It wasn't often someone asked a question regarding the shelter that Janet didn't immediately know the answer to. She stared after Gabby and Davina for a moment longer, took a long and steadying breath after the doors closed behind them, and shook her head. "I don't know, Kelly."
There was a bullet hole through one of her windows. Janet was glad Detective Pleasant had intervened when he did. If Davina was hiding a gun when she asked for shelter with other abused women, what else would she have been willing to do? Did she care at all about other people? If Gabby wasn't so beautifully able to handle herself with a gun in her face, she'd be dead. What would Davina have done then? Run? Would Detective Pleasant have been waiting outside? Would he have shot her on sight, rather than subdue and arrest her?
The wild thoughts circled, and they were getting Janet nowhere. She exhaled loudly and reached up to rub her temples. "We'll tell them as much of the truth as we can. Angela has tried to kill people in the past, and she tried to kill Mary today. Mary stopped her. And because Mary's boyfriend is a police officer, Angela is never going to bother us again."
What they were actually going to do to Davina, Janet didn't know and didn't want to know. People wanted for what basically amounted to terrorist attacks, especially when the public didn't know about those terrorist attacks, tended never to be heard from again.
"It'll be a marvel for a few days," she predicted. "Gabby should enjoy a short stint as a celebrity. And then the excitement will pass. What remains, hopefully, with Gabby continuing to volunteer here, is a heightened sense of safety. Could you get the other volunteers together, Kelly?"
As long as no one questioned the handcuffs Gabby had, there wouldn't be a problem Janet couldn't deal with. As long as everyone believed this was a coincidence, a spontaneous event quickly and efficiently dealt with, rather than one that was planned, the excitement really would pass quickly.
~~
It was a very, very long time since Erskine was last standing in on an interrogation like this. It was different to what he was used to. During the war, interrogations were for useful information only, and the prisoners were just that - prisoners. Nothing was written down or put on record by anyone. Nothing was official. Here, everything was official. He couldn't so much as change into the new Elder robes Ghastly brought them that day without someone making a note of it. And while Davina Marr's activities and interrogation were officially 'off-the-books,' that was just it - it was still official. Someone, somewhere, was still committing the whole thing to the annals of history.
Skulduggery was leading, of course. But he was far from the only one in the room, and far from the only one currently looking at Davina Marr shackled to the table. Ghastly and Tanith were there, both leaning against the back wall. Solomon, officially there on Corrival's behalf and in reality their living lie detector. And because Solomon was there, Dexter was there too - the only one of the gathered humans who didn't look intensely serious or bitter.
And then there was Gabe. Gabe, back in his male form. Erskine still wasn't quite over rushing out to help with Marr and seeing an absolutely gorgeous Israeli woman stepping out of Skulduggery's Bentley. He was the only one who did, unfortunately, since Gabe took the first opportunity to slip away; and out of respect for Skulduggery, Erskine didn't say a word to anyone.
Still, it was hard not to keep glancing towards Gabe and wonder.
Skulduggery didn't have a file in front of him, and he even ended up pushing the chair away in favour of leaning on the table to look Marr in the eye with what were, once again, big empty eye sockets. "I feel I need to cut to the chase," he said. "You're looking at the next two hundred years in prison. Prison's a fact, here, no matter what happens. Countless counts of attempted murder, physical assault, destruction of public property, and I'll bet you don't even have a permit for that gun we took. But you can minimise the amount of time you actually spend in prison if you tell us who hired you to blow up the Sanctuary."
no subject
There was a bullet hole through one of her windows. Janet was glad Detective Pleasant had intervened when he did. If Davina was hiding a gun when she asked for shelter with other abused women, what else would she have been willing to do? Did she care at all about other people? If Gabby wasn't so beautifully able to handle herself with a gun in her face, she'd be dead. What would Davina have done then? Run? Would Detective Pleasant have been waiting outside? Would he have shot her on sight, rather than subdue and arrest her?
The wild thoughts circled, and they were getting Janet nowhere. She exhaled loudly and reached up to rub her temples. "We'll tell them as much of the truth as we can. Angela has tried to kill people in the past, and she tried to kill Mary today. Mary stopped her. And because Mary's boyfriend is a police officer, Angela is never going to bother us again."
What they were actually going to do to Davina, Janet didn't know and didn't want to know. People wanted for what basically amounted to terrorist attacks, especially when the public didn't know about those terrorist attacks, tended never to be heard from again.
"It'll be a marvel for a few days," she predicted. "Gabby should enjoy a short stint as a celebrity. And then the excitement will pass. What remains, hopefully, with Gabby continuing to volunteer here, is a heightened sense of safety. Could you get the other volunteers together, Kelly?"
As long as no one questioned the handcuffs Gabby had, there wouldn't be a problem Janet couldn't deal with. As long as everyone believed this was a coincidence, a spontaneous event quickly and efficiently dealt with, rather than one that was planned, the excitement really would pass quickly.
~~
It was a very, very long time since Erskine was last standing in on an interrogation like this. It was different to what he was used to. During the war, interrogations were for useful information only, and the prisoners were just that - prisoners. Nothing was written down or put on record by anyone. Nothing was official. Here, everything was official. He couldn't so much as change into the new Elder robes Ghastly brought them that day without someone making a note of it. And while Davina Marr's activities and interrogation were officially 'off-the-books,' that was just it - it was still official. Someone, somewhere, was still committing the whole thing to the annals of history.
Skulduggery was leading, of course. But he was far from the only one in the room, and far from the only one currently looking at Davina Marr shackled to the table. Ghastly and Tanith were there, both leaning against the back wall. Solomon, officially there on Corrival's behalf and in reality their living lie detector. And because Solomon was there, Dexter was there too - the only one of the gathered humans who didn't look intensely serious or bitter.
And then there was Gabe. Gabe, back in his male form. Erskine still wasn't quite over rushing out to help with Marr and seeing an absolutely gorgeous Israeli woman stepping out of Skulduggery's Bentley. He was the only one who did, unfortunately, since Gabe took the first opportunity to slip away; and out of respect for Skulduggery, Erskine didn't say a word to anyone.
Still, it was hard not to keep glancing towards Gabe and wonder.
Skulduggery didn't have a file in front of him, and he even ended up pushing the chair away in favour of leaning on the table to look Marr in the eye with what were, once again, big empty eye sockets. "I feel I need to cut to the chase," he said. "You're looking at the next two hundred years in prison. Prison's a fact, here, no matter what happens. Countless counts of attempted murder, physical assault, destruction of public property, and I'll bet you don't even have a permit for that gun we took. But you can minimise the amount of time you actually spend in prison if you tell us who hired you to blow up the Sanctuary."