Chapter 10 - The Interrogation
Dawn was breaking over the frozen landscape by the time the state police had cordoned off the entire property. The flashing red and blue lights of half a dozen cruisers painted the falling snow in alternating shades of crimson and sapphire.
In the back of the command van, Harold Cole sat with his hands cuffed to a metal rail, his posture ramrod straight despite his age. He didn't look like a defeated old man; he looked like an artist who had just finished his masterpiece and was waiting for the critics’ review.
Detective Miller slid onto the bench opposite him, dropping a thick manila folder onto the small metal table between them.
"You missed a spot, Harold," Miller said quietly, her voice devoid of emotion. "The scale models in the sub-basement aren't just for a residential filtration system. The pressure valves you installed in our basement are keyed to the main line running under Fourth Street."
Harold raised his chin, his pale blue eyes fixing on Miller with a cold, detached amusement. "Architecture is about scale, Detective. A building is merely a container. Whether you contain a family or a city, the principles of flow, pressure, and containment remain identical."
"You were going to contaminate the water supply," I said, stepping into the doorway of the van. I couldn't stay outside any longer; the cold air burned my lungs, but the fire inside me was hotter. "You were going to poison thousands of people just to prove a point about your designs?"
Harold turned his gaze toward me, his expression softening for a fraction of a second—not with remorse, but with a strange, patronizing pity. "Clara, my dear. You never understood the beauty of the structure. It wasn't about poison. It was about control. When the water stops flowing, people look to the engineers. They look for someone who knows how to restore order from chaos."
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"You're insane," Brian muttered from behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder.
"No, Brian," Harold replied, leaning back against the metal wall as the cruiser's engine purred to life. "I am simply the only person in this city who understands how fragile your little world really is. You think the nightmare ended when the timer stopped in the basement? Look at the date on the municipal permit."
