Chapter 8 - The Dead Woman Speaks
After the investigators surrounded Dominic, the funeral hall remained silent.
Reporters lowered their cameras, unsure whether to continue filming.
General Ward handed the evidence folder to Major Ortiz, who opened it before Dominic.
“These are recovered messages between you and Chloe Mercer,” she said. “These are payment records to Mason Pike. These are forensic reports from the signal jammer and the cabin. This is audio recorded less than twenty minutes ago.”
Dominic looked at Chloe.
She moved away from him.
“You said the room was secure,” she whispered.
He laughed once, bitterly.
“And you said the jammer was destroyed.”
The crowd reacted with a collective breath.
Ortiz signaled to an investigator, who played the recording through a portable speaker.
Dominic’s voice filled the cathedral.
You locked the door.
Then Chloe’s.
You bought the jammer.
Then Dominic again.
You said the cold would do it.
Chloe’s face collapsed.
“That was taken out of context.”
Vivienne stood beside the coffin.
“What context makes that sentence innocent?”
Chloe turned toward her.
“You were never supposed to hear any of this.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Ortiz stepped forward.
“Both of you are under arrest.”
As agents secured Chloe’s hands, she began speaking rapidly.
“It was his idea. The policy, the cabin, the funeral. He said she did not love him. He said she deserved to lose everything.”
Dominic looked up.
“You planned the route.”
“You approved it.”
“You told Pike to use the sedative.”
“You paid him.”
Their partnership ended in less than a minute.
Vivienne watched without satisfaction.
She had imagined their downfall as something powerful. Instead, it looked small. Two frightened people tearing at each other in front of an empty coffin.
Dominic pulled away from the investigator just enough to face her.
“I loved you once.”
Vivienne’s expression did not change.
“No. You loved standing next to what I achieved.”
“You were never there.”
“I was serving.”
“You always chose them.”
“I chose duty. You chose money.”
His face twisted.
“You think you are better than everyone.”
“No,” she said. “I think I deserved not to be murdered.”
The simplicity of the sentence silenced him.
Ortiz led Chloe toward the doors.
Dominic remained for one more moment.
“What happens to me now?”
Vivienne looked at the flags, the flowers, and the rows of people who had come to honor a woman he believed he had erased.
“You tell the truth,” she said. “Then you live with it.”
The investigators took him away.
Only after the doors closed did Vivienne’s strength begin to fail.
General Ward caught her elbow.
The officers behind her came to attention.
One by one, they raised their hands in salute.
Vivienne looked across the hall.
Some had trained under her. Some had served beside her. Others had never met her but had believed they were attending her farewell.
The salute was not for a dead hero.
It was for a survivor.
She turned toward the coffin.
“Open it,” she said.
The funeral director hesitated, then lifted the lid.
The coffin was empty.
Vivienne removed the flag, folded it carefully, and handed it to Ward.
“This does not belong to Dominic,” she said.
May you like
Then she placed the broken padlock inside the coffin and closed it.
“Bury that instead.”
