Chapter 284
Patricia hovered in the doorway of the interrogation room, watching as Kelly got pinned down on the table like a wild animal cornered with nowhere to run.
The glare Kelly shot her was pure fury, all teeth and desperation. She looked like a mother wolf fighting with everything she had, refusing to give in, trying to tear her way out.
Would Patricia leave her to it? Not a chance.
She was here to help the police, to poke at Kelly just enough to make her snap, to tip the scales in their favor. Kelly had to pay for what she’d done. That was why Patricia had come.
If she’d stayed away, Kelly would’ve kept up her act–the perfectly composed, high–society wife who never lost her cool, not even when the police came knocking. But with Patricia here, that calm exterior shattered. The claws came out, the mask dropped, and everyone could finally see what was underneath.
“It’s you, isn’t it, Patricia?” Kelly spit out, voice trembling with rage. “You set me up. You made me kill Greg.”
The two detectives holding her down froze, shock flickering across their faces before they let go of her arms. Just like that, the tension in the air broke.
Kelly caught Patricia’s smirk, the mocking shake of her head, and then–just to twist the knife–a single middle finger.
That was when it hit Kelly. She’d been played. Patricia had led her right into this.
Everything went quiet for a second. Then Kelly’s knees buckled and she crashed to the floor.
The ambulance screamed up to the entrance, hauling Kelly off to the hospital in a blur of flashing lights.
Brandon and his partner stood by the hospital doors, blocking the Newton family from getting in. Outside, reporters crowded the sidewalk. Brandon hadn’t expected the press to show up so fast.
Maybe, in spite of all the drama, there was still some real love left in that family.
“Sorry, you’ll need proper clearance before you can go inside,” Brandon said, keeping his voice strictly business. “Nothing’s been decided yet.”
“It won’t be much longer,” he added, looking at Mr. Newton. “Sir, if I were you, I’d call a good lawyer.”
Theo’s heart sank. One look at Brandon’s expression and he knew there was no room for negotiation. He took out his phone and walked away to find an attorney.
“I thought this was going to drag on,” Brandon’s partner said, shaking his head. He glanced at Brandon–who looked as calm as ever–and nudged him. “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
“Curious about what?” Brandon asked.
“How Kelly, of all people, just snapped like that. I figured someone as cool as her would hold out for weeks, but she just confessed. Just like that.”
7/2
Chapter 284
Brandon glanced down at his feet–same black shoes as everyone else, nothing special there. “Don’t get too relaxed. The Newtons will have lawyers here in no time.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’ve got hard evidence and a confession. All a lawyer can do now is bargain for a lighter sentence.”
“If she hadn’t said that one thing, maybe we could’ve blamed everything on Greg–said he was the one after her, that he planned the whole thing. But now…”
His partner shrugged. “She confessed. End of story.”
Brandon shook his head. “Don’t kid yourself. Anything we can think of, their lawyers can too. This isn’t
over.”
His partner gave him a look. “You seem pretty invested in this case.”
Brandon didn’t answer. His mind kept going back to Patricia, standing in that doorway–elegant and striking, calm but commanding, just like the first time he’d met her.
Back at the station, Brandon sat at his desk, borrowed a colleague’s login, and typed one name into the system: Patricia.
There wasn’t much in her file. Just the basics, nothing that really caught his eye.
Except for one thing in the marital status column–married.
