Chapter 5 - The Weakest Link
By noon, the police station was a madhouse. I bypassed the front desk and demanded to see Detective Miller, an investigator from the state bureau who had just been assigned to oversee the suspicious death case.
I handed Miller the flash drive and the key. I laid out everything—the money laundering, the smuggling routes, and my confrontation with Vance.
"This is explosive, Alex," Miller said, his eyes wide as he looked at the files. "But we need hard proof of the murder. We need to know exactly what happened in that room."
"Let me talk to Derek," I said. "He’s a coward. If he thinks Vance is going to throw him under the bus, he’ll talk."
Miller hesitated, then nodded. He let me into the interrogation room where Derek was handcuffed to the table. He looked miserable, his arrogant demeanor completely shattered.
"Alex, you gotta help me," Derek begged as soon as I sat down. "I didn't kill her! I swear to God!"
"Lily saw you, Derek," I said coldly. "She saw you tear her clothes. She saw you hit her. You slapped my wife."
Derek broke down sobbing. "Mom told me to! Clara had printed out the bank statements. She was packing a bag to leave with Lily. Mom panicked and called Vance. Vance said we had to keep Clara in the house until his 'cleaner' arrived. I just went upstairs to stop her from leaving. She fought back... she scratched my face. I hit her to make her stop."
"And then?" I demanded, my voice trembling.
"And then Mom locked the door from the outside," Derek cried. "We waited downstairs. An hour later, Vance's guy arrived. He went upstairs. Ten minutes later, he came down and said it was done. Mom and Aunt Beatrice went up and staged it to look like a hanging. Beatrice brought Dr. Evans in through the back door to write the report. I didn't kill her, Alex! Please!"
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I looked at my brother—the man I had shared a childhood with, the man who had stood as my best man at my wedding. He was nothing but a pathetic monster.
"You're dead to me," I whispered, standing up and walking out, leaving him to his tears.
