Chapter 16
Though her mind was too numb to calculate how long she’d been in the smelly cell, eventually the same two men came for her, letting her know her attorney had arrived.
Kevin’s superior showed up at the same time as Shana was led inside the windowless interrogation room, a room she’d frequented many times in her previous life as a detective with the New South Wales police force.
Only she’d never experienced an interrogation from the other side, the side she was about to be subjected to now. An involuntary shudder ran through her, making her spine stiffen, forcing her to lift her chin in resentful defiance.
Her attorney stood and whisked her to his side.
She gave a silent blessing of gratitude to Dirk, the not-so-bad bastard who’d arranged for the best defense attorney in Sydney to take her case.
The serious-looking middle-aged man whispered to her that all the news stations were showing the video now, after it had been all over the Internet for hours.
Her head pounded with the reality and unreality of her circumstances as she took her seat at the interrogation table.
The room was crowded with officials around the small rectangular table.
“What are the charges?” Her attorney didn’t wait for anyone to invite him to speak.
“No charges,” Kevin said.
“Of course there’ll be charges,” Grisk said. “We’ll start with malicious destruction of public property for shooting out the lights.”
“Cut the crap, Grisk,” Kevin said. He pointed to the man behind him. “This is Chief Investigator Wick with ACLEI. He’s seen the video clip and we have some questions for you and for Chancy Peterson.”
“Never mind the damn video, it’s a smoke screen and I can’t believe you’re—”
“That’ll be enough, Grisk” Wick said. He nodded to two officers. “Escort Mr. Grisk into another interview room.” Wick silenced Grisk with a grim face. “We’ll get to you soon, but if I were you, I’d have an attorney present by the time we do.”
The rest of the interview went by fast, Shana filling in every detail since she’d gotten the call from the governor.
“I don’t understand what Governor Douglas has to do with this,” Kevin said.
“I’ll tell you,” Wick said. “He and I go way back. We served together on a special ops mission in one of the unmentionable desert wars. Good man. I trust him.”
“If we’re through here.” Shana’s attorney stood. She didn’t even know the fellow’s name but she could kiss him for speeding things along.
“We’ll need Shana’s—Ms. George’s testimony for the trial if, or more likely when, we file charges against Grisk and Peterson,” Kevin said.
“Since Ms. George lives in another country now, that would pose an undue hardship.”
“Don’t force me to file the malicious destruction charge,” Kevin said. That surprised her and shut her attorney up quick. Her attorney looked at her for direction.
“I’ll cooperate. But I need to be allowed to go home. I’ll come back for the trial when I’m needed.” She wanted to ask about Dane, whether they planned to charge him or use him as a witness.
But Kevin’s phone rang before she could ask. He looked at it and his face pinched up as if it were a skunk calling.
“It’s the mayor’s office.” Kevin took the call, hardly speaking during the short one-sided conversation. When the call ended, he said, “The mayor is on his way over. We’re to hold you until he gets here for a few words.”
“I insist you allow my client to leave now if you’re not arresting her.”
“Suit yourself, but if she doesn’t cooperate fully, we’ll be going after her boyfriend. We’d like to know how he found Chancy Peterson and set up that meeting with him if you weren’t in league with him.”
“I told you how we found Chancy—”
Her attorney put a hand of restraint on her shoulder before she said anymore, and Kevin waved her off as if he were swatting a fly.
The door flew open, bouncing off the adjacent wall. Without preamble or introduction, the mayor began spewing his outrage.
“Do you know the news stations are questioning the police force, accusing you of a cover-up and calling this pension-fund fiasco the New South Wales Police-Gate?” His voice rose to a pitch that convinced everyone who was listening that his question was rhetorical.
“I want action on this and I want it fast. We need to make arrests, especially of anyone we can outside the NSW police force.” The mayor looked directly at Shana.
“We can’t have the people of this city wondering how far the corruption and lies go, can’t have them questioning the police force. ”
“Mr. Mayor, we have Chancy Peterson as the accomplice outside the police force,” Wick said.
“The thing is, we don’t have him, do we? Where the hell is he? I don’t see him.”
“He’s in interview room number three cooling his heels,” Kevin said. Shana gave a silent cheer as Kevin didn’t bother to hide his smug tone.
