Chapter 2 - The Anatomy of a Lie
The library was a room of dark wood and ancient secrets,
a place where I made decisions that shifted the power balance of the city.
Now,
it served as a courtroom for a crime that most men in my position would consider trivial.
But in my world,
a lie is a crack in the foundation,
and a frame-up is a declaration of war.
I sat behind my mahogany desk,
Maya sitting on a velvet stool beside me,
clutching her stuffed rabbit as if it were a shield.
Rebecca stood in the center of the room,
her hands shaking,
while Clara stood trembling by the door.
"Tell me about the locker,
Rebecca,"
I said,
leaning back and letting the shadows of the room frame my face.
"When exactly did you find the clock?"
"Just after lunch,
sir,"
she replied,
trying to regain her composure.
"I noticed Clara acting suspicious,
slipping away from her duties in the east wing."
"I went to check the staff room,
and the locker was partially open."
"I saw the gold glinting,
and I knew immediately what she had done."
I turned my gaze to Clara,
who looked as though she might faint at any moment.
"Clara,
where were you during lunch?"
The woman swallowed hard,
her voice shaking.
"I was in the garden,
sir,
with Maya."
"She wasn't feeling well,
and I wanted her to have some fresh air."
"I didn't touch the clock,"
she added,
tears spilling over her cheeks,
"I would never steal from you,
Mr. Carter."
"You have given us a roof over our heads when no one else would."
Maya looked up at me,
her brown eyes searching mine for a sign of hope.
"The mean lady went into the room with the shiny thing,"
Maya said suddenly,
pointing her tiny finger at Rebecca.
The room went deathly silent.
"I was looking for Mommy,"
the girl continued,
"and I saw her holding the clock."
"She didn't see me because I was hiding behind the big curtains."
"She looked angry,
and she was talking to a man on a tiny phone."
Rebecca’s eyes went wide,
and for a second,
I saw a flash of genuine panic in her expression.
"She’s a child!"
Rebecca shrieked,
her voice cracking.
"She’s making things up to protect her mother!"
"You can't take the word of a three-year-old over a loyal employee of five years!"
I stood up slowly,
the movement causing the air in the room to turn ice cold.
"A loyal employee,"
I repeated,
walking around the desk until I was standing directly in front of her.
"A loyal employee doesn't hide a phone I didn't issue to them."
"A loyal employee doesn't talk to men on 'tiny phones' inside my house."
I reached out and grabbed her handbag,
which was sitting on a nearby chair.
She tried to grab it back,
but one look from Pino made her freeze in place.
I dumped the contents onto the floor.
Lipstick,
keys,
a wallet,
and a small,
encrypted burner phone.
The kind of phone used by people who don't want their conversations tracked by the police,
or by me.
"Explain this,"
I said,
pointing at the device with the toe of my boot.
Rebecca began to hyperventilate,
her facade finally crumbling into a thousand jagged pieces.
She looked at the phone,
then at the child,
and finally at the man who held her life in his hands.
May you like
She knew then that the little girl’s tears hadn't just uncovered a theft,
they had uncovered a traitor.
