Chapter 6 - The Dead Man's Call
Three days after the arrests at Highland Hills Manor, Gavin Barrett sat in a stark, windowless interrogation room at the Maricopa County Custody Facility.
He looked broken. His tailored suit was replaced by a dark orange jumpsuit, his hair messily unkempt, his eyes rimmed with red circles from lack of sleep. His court-appointed public defender sat beside him, reviewing a stack of federal indictment papers three inches thick.
At 11:00 PM, the heavy steel door of the interrogation room clicked open.
Detective Cruz walked in, carrying a encrypted satellite phone. He placed it on the metal table directly in front of Gavin.
“What is this?” Gavin rasped, his voice hoarse.
“You have a call, Mr. Barrett,” Detective Cruz said calmly.
Gavin looked at his attorney, then slowly picked up the receiver and brought it to his ear. “Hello?”
Static hissed over the line for three agonizing seconds. Then, a voice spoke—a voice so familiar, so powerful, that Gavin’s heart nearly stopped.
“Hello, Gavin.”
Gavin dropped the receiver onto the metal table as if it had turned into a venomous snake. “No… no! That’s an AI recording! Ross Albright is dead! I saw the body! I identified the remains at the coroner’s office!”
Detective Cruz picked up the phone, set it on speaker, and tapped the screen.
“You identified a heavily burned decoy body wearing my watch, Gavin,” Ross Albright’s voice resonated through the metal room, rich, clear, and very much alive. “A body provided by the Federal Witness Protection Program.”
Gavin’s breath hitched in his chest. He fell out of his chair, landing on his hands and knees on the cold concrete floor. “You’re… you’re alive?!”
“Three months ago,” Ross explained over the speaker, “the FBI alerted me that an offshore account linked to your mother was soliciting hitmen on the dark web. Instead of waiting for you to strike, I partnered with the Department of Justice to catch you and your corporate co-conspirators in a trap you couldn't escape.”
Tears of pure, unadulterated terror poured down Gavin’s face. “Ross… please! It was Celina! She forced me into it! She wanted the money!”
“You willingly handed my daughter poisoned tea, Gavin,” Ross said, his tone turning into pure ice. “You threw her out into a rainstorm without shoes. You tried to steal everything I built for her. You aren't just a traitor, Gavin; you’re a coward.”
The line went silent for a moment before Ross added one final sentence:
“I’ll be sitting in the front row at your sentencing, son. Enjoy the dark.”
May you like
The call disconnected.
Gavin lay curled up on the floor of the interrogation room, weeping hysterically, realizing that every single step of his grand takeover had been watched, recorded, and orchestrated by the very man he thought he had buried.
