Chapter 7 - The Interrogation of Vanessa Cole
At 9:00 AM, inside Interrogation Room 3 at the FBI Field Office, Vanessa Cole sat shackled to the heavy metal table.
Her designer silk robe had been replaced by a coarse orange detention jumpsuit. Her hair was unbrushed, her mascara smeared across her pale, hollow cheeks.
Across the table sat Senior Special Agent David Miller and Federal Prosecutor Karen Hayes.
Agent Miller pressed play on the portable monitor.
Displayed in crystal-clear 4K resolution was Video File #14 from Vanessa’s own phone:
Vanessa (on screen, laughing): “Look at her drinking from the floor! Make sure you get the chain in the frame, Liam! When her father’s board sees this, they’ll know she’s completely insane!”
Vanessa shrieked, slamming her cuffed hands against the table, trying to look away.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!” Vanessa wailed, hyperventilating in sheer panic. “Liam forced me! Liam was the one who bought the chain! He told me she stole his money! I was just recording what he told me to record!”
Prosecutor Karen Hayes leaned forward, sliding a certified fifty-page federal indictment across the metal table.
“You recorded forty-two counts of Felony Kidnapping, Aggravated Torture of a Pregnant Person, Depraved Indifference Endangering Human Life, and Attempted Premeditated Capital Murder, Miss Cole,” Prosecutor Hayes informed her with chilling finality. “Your own phone is the state’s primary witness.”
“And Maya?” Vanessa stammered, tears streaming down her face. “Maya was there too!”
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“Maya Vance has provided a full sworn proffer agreement and handed over the physical encryption keys,” Agent Miller replied coldly. “She has been granted state protection. You, on the other hand, are facing Life Imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”
Vanessa collapsed face-first onto the metal table, sobbing in bitter, hopeless ruin.
