A/N: Thank you all for your love and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 2: Interrogation

This was not at all how Christian thought he was going to be spending his Sunday evening.

He had been sitting alone in this interrogation room for nearly two hours now, nothing but an empty table and a one-way glass window to keep him company. He was still in the handcuffs they put him in earlier, but now they were bolted to the tabletop. It was completely unnecessary since the heavy wooden door with a bullet-proof glass window leading out to the hallway was clearly locked.

No one had given Christian any answers yet, and as he sat in his chair staring at the wall, he silently seethed with anger… the longer he sat, the angrier he got. Whatever the hell was happening he knew he had nothing to do with it, and yet the police insisted on treating him like a common criminal. Elena's unfortunate death notwithstanding, there could be a million reasons why his DNA was found in her home. He'd been over a few weeks ago to drop off some documents for Esclava, and surely Elena had dozens of other people coming in and out of her home all times of the day and night. Why did he, Christian, stand out as the main suspect?

This is absolute bullshit. This precinct ought to know I have connections to the mayor…

They had taken his cell phone away, so he had no means of communicating with anyone, but Christian hoped Taylor had the foresight to call up Carrick and tell him what was going on. Though Christian knew he needed his father for legal representation, Carrick and Grace likely wanted to know what had happened to Elena in addition to their son being arrested in connection with her death.

Christian was well aware he still had on his Dom jeans and white t-shirt from earlier, and while he had never wanted to be seen out in public wearing these clothes, he supposed he didn't have much of a choice at the moment. The small analog clock above the door hit 12:30 AM, and Christian's anger and frustration grew. He hated not knowing what was happening, especially when there was nothing he could do about it. Not being in control of a situation frustrated him almost as much as being arrested under false pretenses did.

When the hell am I going to get some goddamn answers?

Finally… the door opened, and a tall, broad-shouldered man in a white button-down shirt stepped inside carrying a thick file folder. Christian couldn't tell if this was one of the cops who had arrested him at Escala, but he definitely looked the part of a police officer with his thick suspenders and a gun holster, as well as a severe buzzcut similar to Taylor's. He didn't look up from the folder he was reading as he walked into the room, kicking the door shut behind him.

"About time," Christian snapped, unable to help himself. "Can I please get some answers as to what the hell is going on? Why was I arrested?"

The man glanced up, wearing an impassive expression. "So sorry for the delay, Mr. Grey," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "My name is Detective Broderick, and I just want to ask you a few questions as to where you were Saturday night."

"You mean was I out murdering Elena Lincoln?" Christian bit out sarcastically. "The answer to that is no. Can I leave now?"

"Not quite yet," Detective Broderick said, taking the seat opposite Christian at the table. "I just want to ask a few questions."

"I'm not saying anything to you until my lawyer gets here," Christian snapped angrily. Broderick raised an eyebrow.

"I just want to know about your relationship with the victim, Mr. Grey. Surely you don't need your lawyer for that?"

Broderick leaned back in his chair while maintaining eye contact - a show of dominance and authority Christian had utilized many times in the boardroom. Christian really didn't want to have to play this game, but whatever the hell got him out of here faster, the better off he'd be.

He scowled. "If you must know, Elena was my business partner and a family friend. That's it."

"And from my file on her, it appears as if you lent her the money to start up her salon Esclava," Broderick stated, flipping through the file in front of him.

"Yes," Christian said shortly. "She lent me money to help start up my own business, so I felt obligated to return the favor."

Broderick gave Christian an insincere smile. "Friends helping out friends… how nice."

Christian resisted rolling his eyes, though his heart pounded in his ribcage. A part of him was worried Broderick might know about his past relationship with Elena, but knew he shouldn't get ahead of himself. "Are we done then?"

"Not quite," Broderick reached into the file folder and pulled out a small sealed clear baggie, and inside was a normal-looking bronze house key. He placed the bagged key on the table and slid it over to Christian. "Does this look familiar to you?"

Christian frowned down at the key. "No. Should it?"

"It was the key we found at the scene of the crime," Broderick explained. "The perpetrator used it to get into Elena's home undetected, which leads us to believe her murder was premeditated. It has your fingerprints on it."

