Chapter 6 - The Interrogation Room
Down at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Headquarters, the air inside Interrogation Room B was cold and smelled of floor wax and stale coffee.
Graham sat at the metal table, stripped of his designer jacket and tie, wearing a gray county detention jumpsuit. His hands were cuffed to an iron ring bolted to the table center. Across from him sat Detective Sarah Jenkins and Captain Evan Briggs.
"Graham," Detective Jenkins said, opening a thick blue binder containing printed transcripts of the 4,000 text messages. "Your attorney is currently in the hallway trying to negotiate a deal. But I suggest you look at these logs before you decide to take this case to a jury trial."
Graham stared at the papers spread before him. The arrogant, polished executive had completely dissolved, replaced by a hollowed-out, sweat-drenched man whose life was collapsing around his ears.
"It was Paige's idea," Graham rasped, his voice trembling violently. "She came to me a year ago... she said her business was failing and she was going to lose her house. She knew about Hannah's trust fund. She told me Hannah didn't appreciate what we had."
"So you decided to steal $600,000 from your wife's inheritance?" Captain Briggs asked, leaning forward on his elbows.
"Paige handled the transfers!" Graham lied desperately, pointing a trembling finger at the wall separating them from Interrogation Room C. "She created the shell invoices! She told me how to set up the bank accounts! She said if we took small amounts over time, Hannah would never notice!"
"And the gas line, Graham?" Detective Jenkins pressed ruthlessly. "Was that Paige's idea, too?"
Graham swallowed hard, his throat dry as dust. "We... we were running out of time. The state auditors were flagging Apex Horizon's accounts. The bank was going to freeze the remaining trust funds within weeks. Paige said if the house caught fire... if the structural insurance paid out $1.2 million... we could clear all the debts, buy a place in Florida, and start over."
"You knew your wife and your seven-year-old daughter were inside that house when you left for the 'airport,'" Captain Briggs said, his tone dropping into an icy register.
"I didn't want Lucy hurt!" Graham wept, tears smearing across his face. "I thought... I thought Hannah would leave for her morning studio walk at 8:00 a.m. like she always does! I didn't know Lucy was going to be in the kitchen!"
Across the hallway in Interrogation Room C, Paige was offering a drastically different story to State Prosecutor Sarah Miller.
"He forced me!" Paige sobbed hysterically, her plum silk dress rumpled, beating her cuffed hands against the table. "Graham threatened me! He said if I didn't let him route the money through my event company, he'd tell everyone I was broke! I never wanted Hannah hurt! I love my sister!"
"You loved your sister's money, Ms. Miller," Prosecutor Sarah Miller stated flatly, tossing a set of bank wire statements onto the table. "You spent $85,000 of her trust money on a luxury vehicle lease, $40,000 on custom home renovations, and $120,000 on personal credit card debt. And two nights ago, you texted Graham asking if the 'gas job was done.'"
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Paige’s voice cut off instantly. She stared at the text transcript on the table, her face draining of every drop of color.
The two conspirators, who had spent two years professing their love and planning a secret paradise in the sun, had turned on each other within four hours of being placed in steel restraints.
