Chapter 3 - THE SILENT PEN
Detective Harris did not trust dramatic reversals.
That was why he stared so long when Claire withdrew her own confession.
“You admit you were driving?”
Claire looked terrified.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
Harris leaned back.
“You signed this.”
“They forced me.”
“Who?”
“My husband and his mother.”
“Why?”
“Daniel was driving.”
Harris’s expression changed only slightly.
Claire reached into her purse.
Pulled out the black recording pen.
Placed it on the table.
“Daniel confessed.”
Harris looked at it.
Claire’s breathing steadied.
“Play it.”
He pressed PLAY.
Silence.
Again.
Nothing.
Claire’s confident expression collapsed.
“No.”
Harris checked the device.
“There’s nothing on it.”
Claire snatched it.
Pressed.
Held.
Nothing.
“No... that’s impossible.”
Harris watched her.
Suspicion entered his face.
Claire shook the pen.
“I recorded them.”
“On this?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no file.”
“They did something.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
Harris picked up the confession.
“So right now, I have your signed statement saying you drove the SUV.”
“I didn’t.”
“And your proof says nothing.”
Claire stared.
Then Harris placed a photograph on the table.
The Bennett SUV.
Front-end damage.
Abandoned near Route 16.
Then another.
A bloodied? no gore. Avoid. A broken watch beside roadside.
Then:
“The victim is alive, but critical.”
Claire shut her eyes.
“Who is he?”
Harris paused.
“Elliot Crane.”
Claire knew the name.
Not well.
Daniel did.
Elliot was an insurance investigator.
Three months earlier, Daniel called him “a parasite.”
Harris saw recognition.
“You know him.”
“He was investigating Daniel’s company.”
Now Harris’s suspicion changed direction.
If Daniel had motive, Claire’s story became more plausible.
But not enough.
Then Harris asked:
“Mrs. Bennett, where were you at 10:52 p.m.?”
Claire answered:
“In a rideshare.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes.”
She hoped.
May you like
The pen was dead.
Now everything depended on the world outside that room.