“Still, someone has to pay. We need our pound of flesh—flesh from outside the force.” The mayor paused as if thinking, but Shana knew he’d rehearsed it. Had an insight that he was made of the same cloth as Grisk.
“How about her boyfriend? The man in the video—Dane Blaise. He shot Peterson, damn it, that has to be arrestable.”
“I would go along with that,” Wick said.
“You’re right, Mr. Mayor, we’ll look into pressing charges.” Shana knew Kevin was placating his superior, Wick, and the mayor.
“See that you do. Immediately.” The mayor stormed out, escorted by the officer who’d accompanied him.
After the mayor left, the negotiation proceeded with less hysteria, especially after Kevin reminded the group that Dane shot Peterson in self defense, unlike when Grisk shot Dane who hadn’t been armed at the time.
Shana’s attorney was slick enough, as befitting his connection to the renowned Tremaine family, to negotiate her release by taking the offensive and agreeing not to press charges against the department for the machinations of Grisk in framing her.
“You’ll need to cooperate fully,” the commissioner spoke in his grave voice making it sound like she was a a recalcitrant child.
Shana was finally free to go and Kevin walked through the main corridors with her and her attorney. They stopped in the lobby. Words of grateful thanks hovered on her tongue.
“How long do you think your boyfriend will be in the hospital?” She didn’t like Kevin’s tone.
“He’s my fiancé. And you can’t arrest him. We all agreed. Besides, the US Embassy is protecting him.”
“Short of appointing him a diplomat and giving him retroactive immunity, there’s nothing they can do. We agreed not to arrest you. Your boyfriend is still in big trouble. Harassment, assault—”
“He made your case for you. You defended him in there.” She waved her hand toward the elevator where they’d come from.
Kevin was silent for a few beats.
“He’s a difficult smartass and fought me every step of the way. The mayor wants a pound of flesh. Wants at least one outsider to blame. It’s either him or I arrest you for that stunt you pulled shooting out the lights.”
She held out her wrists. “Cuff me now.”
He scoffed and swore and her lawyer dragged her from the lobby and out to the street.
Once outside, she turned to her attorney and said, “Please drive me to the hospital.”
*****
Dane was surprised when Shana’s mother was his first visitor after the doctors finished stitching and bandaging his leg.
Joe told them to let her in, but Dane knew right away from the look on Tillie’s face that this wasn’t a visit out of concern for his health. She was cold and she had fear-born anger radiating from her and aimed at him.
She told him that she was a tough old broad, that she’d lost her husband and dealt with it, had lost her brother and dealt with it. She’d forbidden her sons to go into law enforcement and they’d complied with her wishes. But she hadn’t been as successful with her daughter.
“Shana was the wild one. The wild card like her father, the worst of him and the worst of me too in one uncontrollable package, heaven help us all. But she’s my little girl all the same.”
“Shana’s the best of the best,” he said.
He didn’t know what else to say to her mother, didn’t know where Tillie was going with this. Check that—didn’t want to know, or acknowledge where she was going with this. But a sick ball of truth roiled in his gut, screaming at him, knowing.
“I thought when she went to the Scotland Yard they would tame her, make her more rational, safer even if she was still a cop. But then you came along. And you should have known better. You lost your mother. Haven’t you learned anything?
“I called the governor to talk to you because I wanted you to keep her away from this mess. I counted on you and you failed me. You even dragged Billy into all this. Poor harmless Billy is now showing signs of the tiger gene in the pool and if he keeps going this way I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Billy—“
She cut him off. The sick ball inside him grew.
“But now, this is too much. She’s my baby, Dane Blaise, and I’m begging and demanding that you let her go. You leave her alone. You’re bad for her, a bad influence. You give license to her worst, most reckless instincts and tendencies.
“You leave her alone. Don’t marry her. You’ll be the death of her if you do. She’ll never have peace, never have contentment or family, children, all the natural things. With you, all she’ll have is turmoil and danger for the rest of her life.
“Go. Disappear. Leave and don’t come back. Leave my girl to me.”
He wanted to retch. Forcing himself to look at her, understand her, he shoved the sick feeling down. Her face was flushed, her breathing heavy, but her face held nothing but resolute determination with hot destructive anger spreading, strangling all the good from her like a poisonous weed.
She turned and walked out of his room.