Part of her wondered if she was overlooking something obvious or if it was really this easy. Had she truly found the culprit?
She intended to find out soon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Jessie decided it had been long enough.
They had let Elena Martinez stew in interrogation room #3 for half an hour now. The hope was that some time alone in a sterile room would make her start to think, rather than just scream obscenities, which is what she'd done all the way here from the Hollywood metro station.
The delay gave Jessie a little time to think too. She had been having an internal debate about whether she had really needed to use so much force with Martinez on the train platform. Some might have considered it excessive. Certainly some bystanders did.
Then again, this was a triple-murder suspect and making sure she didn’t turn Jessie into her fourth victim was the top priority. That said, she had to acknowledge the truth: while she hadn’t experienced any feelings of bloodlust while taking down Martinez, she hadn’t felt any guilt in the moment either. Like when she’d shot Ash Pierce, she’d made a decision that violence was the simplest solution to the problem at hand. It was only now, with time to look back on it, that the choice felt questionable.
After the takedown in the station, Sam read Martinez her rights while he cuffed her, but she chose to ignore the “right to remain silent” part, as she’d lashed out at both of them, and especially Jessie, during the entire drive back to Central Station. They had decided there was no point in trying to question her under those conditions. But now, as Jessie studied Martinez through the two-way mirror, it looked like the woman had calmed down a bit.
“Do we want to give it a try?” she asked Sam, who was standing beside her in the observation room.
“It’s worth a shot,” he said.
They switched rooms. As soon as the interrogation room door opened, Elena glared at Jessie but said nothing.
“Have you reconsidered talking with us?” Sam asked with surprising equanimity, considering the unflattering names she’d called him in the car.
“I’ll talk toyou,” she said before squinting at Jessie, “but not to that violent bitch.”
“Ms. Hunt can just observe for now,” Sam said, clearly a little surprised at her response. “Just a reminder that you’ve been apprised of your rights and have declined to request a lawyer.”
“I’m not going to say anything that will require the presence of a lawyer, dumbass,” she spat.
“Good to know,” he replied with admirable restraint. “So why did you run, Elena?”
“I don’t know, maybe because it seemed like you two scumbags were on the verge of railroading me.”
“Really?’ Sam said. “Ms. Hunt actually advised you of the risk of not confirming badge numbers and identities. We agreed to let you dry your hair before any questioning. At no point did we ever say anything threatening. Heck, we barely even got to talk before you did your Spider-Man routine down the side of the building.”
Martinez sat quietly with that for a moment. When she replied, she leaned in conspiratorially.
“Look, you can pretend that you were there to ask about the embezzlement charges, but we all know that was just a front for the real reason you came to see me.”
“Oh?” Sam said, trying to hide the excitement he felt at potentially being on the verge of a confession, “what reason was that?”
“You think I’m just going to give everything up without some kind of offer on the table?” she demanded, incredulous.
Sam looked over at Jessie, stunned. She wanted to reply but worried that saying anything might piss Martinez off enough to make her change her mind, so she simply shrugged. Sam turned back to Martinez.
“How can we gauge what kind of offer we can make if we don’t know at least the general universe of what you’re willing to tell us?”
Martinez pondered that for a few seconds.
“What if I was willing to give up names?” She asked. “Wouldn’t that get me some kind of deal, maybe immunity?”
There was no way immunity was on the table, but to his credit, Sam didn’t say so.
“What names?” he asked. “Of other victims?”
Martinez shrugged. “I guess that’s an option, but they’re pretty easy to identify. I figured you’d be more interested in, you know, co-conspirators.”
“There are other people involved?” Sam asked, trying to rein in his shock.
