AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chief frowned at my impatience, but he hit a button, and the recording played through speakers mounted to the walls.
“Admit what you did, you prick. Give her the respect she deserves.”That was Johnson’s voice, hoarse and terse.
“I didn’t do it.”The deep rumble of Heath Michaelson’s voice was a blast from the past. I remembered it from back when we’d been friends. But here it sounded strained and full of pain.
“You’re covered in her blood. They found the murder weapon. How long do you think it’ll be before they find your fingerprints on it?”
“They won’t because I didn’t fucking do—”
“They will,”Johnson taunted.“They will. So admit it. Open your mouth and let the words free. Maybe it’ll ease some of that guilt sitting on your soul.”
There were two thumping noises and then coughing.
I’d punched enough people, and been on the receiving end of a fist to the gut, enough times to know what it sounded like. But Johnson’s smug smile didn’t leave his face, and no one around me commented on the fact the man had obviously crossed a line.
Heath’s voice was a wheeze while he tried to talk and suck air in all at once.“Ease my guilt? Or ease your guilt over your fucking hard-on for her? Ease your guilt that you wanted in her panties, but she wouldn’t look twice at a man like you? Your jealousy reeks. You’re the one who should feel guilty. Did you tell your wife that while you fuck her with your tiny dick, you’re thinking of some hot piece of ass from the station?”
All eyes in the room turned to Johnson.
His smile wasn’t quite as smug anymore. I suspected he’d forgotten about this part of his ‘interrogation.’ He waved it off casually, though the tips of his ears turned pink. “He would have said anything at that point. He knew we had him.”
There was a crash and scuffle, and the audio went muffled. But not muffled enough to cover the smacking of flesh against flesh and the grunts of a man being beaten.
“Admit what you did to her. Admit what you took from me.”
My head snapped to Johnson who now looked like he might want the floor to open him up and swallow him whole. “Took from you?” I snarled.
Choking noises echoed around the room, and my eyes went big. I gaped at the chief, but his face was expressionless.
“Admit it. Admit it!”Johnson bellowed.
“I did it. Is that what you want to hear? I did it. You fucking happy?”
A cheer went up around the room, and Johnson’s smarmy confidence returned.
I just gaped at all of them. “You are not seriously giving this man a pat on the back for beating the shit out of a man until he confessed?”
“It was nothing more than a scuffle—”
“A scuffle? You can hear your fist laying into his skin, Johnson! Were you choking him? Because it sure as hell sounded like it. I saw what he looked like when you dragged him out. He wasn’t even fucking conscious. None of this is going to hold up in a courtroom.” I gripped the seat of my chair either side of my thighs to stop myself from launching across the room at him. “I told you to wait for me. I told you! And you went ahead and did it yourself because you wanted to be a fucking hero and now you’ve fucked the entire thing up.”
The chief put himself between me and Johnson and held up a hand for calm. “I’ll admit, some of this is a bit on the rough side. But we’ll trim it down to the confession and that’ll be enough.”
There were nods and murmurs of agreement all around me.
Was I truly the only one who was going to speak up? Jayela never would have stood for this if the shoe was on the other foot. She was so by the book, so pure and determined and driven by a need for every person—cop or civilian—to be given a fair go.
Nothing about Heath Michaelson’s interrogation and confession was fair. And now we were going to try to doctor the evidence to make it sound like it was? “You can’t do that!”
The chief levelled me with a hard gaze. “You’re only here as a courtesy, Boston. You have no say in how this investigation is run, or in how the evidence is presented. We have a lot more than just his confession. His prints on the murder weapon for one. And a motive, being that he was her ex. We don’t even need this confession in the grand scheme of things, so if we take some of it out to save one of our own some embarrassment, then that’s what we do for family.”
That was what he was worried about? That Johnson might be embarrassed? Johnson fucking should be embarrassed. Not of the things Heath had said about his crush on Jayela. Everybody knew about that anyway. He should be embarrassed over the way he’d completely lost it and beat the shit out of a suspect.
He’d had a position of power and he’d abused it.
So had the chief.
So had I.
