Chapter 3 - The Interrogation Room
The sterile white lights of the Maricopa County hospital buzzed overhead. For three agonizing days, Edgar hovered between life and death in the ICU, receiving multiple doses of antivenom as his hand swelled to twice its normal size and the localized tissue necrosis threatened permanent damage.
He survived, of course. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing.
But the moment he was discharged and transferred to a holding room—not for recovery, but for questioning—his nightmare truly began.
I hadn't gone home. Instead, I spent those three days working with my corporate legal team, forensic investigators, and a private detective I had quietly retained the moment I found the insurance paperwork tampered with on my desk. We didn't just uncover a snake in a bedroom; we uncovered a meticulously woven web of financial fraud, asset stripping, and premeditated murder.
Detective Vance, a veteran homicide investigator with eyes like polished flint, slid a thick manila folder across the stainless-steel table in the interrogation room.
Edgar sat slumped in a plastic chair, his right hand heavily bandaged and resting in a sling, looking like a ghost. Seated beside him was Kristina, her face tight with venomous fury, clutching her handbag like a shield.
“Mr. Finch, Mrs. Preston,” Detective Vance began, his voice deep and steady. “Let’s talk about what happened on Tuesday night in your Paradise Valley residence. Specifically, let’s talk about how a wild western diamondback rattlesnake managed to bypass a fully fenced, professionally treated perimeter, crawl up two flights of stairs, open a closed bedroom door, and tuck itself neatly beneath the duvet.”
“It was an accident!” Kristina squawked, her voice shrill. “The desert here is full of wildlife! The door was probably left open!”
“Actually, Mrs. Preston, our wildlife control experts and fingerprint specialists processed the master bedroom,” Vance replied smoothly, pulling out a glossy photograph. “Not only were your latex-gloved fingerprints lifted from the plastic transport container found discarded in the property’s back trash bin, but we also recovered receipts from an exotic reptile pet shop in downtown Phoenix—purchased using a credit card under your name, Kristina.”
Edgar slowly turned his head, staring at his mother in absolute horror. “Mom? You... you bought a rattlesnake?”
“Edgar, shut up! Don’t listen to them, they’re lying!” Kristina panicked, her composure finally shattering completely.
“They aren't lying, Edgar,” I said, stepping out from the observation alcove into the interrogation room.
Edgar flinched as I walked toward the table, my designer heels clicking sharply against the linoleum. I looked down at the man I had supported, loved, and protected for a decade, feeling nothing inside me except a profound, liberating emptiness.
“Nora...” Edgar whispered, his voice cracking. “Please... I didn't know about the snake. I swear to God, I didn't know she was going to do that!”
“You didn't know about the snake, maybe,” I said quietly, leaning against the edge of the table. “But you certainly knew about Heather Perkinson, didn't you?”
Edgar’s eyes widened in sheer terror.
“That’s right,” I continued, pulling another document from my folder and dropping it in front of him. “Surprise, Edgar. My private investigator didn't just look into snakes. He looked into your offshore accounts, your secret apartment in downtown Phoenix, and your two-year-old child with Heather Perkinson—the son you’ve been secretly funding using embezzled funds from my company accounts.”
The room went dead silent. You could hear the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.
Edgar’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. He looked at me, completely exposed, stripped of every lie he had ever told.
“You embezzled from me,” I whispered, my voice dripping with ice. “You used my hard-earned money to buy a secret family while playing the devoted, submissive husband at home. And when you and your mother realized my new insurance policy was worth twenty-five million dollars, you decided my life was the price of your happily ever after.”
May you like
Detective Vance clicked his pen. “Kristina Preston, you are under arrest for attempted premeditated murder and animal cruelty. Edgar Finch, you are under arrest for grand larceny, financial fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder.”
As the heavy steel handcuffs clicked around Kristina’s wrists, she shrieked and spat curses at me, dragging Edgar down with her as officers hauled them both away.
