Chapter 14 - The Interrogation RoomAt 6:00 PM that evening, Detective Mercer’s team executed an arrest warrant for Daniel Bennett at his lawyer's downtown office.
He was brought to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in handcuffs, charged with felony grand larceny, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and corporate embezzlement.
I sat behind a two-way mirror in the observation room alongside Arthur Vance, watching the interrogation unfold.
Daniel sat at the metal table in the dimly lit room, his tie loosened, his eyes bloodshot and swollen. Across from him sat Assistant State’s Attorney Marcus Cole, laying out thick stacks of bank records, IP trace reports, and corporate filings.
"Mr. Bennett," Attorney Cole said, his voice ringing with quiet authority. "We have the digital logs showing your IP address accessing your wife’s corporate buffer account sixty-four separate times over the last fourteen months. We have the tax records for D&M Holdings showing one point six million dollars deposited directly from those transfers."
"I was going to put it back!" Daniel wept, slamming his cuffed hands against the table. "I was making investments! I was going to return every dollar into her firm’s account before the annual audit!"
"With what investments, Mr. Bennett?" Attorney Cole asked, sliding a secondary report across the table. "Your crypto accounts lost eight hundred thousand dollars in March. Your real estate venture in Florida collapsed in June. You weren't investing the money. You were gambling it away to maintain an image you couldn't afford."
Daniel dropped his head into his hands, let out a loud, shuddering sob that echoed through the small room.
In the adjacent holding room, Diane and Nicole were being processed. Through the glass, I could see Diane frantically yelling at her public defender, her face gray and aged without her expensive makeup, while Nicole sat in the corner of her cell, staring blankly at the concrete floor in shock.
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They had spent years treating my generosity like a weakness, believing that my love for Daniel made me blind, gullible, and easily manipulated.
They never realized that the same cold, analytical mind that built a multi-million-dollar trading firm from scratch was the mind watching them through the glass.
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