Page 112 of Main Event

Not to us directly. Through an attorney, a carefully worded message to Bill stating that his client has information relevant to the federal investigation and is prepared to provide it in exchange for consideration of a cooperation agreement. Bill calls me at noon. I’m at the center, reading the second piece on my phone in my office with the door closed.

“She wants to talk,” he says.

I think about Brandon’s broken nose, injured jaw, the condo floor, the phone that moved four feet while we slept, the car that ran me off the road on Peachtree, and a man who died at Grady with no identification.

“Set it up,” I say. “But Brandon is in the room.”

A breath he doesn’t use. “Andi⁠—”

“He was in the room when she faked her sympathy about Kelly’s adoption delays. He’s in the room for this.”

Bill is quiet for a moment. “I’ll make the call.”

We meet in Bill’s conference room on Friday afternoon.

Marin is already seated when Brandon and I arrive. She and her attorney are on one side of the table, Bill on the other, an empty chair beside him waiting. She looks the way she always does—composed, contained, nothing visible that isn’t meant to be. She’s wearing something dark and professional. Her hands are folded on the table.

She looks at Brandon when we come in.

He looks at her the way he looks at documents he’s already analyzed—thoroughly, without reaction, filing away what he sees.

He sits down. I sit beside him. The room is quiet for a moment.

“My client understands the gravity of her situation,” Marin’s attorney begins. “She’s prepared to be fully cooperative⁠—”

“Let her speak,” Brandon says. Quiet. Not rude. Just precise.

The attorney looks at Marin. Marin nods once.

She looks at Brandon first. Then at me.

“I was twenty-two,” she says. “I’d been in the system since I was nine. I aged out with a GED, four hundred dollars, and a list of resources that mostly didn’t answer the phone.” She holds my gaze. “Evelyn found me six months later. She offered me a job, a salary, and an apartment. She offered me a future that didn’t involve the things I’d been doing to survive.”

I meet her gaze, understanding this story—not necessarily hers, but the core pattern behind it: someone let down by every institution meant to support them, only to discover a door that opens.

“What was the job?” I ask.

“Research. At first. Understanding how systems work—governance structures, funding channels, and regulatory bodies. I was good at it.” Her hands stay flat on the table. “She told me it was consulting work, helping organizations operate more efficiently.”

“When did you find out what it actually was?” I probe.

Marin’s jaw tightens slightly, the first twitch of human emotion breaking through her stoic façade. “Gradually, over the first two years. It wasn’t one revelation. It was a series of small understandings, each a little further than the last, each reached after I’d already committed to the step before.” She looks at her hands. “By the time I understood the full scope, I’d been useful to her long enough to know what leaving would cost.”

“What did it cost to stay?” Brandon asks pointedly.

She looks at him. Something in her face—not the composed surface, but what lies beneath. “Everything that was left.”

“Tell us about the trafficking layer,” I say.

Her attorney shifts. Marin holds up one hand—a small gesture that tells him to stay back.

“The placement agencies,” she says. “The ones in Daniel’s documentation. I knew about them.” She doesn’t flinch. “Not the operational details—I wasn’t in the rooms. But I knew what the agencies were doing, who was authorizing it, and how the documentation was structured to make it look like a legitimate placement. I knew which facilities were in the network and which weren’t.” She pauses. Starts again. “I knew about Deja.”

The room is very still.

“You knew about Deja,” I say through gritted teeth.

“I knew she’d been identified. I knew the center had come up in connection with you, and I knew she was there.” Marin holds my eyes. “I flagged it for Evelyn. I’m the reason Evelyn came to the center in person.”