“We also know he drugged you,” Melissa said. “We found traces of pergnesticin on the glass fragments. It’s an extremely powerful narcotic. For what it’s worth, I don’t hold you responsible for your actions that day.”
Amanda dabbed her eyes. “Thank you.”
“He went to a lot of trouble to poison you. Why does he hate you all so much?”
“I have no idea.”
“I think you have some. Zack and Evan had a lengthy phone discussion on September 19. We were only able to reproduce Zack’s half of the conversation. What did Evan say to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Zack never told you?”
“Zack barely speaks to me now.”
“That’s surprising. From all the scenes we ghosted, you two seemed quite close.”
Amanda closed her eyes in anguish. “I’m not talking about Zack. And I have nothing left to tell you about Evan.”
“Fine. Let’s jump back two weeks. On September 6, you and your companions were attacked in Terra Vista, in the office of a scientific organization called the Pelletier Group. You’ve mentioned a man named Rebel as the leader of the assault.”
“I have?”
“You all have, in private discussions. Who’s Rebel?”
“No idea.”
“You’re lying. Why are you protecting the man who tried to kill you?”
Amanda kept quiet. She feared any talk of Rebel and Gothams would ultimately lead the Deps to Peter Pendergen.
“Eighteen physicists died that day,” Melissa reminded her. “Two went missing.”
“That wasn’t us.”
“An entire family of security guards, dead or missing.”
“We didn’t kill anyone!”
“Tell me what happened that day.”
“Why do you even need to ask? Just use your damn ghost drills.”
“We tried,” said Melissa. “The entire property had been temporally reversed several years. If it wasn’t for city records, we’d never know the Pelletier Group had ever set foot in the building. A feat like that is utterly unprecedented. Who do you think is capable of doing such a thing?”
“Not a clue.”
“You’re lying again. See, the drills were good for something. I’ve followed every conversation you had in the Five Towers resort. You believe your generous influx of money came from Azral and Esis Pelletier, a couple who don’t exist anywhere on record. You also believe they’re responsible for the deaths of the physicists. Tell me about them.”
“No.”
“Now you’re protecting the Pelletiers?”
“Now I’m protecting you.”
Melissa lowered her head. “I’m not sure you realize the gravity of your situation.”
“Is this the part where you threaten me with jail time?”
“Do I even need to? You know what you did to those policemen. To Constantin Czerny.”
“Wait, what?”
“Which part are you confused about?”
“I didn’t do anything to Dr. Czerny.”
Melissa retrieved a photograph of the ill-fated physicist, lying dead on a coroner’s table. A ghastly red wound ran across his bulging stomach.
“Autopsy shows that he was impaled with a tempic projectile. It expanded inside his abdomen, like a blowfish. I know every tempic weapon out there. None are able to change shape like that.”
“That wasn’t me! I tried to save him!”
“I assume you stabbed him by accident. You were all under attack. Tensions were high. He may have startled you.”
“Someone else did that to him!”
“Someone else with your singular talents?”
Amanda fell into hopeless black laughter. There seemed no point in telling her about the tempis-wielding Gotham in the Teddy Roosevelt mask, especially if all trace of him had been erased.
“Fine, Melissa. Pin it on me. Pin every murder on me. It doesn’t matter.”
“You don’t care what happens to you?”
“I care very much what happens to me. I’m saying it doesn’t matter what I say or do here. I know how this ends. I’m going into a government lab and I’m never coming out.”
Melissa slit her eyes in cool umbrage. “For someone who claims to be born in this country, you don’t seem to know how we operate.”
“I think the rules go out the window when it comes to me.”
“The rules of nature, perhaps. Not the rules of law. You still have rights.”
“So what’s the plan then? I go to trial? I spend the rest of my days walking around some prison yard with my four solic generators?”
“As we speak, a special cell is being prepared in our Washington headquarters. We plan to hold you under Title 22, Part IV, Chapter 409 of the U.S. Criminal Code, the provision that allows us to detain an undocumented suspect for up to ninety days unless they produce valid U.S. credentials or have their foreign identity confirmed by a representative of their home nation. Should that fail to occur, we’ll charge you as a Jane Doe in the assault of two policemen and the murder of Dr. Czerny. Given ninety days, I can all but guarantee I’ll find a pharmaceutical remedy to your tempis problem, which will be administered forcibly under Title 23, Part II, Chapter 217—the Prisoners with Special Afflictions clause. You’re not too unique for our legal system to handle.”