"YOU WERE IN LOVE."673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELswf3yRGd
"No. I don't know. Maybe. I cared for him----yes----I cared for him----maybe I loved him....."
"It would be understandable that you would be---upset. This man you cannot have? This life you cannot have?"
"Tell us why you killed him, Rihanna."
"I killed him---for the money----he wouldn't pay me----he wouldn't pay me money---I'm sorry....."
LaForge turned off the small, handheld voice recorder. After he had secretly recorded Rihanna's statement, he had spent an hour reviewing the recording and making editing decisions, then a technician had spent another hour cutting and splicing Rihanna's words so that the damning ones remained, making it sound like a seamlessly flowing conversation.
Lindsay shook her woozy head. "No.....no....it....can't be.....Rihanna wouldn't....she couldn't....."
"She has already confessed. You can no longer help her. Your only question is whether you help yourself." LaForge was freshly showered and refreshed from sleep. Picard was wearing the same suit but with a different white shirt underneath. Each of them was holding a bottle of water.
To Lindsay, handcuffed to a rickety wooden chair, it had been one long day and-night-and-day of blinding lights and white walls. As much as she'd tried to track the time, she could do no better than a very rough estimate . Thirty-six hours was her guess. They'd fed her a cheese sandwich and a small bottle of water and they'd let her sleep on the floor for some time----how long, she had no idea, but probably just long enough to make her desperately want more.
Her head bobbed. She began to cry. It was Rihanna's voice on the recording, no doubt.
"She's already confessed to shooting them," said LaForge. "You can deny all knowledge and join her in prison for life. Or," he added, "you can tell us what we already know. You will have a----very short sentence."
Lindsay shook her head as if she were shaking away cobwebs.
"She already confessed to shooting them over the money," said LaForge. "Say it. 'She shot them over the money.' "
"No...."
"Say it. 'She shot them over the money.'" LaForge nudged her shoulder. "And then we can permit you a bath and get you something to eat and drink. You want----sandwich? Croissant? Café?"
With dark, tired eyes. Lindsay looked up at LaForge. "I---can't. No...."
"Why this nonsense?" LaForge flailed his arms. "We already know! You simply say what we already know! You do this and you leave prison in ten years. You do not do this? Then you are a liar and therefore equally to blame. You never see your loved ones again. You spend thirty years in la prison. Maybe a lifetime."
"Mademoiselle Lohan," said Picard. "Ecoute-moi bien. Rihanna has admitted she killed him over the money. This is a benefit to her. It means for her that this was not une action terroriste. Not an----act of terrorism. You see? For le terrorisme, we have stronger laws, yes? Harsher punishments. Lifetime in prison. But what your friend has confessed? This is not terrorism. The penalty is---less severe. Yes? So you must help her now. You must---support what she says."
LaForge pressed a hand to his chest. "We? We do not know that what Rihanna says is true. She wants us to believe this so she receives the lesser sentence. If you want to help her, you say only what she has already said herself. You help her avoid a terrorisme charge and you help yourself by----cooperating."
Lindsay tried to control her sobbing. She'd heard about France's terrorism laws, the lengthy detentions, the harsher penalties, the outcry from human rights groups. She wasn't a lawyer and she didn't know the details, but what they were saying range true. And....
And it was Rihanna's voice on that tape. 673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNdv7RwOwn
"She shot them over the money," said Picard. "She shot them over the money."673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWsxtyxHHp
Lindsay's head dropped.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVghrAeSLIY
"She shot them---over the money," she said.673Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1jqrkobNa
