Darkness at the Edge of Town (Iris Ballard #2)(89)
Lucerno glanced up from his cell and saw what we did. A declawed cat who just realized she had fangs. “Shit.”
“I’ll go get your partner,” Luke said, rising. Both men left, but Lucerno reappeared in the interview room a few seconds later, all sympathetic smiles. “I brought you more tissues. We—”
“Why do you have files on Meggie, Paul, Nessa, and Chantal?” she cut in.
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered.
“What?” Hancock asked.
One mistake, one oversight, and a case could implode. All that hard work, hundreds of hours of your life you sacrificed, for nothing. Kaboom. At least Lucerno had the sense to recognize the error they’d made.
“We have files on most members. It’s standard,” he said with a smile as he sat across from her.
The door opened, and Carmichael stepped in. “Sorry. Nature called. Ms. Mitchell, do you need to use the restroom? We should have offered earlier, but—”
“But why did you bring these files?” Helen asked, ignoring Carmichael. “D-Do you think they’re involved in the drug running?”
Luke returned and moved beside me. “What’s happening?”
“That’s what we’re—” Carmichael said.
Helen shoved the files across the table at the men. “You’re wrong. If, if Mathias is who you say he is, and if he’s doing what you claim he is, they have nothing to do with it. Nothing. Chantal has a child. She would never do anything to risk being separated from her baby again. They are all good kids who have been through hell in life and are doing their best to overcome all of the universe’s trials. They have done nothing wrong.”
“We’re not saying it’s their fault, Helen,” Carmichael said. “They’ve been manipulated. Maybe they don’t even know they’re trafficking. That’s why we need your help. To find the bad apples before they poison the whole barrel. Mathias is using you, Helen; he’s using you all. He’s using the girls like Megan and Nessa to keep the men around. He’s using the people at The Apex to fix up the house he stole from a woman with dementia. He’s bilking people like Billy Ballard out of their life savings to keep his cover going while he manufactures drugs like the kind that killed your son. You help us put him away, that all stops. Everyone’s free to move on with their lives.”
Oh, fuck, I thought. He’d almost got her back too. Her mouth twitched with that last sentence. Free to move on. From the group. From her. At least those they weren’t going to arrest. Helen was no fool. She’d worked out that Megan was neck deep in the trafficking, probably Paul and Chantal too. Anything for the Movement, right? Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Gone was the meek, terrified, crying, middle-aged ex-con from the hour before. The woman in with them now was a queen in front of the men attempting to rape and pillage her kingdom. To destroy her family. Goddamn, sometimes it really sucked being right all the damn time.
“You know what I think?” Helen the Warrior Queen asked. “I think you have a personal vendetta against Mathias. You didn’t get what you wanted from him before, so you’ll say and do anything to ruin him now. I think if you had a shred of proof about any of this you would have come and arrested us already. I think you’ve manufactured and doctored all of these photos to manipulate me. And the fact that you even brought up my son is vile and despicable,” she hissed, “considering the DEA had a hand in his death. You people put me away for years over a few little pills. Rapists get less time than I did. So screw you, Agent Carmichael. I see right through you.” She stood like the queen she was. “Am I under arrest?”
Carmichael frowned. “No.”
“Then you cannot keep me here against my will. And if you wish to speak to me or anyone else from the Movement, you will do so with our lawyers present. Good day.” She snatched up her purse and moved toward the door.
“We have to keep her here,” I said to Hancock.
“How? We have nothing on her,” Hancock replied.
“Shit. Shit!” I leapt up from my seat and strode out of the room into the bullpen. “Helen!”
The woman stopped, then glared at me as I approached. “Of course you’re involved in this,” she spewed. “You probably got them to create all that false evidence.”
“I didn’t. Truly, on my brother’s life, on my husband’s grave, I didn’t. They’ve been investigating for months, long before I’d ever heard about you all. Helen, everything they said in there is a hundred percent true. I’m sorry, but it is. And I think deep down you know it is.”
“You lied to us. You manipulated us. You used poor Paul, then broke his heart. You threatened us. I’d spit in your face, but you’re so vindictive you’d probably have me arrested for assault. Billy was right about you. You are a cold, cruel woman.”
She began walking away again, but I blocked her. “Goddamn, listen to me! I’m sorry for lying to you. I am. It killed me to lie, especially to you because I know you’re a good person. I know. You have nothing to do with Mathias’s drug business. You just wanted to help people, and he gave you that opportunity. And you did. You have. Everything good the Movement’s done, all the happiness of the members, that’s because of you. You managed to build a garden, Helen, but you did it in a nuclear wasteland, and that waste is slowly killing the people you built it to protect. You know Megan wouldn’t sleep with all those men if Mathias didn’t suggest she do it. You know Paul wouldn’t have thought he was in love with a woman he didn’t know if Mathias hadn’t told him he was. My brother wouldn’t put drugs in his car for anything. Mathias is using you all, and you know it. And you heard what he’s done in the past when people were no longer of use to him. He snitched on them. He left them. He had them murdered, Helen. What do you think will happen if you tell him the DEA’s closing in? He’s dangerous. We are not the ones you need to be protecting them from. If you love them, you will go back into that room and tell us what little you know. You go back and tell them what he’s up to. Because if you go into that room with eyes wide open, you’ll see I’m right. It’s over, Helen. I’m sorry, but it is. One way or another. And I am fucking petrified that if you leave this station and tell Mathias what happened today, you, Megan, Paul, the children, and my brother will all be in mortal danger. Mathias Morning does not deserve your loyalty. So I’m asking—no, I’m fucking begging—at the very least keep your mouth shut about what you know. This never happened. Please. Please.”