Chapter 13: The Lion in the Cage
The interrogation room was a concrete box designed to make men feel small. Senator Harrison Reed did not look small. He looked annoyed. His $6,000$ suit was slightly rumpled, but his posture was a fortress.
Elias sat across from him. Julianna stood in the corner, her shadow stretching long across the floor. She was the silent observer, the predator disguised as a public servant.
"You're wasting your political capital, Elias," the Senator said, his voice a practiced baritone. "The rifle you found? My security firm owns twelve of them. One was reported stolen three months ago."
"Convenient," Elias replied. He leaned in, his hyperthymesia projecting the Senator's past public appearances onto the man's current face. "But the burner phone Miller was using? It had three calls to your private residence the night he was killed."
The Senator's eyes flickered toward Julianna for a split second. It was a look of recognition—not of a colleague, but of an old enemy.
"Miller was a panicked man," Reed said carefully. "He knew someone was cleaning up the '06 mess. He wanted money to disappear. I told him to go to hell."
"Who was cleaning it up, Harrison?" Julianna asked, her voice sweet as poisoned honey.
The Senator laughed, a dry, hacking sound. "You know better than anyone, Julianna. The same person who's been sending me pieces of my son's jewelry in the mail. The person who's been using the almond oil."
Elias felt the air leave the room. He looked at Julianna. She was stone.
"We're done here," the Senator snapped. "Call my lawyer. And Elias? Ask your father about the 'Red Ledger' before you try to pin this on me. He wasn't just a cop. He was the vault keeper."