Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you about my ex-husband, but there was one part I kept to myself. That bastard tried to gaslight me. Tried to manipulate me. Tried to get one over, and I loved him through it. I told you all about that. I loved him when he left, but I didn’t cry, and I loved him afterwards, because we once upon a time were crazy about one another. What I didn’t tell you was that less than a year after our divorce, that same ex-husband of mine, who I was maintaining a semblance of civility with, was being investigated. He called me to help him, to be a character witness. To be what I still was… his friend. And do you know what I did, Captain? I did some digging and found out the truth. Not the truth I wanted to see. Not the truth I wanted to believe.
“It broke my damn heart because like I said, this man used to be my best friend, but I still turned him in when I found out he’d been embezzling the money he’d been accused of taking. I helped the prosecution! It was a horrible experience, but I did what was right, so don’t you sit there and tell me about me bein’ crazy over some gotdamn man! You don’t know shit about me! I love Nikolai. I’m not about to sit here on this phone and lie about that, but I will NOT hide the truth. I will not help him if he is guilty. I am not blinded by my feelings for that dude! When I had to turn my ex-husband in, I cried all the way to the damn police station, with my evidence in tow regarding his deeds. I presented my findings not because I wanted to, but because it was the right thing to do! It wasn’t a victimless crime. Some old woman went bankrupt because of my ex! He ruined so many people’s lives by taking their life savings. Elders. Military people. People who’d worked their entire adult lives to save up money for a nice, comfortable retirement.
“THAT WAS MY BEST FRIEND! I’d known him for years. He was a crummy husband, but he was a good friend. We were not romantically compatible, but I still cared about him, even after everything he’d put me through!” Tears streamed down her face. She tried to keep it together, to no avail. The tears weren’t for her ex-spouse, but for Nikolai, and for her, too. “I’m a damn good friend, but I won’t be taken for a fool. I won’t lie to you, or for you. I put his ass under the jail. All of this is verifiable. LOOK IT UP! You better Google me, damn it. You better ask somebody!
“I can love you and still have honor. Something you were too scared to do until I pushed you to it. You were afraid to stand up to Chief Lewis, but I ain’t never scared, Captain White. Your department has been running in circles like blind mice with peg legs, and here I come to work circles around y’all in a matter of days. You didn’t know shit, you didn’t do shit, and you still didn’t have shit until this so-called cock-matized, crazy, delusional ex-cop who doesn’t know the grass is green and blames everything on the color purple came into town!”
“You are out of line.”
“And I’ll stay out of line if that line is in the direction of injustice. That’s not a path I am willing to travel down. Now, you tell me what is presently going on with Nikolai, Dakota, because I don’t care what evidence y’all think you have—this man is shrewder than most of the officers you trained in your entire career, and he’s more cunning than you. He is not someone you want to play games with, either, and he knows how to get out of a jam. I know this guy down to his soul. Now, you can try to do this your way, but let me tell you something, if you mess up just one time with this man, you will have no leverage whatsoever. It’ll be over. No second chances. He can’t stand none of you anyway, and once he stops speaking to y’all and lawyers up, and trust me he will, you are screwed.”
“The man in the basement is—”
“No matter how damning it looks, finding a man in his basement doesn’t prove without a shadow of a doubt that he is the OOB strangler. Logic tells us that two circumstances can happen at once, and yet be independent of one another. All it shows is that he was angry and physically assaulted someone. I don’t care what evidence you think you have—if you can’t pin him to those specific murders, via DNA or a confession, he’ll be out on bond for that beating of that one man in a matter of months, if not weeks. He’s probably securing a shark of an attorney right now, as we speak, one who will use his clean record to his advantage, help him twist the story to cause just enough doubt to help him walk away with less than a scratch on his reputation.”