The Next Call

Detective Reeves called on a Wednesday.

"We have an appointment scheduled for next Thursday," she said. "I wanted to give you a heads up before it happens."

"An appointment with who?"

"With Drake. He's agreed to come in for a voluntary interview."

Liza sat very still. "He agreed?"

"He's being advised by counsel. His attorney called last week and said he'd cooperate with the investigation — provide information about his father's estate, the business records, whatever we need." She paused. "I want you to understand what that means."

"It means he's going to control the narrative."

"It means he's going to come in with a strategy. He's going to give us enough to seem cooperative and not enough to actually help." She paused again. "It also means he thinks he has something to offer. Or something to trade."

The line was quiet.

"What do you think he has?"

"I think he knows we've been looking at the fire. I think he knows that whatever we find has to connect to him — that if his father committed fraud and he knew about it, that's conspiracy." Detective Reeves was quiet. "I also think he's smart enough to know that cooperating gets him more control than refusing."

"When is this interview?"

"Thursday. Ten AM."

"What do you need from me?"

"Everything. Everything you've gathered. The letter, the PI reports, the evidence log. I want to review it before we go in there." She paused. "Liza, I'm going to be straightforward with you. I think Drake is going to try to make a deal. He's going to offer us something — information, cooperation, maybe even a plea to a lesser charge — in exchange for the domestic violence case going away."

"Can he do that?"

"The cases are separate. But he'll try. And he has resources, and he has an attorney who's very good at making problems disappear."

Liza thought about the problems that had disappeared. The restraining orders filed and withdrawn. The incidents that hadn't been reported. The years of silence that had accumulated into the thing she was sitting in now.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to be ready. I want you to understand what's coming. And I want you to know that we're not going to take a deal that puts you at risk — but I need to know what your risk tolerance is. What are you willing to let go to get the fraud case resolved?"

She thought about it for a long time.

"Everything," she said. "He took everything from me for twenty years. I'm not trading what's left for what's already gone."

Detective Reeves was quiet.

"That's what I needed to hear," she said. "I'll call you after the interview."