Wallace slapped the man’s phone to the ground and stamped on it, cracking the screen.
“What the hell! Fuck you, cop.”
“No, fuck you,” he said, pulling his gun on the guy.
The man backed away, raising his hands in the air. Wallace slapped handcuffs on her. The ratcheting sound as they closed echoed in her skull. He dragged her outside to his car, shoving her against it, kicking her feet apart, and patted her down, plucking out her phone, her ID, subway card and debit card, and the manila envelope of surveillance photographs she’d hidden under her clothes.
He paused when he found that.
“This? This is what you were looking for? Where’s the phone?”
She nodded toward her own phone, which he had in his hand.
“Not yours. Nancy’s. What did you do with it?”
She shouldn’t admit to having the phone. That was actually a crime, and this was a police interrogation, by a dirty cop. Anything she said, he would not only use against her, he’d twist it, lie about it. He hadn’t read her her Miranda rights, but he’d lie about that, too. She clamped her mouth shut, determined not to make it easy for him.
“Fine, be that way. I can escalate, too, and you’re not gonna like it.”
He opened the door and shoved her toward it so she hit her head. Her eyes watered, but she refused to cry out. Fuck him, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. The car reeked of cigarettes and stale coffee. Getting in the front seat, he glared at her in the rearview mirror.
“That was some stunt you pulled back there. You’re lucky I didn’t blow your brains all over that filthy floor. Just so you know, give me trouble again and I will kill you.”
Fear turned to rage. And rage got her talking.
“Then you’re stupid. Twenty people saw you arrest me. People will notice if I disappear. I’m a Harvard Law student.”
He laughed. “You want to know one thing people hate more than cops? Harvard. I’ll just claim I had to shoot because you grabbed for my gun. They’ll throw me a parade.”
Whether he was right or wrong, he believed what he was saying. He thought he could kill her and get away with it, which made him deadly.
He pulled out into traffic.
“I’m gonna ask you some questions. If you answer to my satisfaction, things will go easier. If you don’t, they’ll go harder. Your choice. Is that clear?”
She stared back at him, hate in her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a yes. First question. Where’s Kathy?”
The question shocked her. And that shock made her realize that, deep down, she’d been thinking that Wallace had kidnapped or murdered Judge Conroy. She just hadn’t verbalized that to herself because it was too scary. If he didn’t know where the judge was, then obviously she was wrong. Small mercy.
Madison didn’t know where Judge Conroy was, either, but she should pretend to. He’d be less likely to kill her that way.
Slowly, deliberately, she turned her head and stared out the window.
“Hey. Look at me. I’m talking to you. Where is she? And what were you doing in her house while she was gone?”
She didn’t say a word.
“If you don’t start talking, we’ll go somewhere private, and I’ll beat the answers out of you. I’m not kidding.”
She believed him. Screw strategy. Screw Miranda. This wasn’t an arrest. It was a kidnapping. She needed to stay alive.
“I was feeding the cat.”
“The cat. You expect me to believe that?”
She shrugged. “It’s true.”
“Bullshit. Kathy knows you’re a liar, that your brother is a criminal. She was told you’re a threat. Given all the information. She agreed to fire you, but then she didn’t. It makes no sense. Unless you have something over her. I want to know what it is. And you’re gonna tell me one way or another.”
“I’m her student and an intern in her chambers. She asked me to take care of her cat. Run errands. She pays me to do that. Nothing more.”
“Who do you work for?”
“Did you hear what I said? I work for Judge Conroy.”
He pounded the steering wheel, making her jump.
“Brooke Lee? Olivia? Who told you to break into Nancy’s office? What were they looking for? What did they do with Kathy?”
Olivia was an undercover, then, like Imani said. Brooke Lee must be from law enforcement, too. If he thought Madison was passing information to them, he’d kill her.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. The only Olivia I know of was the intern before me, and I never met her. I don’t know Lee, or whoever that is. And I didn’t break in to Nancy’s office. I needed some documents for a memo. I used Kelsey’s keys that were readily available. I thought it was okay. Sorry if it wasn’t. I’m just a student. I didn’t know better.”