Chapter 5 - THE CELL AND THE SILKTwo days later, the rain was pouring over the city's central detention center.
I sat behind a thick pane of reinforced glass in the visitor booth. On the other side sat Beatrice Vane.
Her pearls were gone. Her draped silk dress had been replaced by a coarse orange jumpsuit. Her hair, usually sculpted to perfection, was matted and greasy.
"You think you won, don't you?" Beatrice sneered, her voice raspy through the intercom speaker. "Julian's lawyers will have him out on bail by tomorrow. A good legal team will reduce those offshore accounts to 'mismanagement.' And as for the beach? It's your word against his. No judge will convict a Vane on the word of a bitter lawyer."
I picked up the telephone handle, leaning closer to the glass.
"You really don't read the news in here, do you, Beatrice?" I asked softly.
She frowned, a flicker of doubt finally crossing her eyes.
"Julian isn't getting bail," I said. "The prosecutor raised the charges this morning to Attempted First-Degree Homicide with Depraved Indifference. You see, when the paramedics found me on that beach, my body temperature was 94 degrees. Another hour, and I would have died of hypothermia. The tide was rising. He knew that when he left me."
"He didn't mean to—"
"And that's not all," I interrupted. "Chloe Miller made a deal with the District Attorney four hours ago."
Beatrice’s breath caught in her throat. "What?"
"Chloe gave up everything," I smiled faintly. "She gave them the private text messages where Julian explicitly said, 'If she dies on that sand, our problems are solved.' She also turned over the recorded voice memos of you telling Julian to make sure I signed the non-disclosure agreement or 'disappear' before the audit ended."
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Beatrice pressed her hands against the glass, her face pale. "No... no, I was protecting my son!"
"You were protecting your lifestyle," I corrected her. "And now, Pendelton Dynamics is clawing back every asset registered under your name—your townhome, your offshore trusts, your jewels. You are completely penniless, Beatrice."
