Page 166 of Slack Tide Kill

"Who's your uncle, Roarke?" Sally said abruptly.

Rook flinched, almost like he'd been struck.

The lawyer frowned. "Perhaps you'd care to–"

"You said that to Crawford Meeks," Sally went on, "before you stretched out his arm with an industrial digger." Each word seemed to force Rook deeper into a hunch. "Who is he?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," Rook muttered, chancing a glance up at her. "Someone's lying to you."

"Are they now? Because I know you've been over this a few times, Roarke, with my colleagues. Why you wanted full ownership of Reactor Logistics. The record shows you never really answered."

He grunted.

"Now, we know it wasn't ever your idea. What do you care about a decommissioned reactor? There's easier money in vapes, nail salons, and trafficking girls onto your live webcams, isn't there?"

"All these charges are under litigation," Carrack said. "I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, Officer."

"I'm trying to find a murderer."

"It's not my client."

"But your client knows who it is. Don't you, Roarke?"

Rook kept his head low.

"A man in his 60s. You knew him as 'uncle', maybe since you were a child. But Reg has got no brothers, Roarke. You've got no uncle. The man you're lying for has been lying to you all your life, because he's actually your brother."

Rook's head snapped up. "What?"

"Who is he, Roarke?" Sally raced on. "Reg's firstborn son. Born when Reg was only 14 years old and adopted out. But he came back. He would have done anything for Reg. What's his name?"

Rook's jaw worked the air and his eyes darted around the room. "What do you mean, he's my brother?"

"Who is he?"

"I… I just…" He forced himself to look back down. "No comment!"

"Bullshit it's no comment! Your brother came to you, Roarke, called himself your uncle, and gave you the idea to take Reactor Logistics back. Didn't he?"

Rook's head bowed lower. "No comment."

"He told you to get Reactor Logistics back from Meeks. He wanted you in there so you could kill the reactor's CCTV."

Rook's head shot back up again. "I told you no comment, you stupid bitch! This is all your fault! Everything was fine until you came along, everything was–"

"Fine while you trafficked underage girls across the Channel? Fine while you ran an illegal vape and nitrous business on the side? Ketamine too, maybe a cardiotoxic agent like cocaine? Was that all fine, Roarke?"

He glared at her, color in his cheeks again, clearly aching to reach over and finish what he'd started on the marsh. "Fuck you!"

"You are deliberately antagonizing my client," Carrack said. "I am formally ending this inter–"

"You'll do no such thing," Sally leaned closer. "Your elder brother killed Tom Richter 30 years ago, Roarke. He killed Jason Harrow, Nancy Cagen and Officer Emily Chakrati now, and you're really going to swing in his place? If you don't name him, all this is going to come back on you. Stop protecting the man who sold you out, Roarke." She slapped the table. "Who is he?"

Rook's gaze sped around the room again, settling briefly on the mirrored glass to the observation room.

Sally saw that. She looked at the glass, then back to Roarke. "Who are you looking for?"

"My client is doubtless trying to signal your DCI for help. This interview has run far beyond the bounds of–"