Christian reared back slightly as he looked back up at the detective. "Are you sure?"

Broderick gave him a cold look. "Quite sure, Mr. Grey. We've had your fingerprints on file here at the Seattle PD since you were a teenager… quite the troublemaker you were back then, weren't you?"

Christian ignored that remark. "Well I don't know how accurate your records can be because those fingerprints can't be mine."

"Did Elena give you a spare key to her house?"

Christian blinked. "Well yeah, she did… but that was years ago, and she just did it as a courtesy. Hell, I forgot I even had it, I'd never actually used it."

"Until last night," Broderick accused, glaring at Christian. "Can you confirm that that is your spare key to Elena's house, Mr. Grey?"

Christian was starting to get seriously annoyed. "I don't know, okay? Frankly, it looks like every other house key I've ever seen in my life. How does this prove I murdered Elena?"

"Can you account for your whereabouts on Saturday night, at around 10:30 pm?" Broderick suddenly asked, looking back down at his file.

Frustrated and confused, Christian glared at Broderick for a moment before answering: "Yes. I was at home Saturday night with a… friend. Elizabeth Daniels. She can account for my whereabouts that night."

"Ah yes… Elizabeth Daniels," Broderick said, nodding. "We've heard all about her. Your security guy Taylor told us the same thing, that you were with her at your home in Escala all weekend."

Christian said nothing, not wanting to expound upon his relationship with her.

"Mr. Taylor was so kind as to give us a copy of the background check he ran on her," Broderick continued. "Am I right in assuming you do this for all your 'friends', Mr. Grey?"

The clear inflection in his voice made Christian clench his jaw in annoyance. "I have to be careful with whom I associate myself with," he said in a voice of forced calm. "I have my team run background checks on pretty much everyone I come in contact with."

"I see," Broderick said, taking a packet of papers from the file and setting it down on the table so it faced Christian. "This is a copy of the background check Mr. Taylor gave us of Ms. Elizabeth Daniels."

Christian glanced at the packet - it looked like the standard background check he had Taylor and Welch run on people, complete with Elizabeth's profile picture at the top. "Yeah. So?"

Broderick, his eyes still on Christian, took something else out of the file folder and set it beside the first packet. "This is the file the Seattle PD already has on Ms. Daniels."

Christian looked at the second packet. It was very similar to his own background check on Elizabeth, along with her profile picture at the top, but the biggest difference was the bold red word stamped at the top of the file in all caps:

DECEASED

Christian could only stare at the word for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. He glanced at the rest of the file, which said Elizabeth Daniels had been deceased for about 3 years now, and that she died in a car accident… how was that possible? His eyes flicked up to the picture of the woman to make sure it really was the same Elizabeth Daniels, and though they were both different pictures, it was definitely the same woman.

"They're both Elizabeth Daniels, Mr. Grey," Broderick said, as if he could read Christian's thoughts. "Their height, their weight, their appearance… but the information our precinct has on Ms. Daniels is a bit different from the information you have. Why do you think that is?"

"I have no idea," Christian insisted, looking up at Broderick. For all Broderick knew, Christian's alibi was nothing more than a phantom, and Christian knew he had to convince him. "Look, your information must be wrong or something because I was with Elizabeth Daniels last night. I'm not lying about that."

"Why should I believe you?" Broderick shot back. "For all I know, you just made up an alibi of this random dead woman to cover up the fact that you were out murdering Elena Lincoln Saturday night!"

"That's ridiculous," Christian snapped. "And completely untrue! I was with Elizabeth Daniels last night - look at my background check of her, you can find her contact information."

Still glaring at Christian, Broderick wordlessly pulled out his cell phone and set it face-up on the table. He swiped the screen and went onto the dial pad before typing in a phone number; Christian realized he was calling the number listed on Elizabeth's background check.

Broderick hit speakerphone, and the two listened. A moment later, a three-note tone sounded, and a robotic female voice answered:

"…I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service…"

Broderick ended the call, looking back up at Christian, who sat frozen in his seat and staring at the phone. "Do you think I should try again?" Broderick asked sarcastically.

Christian couldn't say anything for a moment. None of this made sense… what the hell was going on with Elizabeth? Something weird was going on, or maybe he was just going crazy… I mean, he had just seen Elizabeth this weekend!

