A witness statement from a neighbor who saw a man matching my description heading toward Devlin’s house.
It’s perfect.Too perfect.Each piece of evidence is real but wrong because I wasn’t there, but someone made damn sure it looks like I was.
I searched my car for any evidence that would prove someone else had been inside of it, but I found nothing.I asked James if he’d seen anything with his cameras, but because I didn’t park near Sera’s house that night, he had nothing.
“You thought you were serving justice,” Vincent continues.“Taking down an abuser the system failed to protect his victim from.I almost admire it, Eddie.The dedication.The moral clarity.”
The trap closes tighter with every word.
“But what I don’t understand is what you were doing with Farley’s hand in the first place.What could he have possibly done to you, this church-going man with a wife and a family who’s served this department right along with you and has been my friend for decades.”
I seal my mouth shut against the words that want to spew out.That Farley lied under oath at Vincent’s trial, where he stood trial for raping Sera.That Farley likely knew exactly what Vincent did to Sera.That I didn’t fault James at all for taking Farley’s hand and gifting it to Sera as an offering.
“Where were you the night of the break-in?”Vincent asks.
The answer will damn me.
My mind races through the truth.I was fucking Sera on her porch.Surrendering to her in ways that would obliterate any defense I could mount.Becoming exactly the kind of compromised, dirty cop you’re accusing me of being, just not for the reasons you think.
Obviously I can’t say that.Can’t even hint at it without exposing her to Vincent’s scrutiny.Without giving him a reason to look harder at Sera Vale, the woman he already destroyed once.
I go with the weakest possible answer.The one guilty men always use.
“Home.Alone.”
Vincent’s smile says everything, and the weight of it crushes down.Every true alibi I have involves Sera or James.Every exculpatory detail leads straight back to the people I’m trying to protect.I’m caught in a net made of my own choices, and pulling at any thread just tightens it.
Vincent leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers.“Here’s what I think happened.You knew Michael Devlin’s girlfriend was suffering, and you decided the law wasn’t enough, especially since she never filed a report.”
He pauses and lets it sink in.
“So you took matters into your own hands.You broke in and left evidence.Planted Farley’s severed hand, which you just happened to have, to make sure Devlin would go down for something, even if we couldn’t get him for the domestic abuse.
“It’s vigilante justice, Eddie.And I get it.I do.These cases… They eat at you, make you question whether the system works, whether all our rules and procedures actually protect anyone.
“So help me understand,” Vincent says, leaning forward.“Help me help you.Just tell me the truth, and we can work something out.Reduced charges against you.A recommendation for leniency.You’ve got years of great service, and that counts for something.”
I calculate my options in the silence, but there’s no good choice.
There’s only the choice that keeps Sera breathing and out of Vincent’s crosshairs.
“You’re right about one thing,” I say slowly, choosing each word like I’m defusing a bomb.“The system failed that woman, whether she reported Devlin or not.”
Vincent hikes up an eyebrow.
“But I didn’t break into Devlin’s house.”I hold his gaze.“I didn’t plant Farley’s hand.I didn’t take Farley’s hand.”
His expression doesn’t change, but something flickers behind his eyes.
“You want to know what I think?”I continue.
“Tell me.”
“I think someone’s playing us both.Someone who wants me off the board.Someone who benefits from the department tearing itself apart.”
Vincent’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly.
I press the advantage.“The framing of me is too clean.Too perfect.Like someone who knows exactly how an investigation works.If it were me who planted the evidence, do you honestly think I’d park on the same street while I did it?Make sure I parked my car so that nearby cameras can catch my license plate?Sheriff, you know me, and I’m not that dumb even on a bad day.”
