roman?"
"Alive."
My knees nearly gave way.
"What about my son?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
"Not at the hospital."
"What?"
He looked at the camera in the corner.
"We're being watched."
He handed me a piece of paper.
One sentence:
TRUST NO ONE IN THIS BUILDING.
Then he said:
"There's another room beneath this station."
I stared.
"How do you know?"
"Because we built it."
"Who is we?"
He didn't answer.
Then the interrogation-room door burst open.
A man in a police uniform entered.
He grabbed the lawyer.
A struggle began.
The lawyer shouted:
"Run!"
I didn't understand.
Then the officer pulled a gun.
The lawyer slammed the light switch.
Darkness.
A shot.
I ran through the doorway.
Down the hall.
Past officers yelling.
I pushed through a door.
Stairs.
Basement.
I heard footsteps behind me.
Then a hand grabbed mine.
I almost screamed.
Roman.
He pulled me into the darkness.
"You're alive."
"Shot in the shoulder."
"You escaped?"
"No."
He pointed behind us.
"Someone let me out."
"Who?"
Roman looked at the lawyer.
"Someone who believes my father is still running the department."
My stomach twisted.
"The police?"
"Some of them."
Then Roman looked at me.
"Where's Leo?"
"Your lawyer said he's safe."
Roman shook his head.
"I didn't send my lawyer."
"What?"
His face hardened.
"That man wasn't my lawyer."
My blood froze.
"Then who was he?"
Roman's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
"Where?"
He hung up.
"Leo is missing."
I stopped breathing.
"Who has him?"
May you like
Roman looked at the dark hallway.
"David."
