"I informed the board of my resignation at eight o'clock last night," I say. "Preston retaliated."
Sterling looks at me, his pen pausing on the legal pad. I didn't tell him I resigned. I didn't tell him anything about the confrontation in the library.
"If you resigned," Miller says slowly, "why would you burn the house down?"
"I wouldn't." I hold his gaze. "Which is why you are currently holding an innocent man in custody while the actual arsonist is sitting in a hotel room in Lake Forest, waiting for you to process the insurance claim."
The door to the interrogation room opens before Miller can respond.
A uniform officer steps inside, looking nervous. He leans down and whispers something into Miller’s ear.
Miller’s expression changes. The aggressive, interrogator mask drops, replaced by utter confusion. He looks at me, then down at the file on the table, and then back at the officer.
"Are you sure?" Miller asks the officer.
"Yes, sir. He’s in the captain’s office right now."
Miller stands up. He doesn't say a word to me or Sterling. He just grabs the file, walks out of the room, and the heavy door clicks shut behind him.
Sterling sighs, closing his briefcase. "What did you do, Malcolm?"
"I didn't do anything," I reply, looking at the clock on the wall.
7:42 AM.
"They don't pull the lead detective out of an interrogation unless the narrative just shifted," Sterling points out, leaning back in his chair. "Did you arrange a payoff?"
"No."
I stare at the sweeping second hand on the clock.
I didn't arrange a payoff. I didn't arrange anything. I handed the weapon to Audrey, and I walked into the cage.
For the last six hours, I have been sitting in this room, fighting the violent, irrational urge to rip the metal ring out of the table and tear this precinct apart just to get back to her. The thought of her alone in the city, holding the flash drive, knowing Preston is actively hunting for it, has been a physical agony.
But I trusted her.
I trusted her to understand the leverage. I trusted her to use it.
The door opens again.
Miller walks back in. He doesn't sit down. He doesn't open the file. He looks at me with an expression of deep, profound irritation.
"Take the cuffs off," Miller orders the uniform officer standing behind him.
Sterling sits up straight. "Are you releasing my client?"
"The primary witness just recanted his statement," Miller says through gritted teeth. "Simon Vance walked into the precinct ten minutes ago. He told the captain that he misheard the conversation in the library. He stated that you never threatened the estate, and that the contractor who claimed to see you near the east wing is a known liar who was recently fired from the security division."
The officer unlocks the handcuffs. The heavy steel falls away from my wrists.
I rub the raw skin, my expression completely blank.
Simon broke.
He didn't wait for Preston to fix it. He didn't wait for the lawyers. He walked into a police station and directly contradicted his own father’s narrative, effectively destroying the entire foundation of the arrest warrant.
Audrey didn't just use the leverage. She executed it flawlessly.
