Cal Lightman arrived at the police station at the same time the Morris brothers' attorneys did. He had been reluctant to leave Gillian back at the house, knowing that he could use her help and that the task that she had been landed with instead would take its toll on her. But he knew equally well that having discovered the child in such desperate need of care she wouldn't leave him until the boy was comfortable enough to go with the social workers or the decision was taken from her.
Gillian was one of the best possible people for the boy to have around for his first interaction with the outside world. If he stood any chance of recovering from the experiences of his early years, that chance was exponentially better for having Gillian there with him now. Besides that, getting him to a point where he could provide some form of testimony could prove essential to getting a just outcome to this case. Gillian could do that better than anyone. But he hated the effect that this would have on her. He hated how she would be quiet and withdrawn for days. At least now he could take proper care of her.
Cal put his worries for her aside for the time being, forcing himself to focus on the two state defence attorneys preening in front of the police public desk. He loved state defence attorneys. They were much easier to work around than those millionaire boys club egotists. Once the lawyers had been granted entrance and escorted through to where their clients were held, Cal made himself known to the police at the desk. As he did so, Mark walked up beside him. The cops wouldn't believe him that he was with The Lightman Group and wouldn't even entertain the request to call through to Torres and Wallowski to escort him inside. He had been sitting there for the last fifteen minutes waiting for Lightman to show up and get him through the doors. Cal shot a disdainful glare at the cop behind the desk and made his way through the building, the young protégé on his tail.
They found Torres and Wallowski quickly enough, sitting around a desk in the corner of the open plan office near to the interview rooms.
"How's Foster doing?", Torres asked.
"Brilliantly. She's got some social worker wrapped around her little finger; they're letting her work her magic on the kid. Any luck and she'll have him giving sworn testimony by the end of the day", he joked, but still full of admiration for his partner. "What's the story with our likely suspects?"
"The younger one only wants to ask if he can go home and if the kids are ok. The older one won't even acknowledge us, never mind the fact that we know about who he has hidden away in the house."
"Well, the lawyers just got here. Reckon it'll be a hard sell to let us have a crack at them back at ours. We'll have to watch the cops do their thing. Feed 'em some clues and tips and see what we can get that way."
They went then to find a quiet space to sit so that Ria and Wallowski could fully brief Cal and Mark on the interactions with the two suspects and to review the CCTV from the interview rooms. They wouldn't be able to use it in court, but that didn't mean that they couldn't use it now.
The Morris brothers had been meeting separately with their lawyers for over an hour. The police couldn't stop them from meeting with their counsel, but they could certainly stop them from meeting each other. They didn't want to give them any opportunity beyond what they already had to construct a story between them. The best chance they had was to get them talking and trip each other up.
Eventually, Charlie's lawyer appeared from the interview room agreeing to allow them some time, although he had advised his client not to divulge any information. Caleb's lawyer insisted that his client was in no fit state to be questioned given his limited intellectual capacity and his degree of upset.
Standing behind the glass, Cal, Ria and Mark watched as Detective Wallowski and a local detective took their seats at the small table opposite their suspect and his new attorney. They had briefed both detectives on how to approach the man so as to extract the most benefit from the interview for the observing Lightman Group specialists. Cal had told them, mostly for the benefit of the unknown detective, what he would be looking for and how to go about establishing a baseline first before looking to elicit a reaction that could lead them to the truth. Wallowski was an asset. She knew Cal and how he worked. She had had the most basic of training. And she trusted him and what he did. But she could also be reckless. Cal took a deep breath and focused on the scene ahead.
"For the purpose of the tape, can you confirm your name please?"
With a nod from the lawyer he answered, "Charlie Morris."
"Thank you. Mr Morris, do you and your brother live at 224 Chesterfield Park, Virginia?"
"No comment."
It was enough. They knew that they did live there, he didn't have to provide a verbal response. He was telling them it was true without even knowing he was doing it.
"Do you drive a dark blue 1999 Toyota RAV4 SUV?"
"No comment."
"Oh, my mistake," she made a show of looking down at the file in front of her, "a black RAV4?"
"No comment."
Perfect. They now had a baseline when he was given incorrect information along with accurate information. They were unlikely to get direct answers from him, unless Wallowski could get under his skin, but at least now they knew the difference between 'yes' and 'no'.
"Does the name 'Claudia Kabuso' mean anything to you?"
A twitch at the corner of his eye. "No comment."
Wallowski produced a photograph of the woman's body.
"Do you know what happened to Miss Kabuso, Charlie?"
He glanced down at the photo and quickly reverted his gaze to Wallowski. Mild regret, but no grief or pleasure. "No comment."
"Miss Kabuso's body was discovered yesterday. The autopsy showed that she had recently given birth. Do you know anything about that, Charlie?"
He absolutely did. "No comment", came the muted reply once more.
"Miss Kabuso came through the social care system. An orphan. Years in a group home. The same one your brother was in, actually."
There was no question for him, and therefore no need for no comment. But his face told the story. A hint of anger. A flash of concern, presumably that they had found so much information on Claudia who was for all intents and purposes living off the radar even prior to her disappearance. Then fear. Fear that perhaps he wasn't as smart as he thought he was. That maybe, just maybe, he was caught.
"Did you or your brother know Claudia Kabuso?"
"No comment." That was a yes.
"I'm wondering if 'no comment' is the only thing he's capable of saying."
"Did you get anything from him?"
"Oh yes. I'd say even these two", he held his hand out to his two colleagues, "got answers from him. He knew the girl alright. Very well given that he knows exactly what happened to her. Get talking to Caleb. He'll break easy enough and then you can go back to Charlie with what you get from him. Should rile him up no end. He'll end up selling them both out."
"I doubt he's stupid enough for that, Lightman. He's cold blooded."
"He'll break. He wants to be the smartest person in the room. He wants to be in control. He thinks his little brother sold him down the river, he'll lose it."
The little boy was sitting on the floor by Gillian's side as she showed him a game on her phone. In a typical therapy environment, there would be stuffed toys and dolls, papers and crayons, all manner of arts and crafts, and games. All designed to entice a child to interaction and engagement. There was nothing in this room. He had no toys, nothing to stimulate his creativity at all. There were no supplies here that she would use in the type of manufactured setting she was used to when working with small children. She couldn't even request that something be found and brought to her from outside, the boy was so fearful of anyone he didn't know that he would retreat to the safety of his closet for at least half an hour after any disturbance. But he seemed to have developed a level of trust in Gillian that meant he was now sitting beside her, one eye on her as she tried to introduce him to his first glimpse of the world beyond these four walls, and one eye on the doorway to that world.
She handed him the phone, allowing him to examine it with interest. The everyday item was completely foreign to him. The world above was sure to completely overwhelm him. He would have to leave here sooner rather than later though. The only thing likely to encourage him was the thought of seeing the baby. Gillian feared that he might develop an idea that he would then be reunited with his mother, presuming that was Claudia Kabuso. She had no clue how they could make him understand the reality that lay ahead. They would have to take this slowly. But once he left this place, once they got to the top of those stairs, she knew that the police and the social workers would step in. Her greatest fear was that this boy would be left to the group homes that had neglected his mother. That he would grow up anonymous in a system that would abandon him the moment he came of age. And that she would be powerless to stop it.
