Chapter 99: No comment!
Carmen
Even if Nico had been skimping on his police bribes, I was sure I hadn’t. The allocation toward them was enough that they should know better than to mess with either of us.
The annoying part was that we had been in the general hospital for the city, which just so happened to be in Gotti’s territory.
The man himself had called, saying he wanted to speak to us, and not only was he missing, but his replacements had tried to kill us, with a backup plan of getting us publicly arrested.
It was maddening to sit in the car and be pushed around like a criminal after being read my rights.
I was placed in an almost completely dark room, which I presumed was meant to break me, and simply left there.
My purse and phone had been taken, and of course my gun. I didn’t have a wristwatch on me and had no idea how to tell the time, but I was sure it had been a couple of hours before they returned with a cup of water, which I refused to touch.
"You can’t hold me here! I need to make a phone call!" I said, and the only answer I got was the same.
"Our communication lines in the precinct are down. It would take a while before you can use our official channels. We can’t just give you your phone back either. During the scuffle, it got damaged, and we will reimburse you," they said with prearranged smiles that made a knot form in my stomach.
It was one thing for them to capture us and another to stall. Clearly, whoever was behind this was pulling strings and stalling. My worry was that I had no clue why.
Whatever they needed to do while Nico and I were locked up had to be serious enough to worry me as I sat there for hours.
Getting more and more glasses of water, which I didn’t even touch. The last thing I wanted was to give them my DNA if they hadn’t already gotten it from somewhere.
I simply lay on the table and tried to take a nap, and even that was impossible, as someone kept poking their head in and slamming the door every thirty seconds with, "Wrong room!"
Still, I closed my eyes and tried to rest until finally I heard someone enter and slam the door behind them, but this time they stayed.
Their breathing was audible in the silence, and so were their footsteps as they walked to the opposite side of the metal table and dragged a chair before sitting in it.
They slammed a folder on the table where my head lay. I was tempted not to lift my head, but curiosity won in the end.
I glanced up to see a woman who seemed to be in her thirties, black hair tied back in a ponytail, a black suit, minimal makeup. She wasn’t pretty, and it was clear that she wasn’t trying to be.
"Isn’t this illegal? I want my lawyer," I said before she opened her mouth to speak, her face set like stone in a way that made it clear she barely smiled.
I looked around the room, not surprised to see that the lighting had been raised just enough for both of us to see each other clearly.
"Like I’m sure you have been informed, our communication lines are currently down, and it would require some time before they are restored," she responded, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes.
I was tired, hungry, thirsty, and I needed to pee. Especially the last one, which kept being denied with "someone will be with you soon."
"The faster we finish these questions, the faster you’ll be able to leave," she said, and again I looked at her, wondering if she and every other police officer in the building actually thought I was stupid.
If not, then why act like it?
She slid the folder open, pulling out papers as she began to speak.
"We have two witnesses who saw you and Nico Romano with guns, shooting," she began, sliding a picture toward me. It showed a bloodied medical worker who had clearly been shot.
"She and two others were found dead, and it is said that you were looking for Mr. Gotti, who had previously been discharged from the hospital," she continued.
I said nothing, simply meeting her gaze and letting the silence stretch as she waited for me to respond.
"Mr. Nico is rumored to have ties to a cartel, and your father... you know him better than us, but he was a criminal. One that managed to skirt the lines of the law," she added.
At that point, it was obvious she was trying to provoke me.
"No comment," I said, feeling the urge to lay my head back down on the table, which was a better use of my time than staring at her face.
She sighed dramatically, almost pitiful, pulling out a few more documents as she continued.
"Are you aware that Mr. Nico has been let go?" she said, which was enough to make me stiffen slightly.
"The gun on him was clean and licensed, and so is yours. But surprisingly, the bullets from your gun matched those used to shoot those people," she continued, leaning back in her chair.
"This is bad for you. The cameras on that floor were busted, so there’s no footage. With two witnesses, all we need is to find ties between you and Mr. Gotti."
"You were trying to kill him, with the medical attendants there. They got in the way or something, and you shot them," she continued.
"But of course, seeing as you’d rather not spend the rest of your life in jail, the prosecutor’s office is willing to give you a deal," she added, almost eagerly.
"...No jail time, but they want Nico, and they are convinced that you know of his dealings with the cartel, seeing as your facial structure matches that of the viral picture more than his new girlfriend’s," she said with a small smile that I wished she hadn’t made.
"Do you always talk this much? Must be tiring," I responded, lowering my head back onto the table once she finally stopped.
"I need to pee, or I’ll just pee on myself. We’ll see what human rights activists say about how you treat your detainees," I added, my eyes fluttering closed as I took a slow breath.
"I also want that phone call."
