Schneider grunted a reluctant concession.
Carter rapped his fingertips on the table. “The shooter didn’t know she was there. Maybe the station chief hid her from the real killers.”
“I’m not interested in your theories,” Schneider said. “We have quite enough to hold you on, Mr. Beck. Sometimes things are simply what they seem: a spy and her handler gone rogue in order to escape to the U.S. together.”
Carter inhaled and exhaled. “You have security footage showing that I wasn’t there.”
“Ah, but that’s the problem, these days, isn’t it? Footage can be manipulated. Photos, videos, audio—they’re not the concrete evidence they used to be. Doctoring techniques being what they are, anything can be tinkered with in a way that’s impossible for even experts to detect. It’s making my job harder and harder.”
“Amazing how inconvenient evidence suddenly is no longer ‘credible.’ Anyway, once Alice testifies that she made up the part about me pulling the trigger, you have nothing on me.”
“Unfortunately, her testimony may be unreliable.”
“How so?”
Schneider brought up a photo on his laptop. “Look at this and tell me what you see. For the record, I am showing Mr. Beck a still from a security camera taken this morning in a street near the public hospital in Montrose, Virginia.”
“That’s me and Alice, as you can see.” Carter fought the instinct to sound defensive.
“And what are you doing in this photo?”
“You really want me to explain?”
“For the purposes of the video recording, Mr. Beck and Ms. Thornton are engaged in an intimate activity.”
Carter gave a hollow laugh. “That’s what you’re calling it? Maybe the photo’s been manipulated.”
“Mr. Beck,” Silvia said, “are you in a relationship with Alice Thornton?”
“No.”
“And yet, this photo…?”
“I only met her a couple of days ago.”
“And in that time, did you begin an intimate relationship with her?”
Carter swallowed, and regretted it as both pairs of eyes across from him briefly dipped focus to his throat. He didn’t answer.
Silvia tapped the tip of a pen on the table. “We have a witness who confirms Ms. Thornton admitted she is in a sexual relationship with you.”
Schneider grinned. “Seems it’s becoming something of a pattern.”
“Mr. Beck, juries are fickle beings,” Silvia continued. “First Ms. Vasnetsova, now Ms. Thornton—this is not painting you to be a stand-up guy. Help me out here.”
“That has nothing to do with Moscow. I didn’t kill the guy, and I didn’t conspire with Nika to do anything. End of story. Even if your version of events was correct—which it isn’t—why would either of us kill him if Nika had already got what she wanted?”
Silvia shrugged. “Maybe he was refusing to give the documents to you? Maybe he was putting conditions on it.”
“If this evidence is so strong, why did you guys let Nika go, when she first arrived in America?”
Silvia’s gaze darted Schneider’s way. “I’m not in a position to disclose that.”
“Because you don’t know, do you? Who gave the order?”
“Again, I’m not in a position to disclose that.”
“Oh, come on,” Carter said, leaning back and linking his fingers behind his head. “Someone pulled the pin, and I can see from your face right now that you still don’t know why. You were sidelined in your own investigation, weren’t you, Deputy Chief Maldonado?” He released his hands. “But he knows.” Carter nodded at Schneider.
