"...and that's when Officer Stanton broke the door down and arrested me." Nica finished. "After that, I was taken into custody, and the medical examiner at the department looked me over."
"If I hadn't suffered at the hands of Chucky like you did, I would've called you insane." Andy mused. "I am thinking of one way this could work…"
"What's that?" Nica asked, eager to clear her name.
"That you take a polygraph." Andy answered. "Tell them your story, and prove you're not lying."
"Aren't polygraphs not entirely accurate?" Nica pointed out.
"Got a better idea?" Andy asked.
"I do, actually." Nica revealed. "Ian stuffed a nanny cam in the doll's pocket. It captured footage of the entire night."
"That could be our smoking gun." Andy smiled thoughtfully. "Wait here, I'll speak with the captain about looking at the evidence." Andy smirked, standing up and walking out of the interrogation room, quietly shutting the door behind him.
"Not that I have a choice." Nica muttered, staring at her cuffs.
Barclay stepped out of the interrogation room, finding the police captain and presumably the district attorney waiting for him.
"My client has agreed to take a polygraph to prove her innocence." Andy announced. Before either the DA or captain spoke a word, he added, "And we also have our own evidence on our side."
"Which is?" the DA asked.
"On one of the laptops is footage on the night of the murders." Andy explained. "They detail that Miss Pierce did not kill her family."
"Hold your horses, Barclay." the captain said gruffly.
"Listen, Captain-" Andy looked down at the man's uniform, squinting to see the printed name. "-Moran, my client is innocent!"
"You really believe that?" the DA chuckled. "You're going through a lot of trouble to prove she didn't do it. Must really need that paycheck."
"Well, don't worry. I'm doing this pro-bono." Andy spat. As soon as he said it, he cursed himself, knowing full well the statement could come back and bite him in the ass later.
"Eh, fine." the DA grumbled. "We'll make sure she's hooked up to a lie detector."
"And the laptop?" Barclay asked.
"On my way to get it now." Officer Moran grumbled, walking towards the evidence room.
Fifteen minutes later, Nica found herself being attached to a polygraph in the same interrogation room. Directly in front of her were Captain Moran and the polygraph's analyst.
"Is your name Nica Pierce?" the captain began, testing the detector.
"Yes." Nica answered quickly.
"Were you born on November 10th, 1988, in Chicago, Illinois?"
"Yes." Out of the corner of her eye, Nica almost noticed Andy shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"Is your hair red?"
"No."
"Did you kill your sister?"
"No. I didn't."
"Did you kill her husband?"
"No."
"Did you kill anyone?"
"I didn't. It was Chucky." Nica looked at Moran, who furrowed his brow in frustration.
"Tell me about your mother, Sarah Pierce." Moran ordered. "You thought she committed suicide, correct?"
"Yes." Nica told him. "I woke up in the middle of the night. I heard her scream, and I found her with her hands holding onto a pair of scissors lodged in her stomach."
"You heard her scream, but then she stabbed herself with a pair of scissors." the captain said plainly. "Why would she do that?"
"I said I thought she did." Nica pointed out. "Now, I believe that she screamed before Chucky killed her."
"What do you know about Chucky?" Moran asked, folding his hands and looking right through Pierce. Nica looked back at Andy, then at the captain, before taking a deep breath.
"He was originally Charles Lee Ray, the Lakeshore Strangler." Nica answered. "On November 9th, 1988, he kidnapped my mother because he claimed he was in love with her. When she rejected him, he stabbed her in the stomach, attempting to kill me. The cops chased him into a nearby toy store, gunning him down, but not before Ray transferred his soul into a Good Guy doll. Since then, there have been reports of multiple murders across the country, all somehow linked to Chucky." Moran, Barclay, and the analyst sat there in stunned silence for several minutes, while Nica heard the ticking of a clock. Finally, Moran found his voice, and his voice came out in barely a mumble.
"Three of those incidents included Andy Barclay, didn't they?"
"Yes." Nica replied. Once she spoke, the captain no longer opened his mouth.
"Are we done?" Barclay asked, glaring at Moran.
"Yeah, we're done." Moran muttered, getting up and leaving.
"Hang on." the analyst called back. "I'm just eyeballing it, but it looks a hundred percent accurate. No lies." Moran gave a small nod, before he and the analyst left the interrogation room with the data.
"So what now?" Nica asked Andy.
"Now we wait." Barclay answered. "The polygraph was a smart move. At least they know you really believe your story. But…"
"But what?" Nica asked, confused.
"There's a chance they'll rule you insane for believing." Andy warned. "They'll probably order a psychiatric evaluation, maybe even lock you up in an asylum."
"You sound like you've been through this." Nica looked at her lawyer curiously.
"I haven't, but my mother has." Andy said solemnly, inspecting his shoes. "After we got rid of Chucky the first time, my mother defended me all the way through. In the end, the Play Pals toy company had good enough lawyers to send her to an institution for the insane, and the only two cops with us that night lost their jobs."
"I'm sorry." Nica whispered, staring into her hands.
"What's done is done." Andy murmured, writing down his contact information and handing it to Nica. "I can't change what happened. But I can save you from that same fate." With that, Andy turned towards the door, and walked out of the interrogation room, leaving Nica to figure out where to go from there.
