69
Monroe keeps jawing on, but I don’t hear a word he says. Instead, all I can hear is the voice in my head screaming at him: Liar, liar, liar.
I hold up my hand to stop him. Even through the morphine the small movement hurts like a bitch. ‘Why are you here?’
He frowns. Looks real confused. ‘Like I’ve been saying, we’ve got him. It’s a watertight case. All the evidence we’ve got, your testimony – he’s going to jail, no way to dodge it this time.’
‘How much did you get on camera?’
‘All of it, Lori, we got the whole damn thing.’
‘Really?’ There’s doubt in my voice. Enough, I hope, to get Monroe to talk me through the detail of what the micro camera captured.
He takes the bait. ‘We’ve got it from the moment you stepped into that elevator and went up to the penthouse suite, until you cuffed him in your hotel room. We’ve got what he said, what he did, and what he planned to do. It’s multiple homicide, clear and simple. There’s no wriggle room.’
‘So the micro camera kept working even after I jumped into the river?’
He nods. ‘They’re robust little suckers.’
‘Huh. I thought I’d lost it.’
‘After the medics did their thing, my tech team checked you out and retrieved it. It’d dislodged from the original spot in your hairline, ended up down near your ear, so the picture angle in the last section of footage is sort of wonky, but the audio’s good.’ He looks real pleased with himself.
I muster my strength. Fix Monroe with a hard stare. ‘So you knew the whole time I was out on the street, and in my hotel room with him, that Cabressa meant to kill me?’
Monroe glances away. Doesn’t reply.
‘You didn’t step in when he put the gun to my head, even though you were right there in the bathroom?’ My voice sounds stronger now; the anger overcoming the weakness of before. ‘And don’t deny you were in the bathroom. I saw you. As I started to fall, I saw you open the bathroom door.’
Monroe runs his hand through his hair, pulling at the unruly tufts. ‘It wasn’t like—’
‘Save the bullshit.’ I look from him to the machines, and back again. ‘All this here,’ I say. ‘You’re paying for it.’
It’s not a question.
Monroe nods. ‘Least I can do.’
I narrow my eyes. ‘Yeah. It is. Totally the least you can do. Because you could have stopped this happening.’
He looks away. Fiddles with the cuff of his suit jacket.
‘So why didn’t you?’
‘Things aren’t always black and white, Lori.’
‘Next you’ll be telling me there’s a line that gets blurry.’
‘Well—’
I glare at him. ‘You were watching the feed. You saw what he did. Heard what he intended to do.’
‘I needed the case to be strong. The more evidence I had that—’
‘So, what: you wanted him to kill me? For me to be another homicide added to his tally. A lot of people died last night. They didn’t need to. You could have—’
‘Hold up.’ Monroe puts his hands up in surrender. ‘I didn’t want it to get that far.’
‘Sure, you say that now, but you could have stepped in at anytime. You had the SWAT team in position, you had yourself, but you chose to stand by and not intervene.’ I stare at him. Frown. ‘You disgust me.’
‘Look, if it helps, I’m sorry.’
He doesn’t look sorry. And his half-assed apology is nothing more than a crock of shit. From my silence he seems to realise I’m not buying it.
‘Look I really am sorry,’ he says. ‘I messed up, okay? I get that. I got caught up in the high of finally having the evidence to convict the bastard. I’ve been after him for so many years, gotten so close but never made anything stick.’ He shakes his head, and points towards me. ‘You’ve changed all that, Lori. Together we’ve put a monster away. We should be proud.’
I don’t reply. I don’t deny Cabressa needed to go to jail. I just don’t think I should’ve had to nearly die to make it happen. The machines around me beep and click. The bright white room feels claustrophobic with Monroe inside it.
He steps closer to the bed. ‘We make a good partnership. We get stuff done, important stuff. We’re a team now, Lori, we make a difference, we owe it to—’
‘No.’ I stop him mid-flow. Can’t listen to any more of his delusions. ‘It doesn’t work for me. I could have been killed, and you would have stood back, stayed in the bathroom hiding, and let it happen.’
‘I wouldn’t have done that. Like I said, if I really thought you couldn’t get out of the situation I’d have stormed in and—’
‘Like I told you, I don’t believe you.’
He shrugs. ‘Well, I guess it is what it is then.’
‘Yeah,’ I say. Fixing him with a hard stare. ‘And what it is, is done.’
Monroe shakes his head. He smiles, but there’s no joy in it. ‘It’s done when I say so.’
The anger flares inside me. ‘You don’t own me. I’ve paid back the debt for your help. We’re even. And we’re done.’
He’s shaking his head. ‘If you think I’m going to just walk away from—’
‘I do think that. And I will not work with you again.’ I hold Monroe’s gaze, and make my voice firm, strong. ‘So this is the situation: You’re an asshole. My debt is paid. And, like I said, this here between us – it’s done.’
We glare at each other.
After a long moment, he nods once. ‘Well then, I guess this is goodbye.’
I’m all talked out. I’ve got nothing left to say to him. So I just stare back at him, my expression emotionless, until eventually he turns and leaves the room.
As the door closes behind him I sink back down against the pillows.
Take a deep breath.
And hope to hell my alliance with Monroe is finally over.