CHAPTER FORTY THREE
TOBIAS POV
"Thank you all for coming," Jack Kang says as he greets us in the foyer of the Candor compound. "Before we go up there has been a change to the proceedings today. Firstly, Eric will be going last. He was rushed to Erudite a few days ago, they had to remove his appendix. Doctors say they will release him in a few hours. Secondly, Vera hung herself in the cells last night, so we will be having Graham, then Jeanine followed by Eric questioned."
I'm surprised that Vera hung herself. I wonder what secrets she's taken to the grave? We all get into the elevator and all you can hear is silence. No one is talking, which is unusual because both Uriah and Marlene are in the elevator with us. Max decided that Marlene should be here as well, he thought it would be a good learning experience for her. I think he just wanted to show strength in numbers.
When we reach the room where the interrogations will be held I can already see that the room is full to capacity. Jack ushers our group to an area at the side that has been reserved for leaders of the factions.
"Dad," I say and give him a hug. Tris comes up and does the same.
"How are you both?" Dad asks.
"Good," I say.
"What about you Beatrice? Why are you here?"
"I'm good dad," she says. "I am now an ambassador for Dauntless. Max asked that all leaders and ambassadors be here for this."
"Well done," dad says. "I'm so proud of you both. How is Caleb?"
"Caleb is good. He has decided that he is going to become a doctor for Dauntless," Tris says.
"That is good to hear. I am glad he is well," dad says.
"Don't you think you should tell dad how you went in initiation?" I say.
"I got first," Tris says and is blushing.
"Who would believe that both of you got the number one ranking. I can't tell you how proud your mother and I are of both of you. And tell Caleb we are proud of him too, it would of taken him a lot of courage to go against Jeanine," dad says.
"Attention," Jack calls out. "My name is Jack Kang I am a leader here in Candor. Niles will be the questioner for the proceedings today. Please take your seats so we may begin."
People start to take their seats as Jack calls out, "Bring in the first."
There is a deathly silence as we watch Graham who is shackled brought into the room and sat down. I watch as Niles talks to Graham. I can't hear what he is saying but I watch as Graham rubs an alcohol wipe on his own neck. A woman passes Niles a black box, when he opens it I see him pull out a large needle and injects the bluish liquid into Grahams neck.
I watch as Graham's demeanour changes. He has gone from sitting straight in his chair to slouching slightly and his eyes now looked glazed.
"I will ask you a series of simple questions so that you can grow accustomed to the serum as it takes full effect," says Niles.
It already looks to have taken full effect from the body language Graham is showing. But I don't really know much about the truth serum. All I really know is what Christina told us.
"What is your name?" Niles asks.
"Graham Sanders."
"What are the names of your parents Graham?"
"William and Avery Sanders."
"What is your faction of origin?"
"Erudite."
"Which faction did you transfer too?"
"Dauntless"
"Which faction are you loyal too?"
"Erudite."
The silence is broken by the whispers around us. If it was just one person you probably wouldn't have noticed but because so many are now talking amongst themselves, it is quite loud.
"Silence," Jack calls to the crowd. Who quickly quieten back down.
"Why did you transfer to Dauntless if your loyalty is with Erudite"
"Norbert told me too. While I was still a dependant he came to me and asked me to transfer to Dauntless. Then when he retired and Jeanine took over the leadership role in Erudite I followed her."
"Did you know the tracking serum that Jeanine wanted you to inject Dauntless members with was a long range simulation serum?"
"Yes. Jeanine believed that Erudite and in turn herself should be in charge of the council. She didn't think that Abnegation were governing the city adequately. So she planned to have Dauntless murder the members of Abnegation."
"Did you believe in what Jeanine was doing?"
"Yes."
"Who else in Dauntless was in on your plan?"
"Vera. Along with Seb, Jane, Nicole, Matt, Cam, Mike, John, Jimmy, Bob and Frank."
Eric's name hasn't been mentioned. I quickly write a note for Niles to ask Graham about Eric's involvement.
"No other leader was involved?"
"No."
"What about Eric Coulter? Intel suggests he was to play a large part in this."
"I hadn't had a chance to talk to Eric yet. Jeanine had him on another project."
"What project was Eric working on?"
"He was hunting Divergents."
Another outbreak of whispers go around the room. But as soon as Jack stands up to quieten them everyone goes silent.
"Graham Sanders I have one last question to ask. We ask all Candor this question before we end an interview. What is your deepest regrets?"