"CCTV," Christian suddenly said, looking back up at Broderick, who was still glaring at him. "We have security cameras in the main rooms of my home at Escala. They'll prove that Elizabeth was with me all weekend."

Broderick reached into the file folder once again and pulled out a disc encased in a white paper sleeve. He held it up for Christian to see. "That's actually why you were waiting so long in here… your guy Taylor went and got a copy of the security footage from your home. Shall we watch it together?"

Without waiting for a response, Broderick got up from his seat and walked over to an old TV and DVD player sitting on a cart in the corner. He slid the DVD into the player, and turned on the TV with the remote. Christian simply watched him, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach… something very strange was going on here, and he couldn't fight the sense of dread he felt when the black-and-white security feed of Escala's great room appeared on the screen.

"This feed starts at 12:37 PM on Friday," Broderick said, pointing at the time stamp on the lower right-hand corner. "Let's watch, shall we?"

He set down the remote and stood back with his arms crossed, watching the TV. Christian was confused, but he watched the screen as well - nothing looked out of the ordinary, but neither he nor Elizabeth were at Escala at this point. Why wasn't Broderick fast-forwarding through this part? Only Gail was home, walking around the great room cleaning and tidying in her usual meticulous way. After a minute or so, Gail began walking across the great room toward the kitchen, but when she was halfway there, the screen suddenly blinked and she was gone.

Christian frowned. "What just happened?"

"Oh, you didn't see that?" Broderick asked, turning to look at Christian. "Let's rewind."

He picked up the remote and rewound the footage a few seconds before hitting play again. Once again, Gail walked across the great room before the whole screen blinked and she disappeared; Christian now realized that the timestamp read 1:42 PM.

"Do you see the time?" Broderick asked, pointing at the lower right-hand side of the screen. "And do you see the date?"

Christian looked at the date, and realized with shock that it was no longer Friday's date, but rather Sunday's. Two entire days were missing from his security feed.

What the fuck…?

"Forty-nine hours," Broderick stated, pausing the video and turning to face Christian. "Forty-nine hours of your security footage, Mr. Grey… completely vanished. How do you think that happened? Was it just a glitch in your computer system, would you say? Very convenient that the footage from Saturday evening has just magically disappeared…"

Christian's heart was pounding in his ribcage, and he suddenly felt dizzy. All these strange things that were happening… his fingerprints being found at the scene of Elena's murder, Elizabeth's file being altered, and now his security feed being tampered with… someone was doing all this deliberately. Was it Elizabeth? Or was it someone else working with her? He didn't know, but whoever they were, these people were actually trying to send him to prison.

An intense fear suddenly settled over Christian when he realized they might actually succeed.

"Something's not right," Christian muttered, finally tearing his eyes away from the screen to look at Broderick. "None of this makes sense. Someone's framing me… please, you have to believe me."

"Right," Broderick stated, his voice sarcastic. "Someone's framing you… isn't that convenient?"

"It's true! I never laid a hand on Elena," Christian insisted. "Why on earth would I want to murder my friend?"

"Whatever the reason is, we'll find it out," Broderick said, leaning forward so his hands were splayed out on the table, his eyes boring into Christian's. "Everything in the dark eventually comes out into the light, Mr. Grey."

Christian's blood ran cold when he realized that all the secrets he had been keeping from the world were now likely going to become public, in addition to him being a suspect for intentional homicide. What on earth could he do to prove he hadn't killed Elena? And how could he prove Elizabeth Daniels actually existed? He had nothing, and the helplessness he felt was almost overwhelming.

"Mr. Grey?" Broderick asked, raising his eyebrows in expectation. "Anything else you want to say?"

Christian stared into Broderick's eyes for a moment before finally looking away. "I'm not saying anything else until my lawyer gets here," he said in a subdued voice.

"I expected as much," Broderick stated, moving over to pick up his file folder. Without another word, he finished gathering up all his things and headed out the door, closing it with a resounding thud.

A/N: Uh oh… things don't look good for Christian. What's going to happen now?

Please review! Next chapter, we'll meet Anastasia and learn the part she'll play in all of this.