Chapter 7 - The Interrogation and the Trap
Thursday morning brought the inevitable climax of the legal onslaught.
I was reviewing a software licensing agreement in my office when Maya buzzed my desk. “Claire, you have an urgent call on line one. It’s Detective Miller from the Financial Crimes Unit. He says it’s regarding the Bennett case.”
I picked up the receiver immediately. “Detective Miller, this is Claire Bennett.”
“Ms. Bennett, we’ve executed the warrants,” Detective Miller’s gruff, professional voice came through the speaker. “We brought Daniel, Thomas, and Margaret in for questioning downtown. Margaret tried to claim she was a frail, confused old woman suffering from memory lapses. Thomas threw Daniel under the bus immediately, claiming Daniel assured him the house was jointly owned.”
“And Daniel?” I asked, leaning back in my leather chair.
“Daniel is currently having a complete meltdown in interrogation room B,” Miller chuckled dryly. “He keeps demanding to call you, claiming you’ll bail him out because ‘she still loves me.’ We had to explain to him multiple times that marital privilege doesn't cover federal mortgage fraud conspiracies.”
“Has he been served with the divorce settlement papers yet?”
“Served, read, and crying over them as we speak,” Miller confirmed. “His defense attorney took one look at the forensic paper trail your legal team provided and practically advised Daniel to sign away his clothes just to avoid federal penitentiary time.”
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“Tell him if he signs the uncontested divorce settlement and releases all claims to my property within the hour, my legal team will recommend leniency on the sentencing front,” I instructed coldly. “If he stalls for even one more minute, let the book drop with maximum velocity.”
“Consider it communicated, Ms. Bennett. Pleasure doing business with you.”