"That I chose Dauntless. I would have been happier in Erudite. Dealing with the members of Dauntless was tiresome."
I round of "Thank you for your honesty," can be heard from the Candor in the room.
Jack stand up. "We will be handing the prisoner over to Dauntless at the end of the day. It will be up to Dauntless to decide on what his punishment shall be."
"Shoot him," someone yells out. "Yeah," more people yell in agreeance.
"Thank you," Jack says. "I would appreciate quiet so we can bring in the next person for interrogation. You can take up with Dauntless leadership any forms of punishment you feel would be appropriate once the interrogations are over."
Thanks Jack, I think to myself. I am sure Max is going to be inundated with creative ways to execute Graham once we are back home.
I watch as Jeanine Matthews is brought into the room. She is not looking her usual smart self. Her clothes are wrinkled. She looks years older without her makeup and slick hair do. They shackle her to the chair. Just like with Graham a woman hands Niles the black box with the needle in it. Niles injects Jeanine and as he is moving away from her something in the crowd catches my eye.
I watch as Tori stands up pointing a gun towards Jeanine. "This is for Georgie," Tori yells.
"No Tori," Tris calls out.
But it is too late, Tori shoots and I watch as the bullet hits Jeanine square between the eyes. Now I know why Tori has been in the training room the past few days.
The room has gone into utter chaos. People are trying to run to the nearest exit. I move toward Tori, ready to disarm her but there is no need. She has sat back on her seat and handed her gun to a lady in Amity colours. The poor woman is shaking from head to toe. I take the gun from the poor woman and ask Tori to stand.
I hate having to do this. Tori and I are friends, Tris and Tori are friends. I don't actually know anyone who doesn't think of Tori as a friend. But I now have a job to do. "I'm sorry Tori but I am going to have to handcuff you," I say.
"It's okay Four," Tori says.
By now I have five Dauntless guards circling around us. I look up to Cameron and he hands me his handcuffs. We all know that Jeanine deserved to die. But we would have liked to have heard what she had to say. I can also see from the relief on Cameron's face that he didn't want to have to be the one to handcuff her.
I put the handcuffs around Tori's wrists, making sure they aren't going to rub and hurt her wrists. We all learn that if you want to really piss off someone you are arresting then you make sure the handcuffs are as tight as possible, guaranteeing that they will rub the skin off the person's wrists. I could never do that to Tori.
"Cameron, can you please take Tori back to Dauntless?"
"Yes sir."
"I will come and see you when we get back Tori," I say.
"Thank you Four," She says. There is no emotion in her voice. It worries me just how shut down she seems.
I walk back over to where I was sitting before this happened. Wrapping my arm around Tris who is visibly upset at what has happened.
"I have called an hour long recess so that we can get this mess cleaned up. We have a room setup for all of you. I will have food and beverages brought in," Jack says.
We follow the woman who was handing Niles the injections to a conference room. It has a large oval table in the middle of the room, as well as a few lounges.
The door to the conference room opens and six members of Candor walk in with food on trays. I look at my watch and see that it is already noon. I can't believe that we have been here for over three hours. But the smell of the food makes me realise just how hungry I am.
We sit around the conference table, there are eleven of us from Dauntless along with another nine from Erudite, Amity and Abnegation. The Candor delegates decided to eat in their cafeteria.
"What will happen to Tori?" Tris asks.
"I'm not sure," I say.
"Who is George?" Uriah asks.
"It was her brother," Tris says. "Tori believes that Jeanine had him killed for being divergent."
"So she could go with an insanity plea," Uriah says.
"Have you been watching those old cop shows again Uriah?" Marlene asks.
"No," Uriah says.
"What's an insanity plea?" I ask.
"Uriah watches these old cop shows from before the war," Marlene says. "They have all these really crazy excuses that criminals use to try and get out of going to jail."
"They aren't crazy excuses Mar, some of them are really clever," Uriah says.
"What do we do with Tori Max?" I ask.
"I don't know. We all know that Jeanine would have been executed for her crimes. But we needed to have her interrogation to be able to do that. Now I don't know what we are going to do. I really don't want to have to execute Tori for murder. I am going to have to go over our rule book, see exactly what it says. See if I can find a loop hole," Max says.
"Don't you think that is a little unfair?" Camille from Erudite says. "You are quick to tell us that Jeanine should have been executed for planning to murder but you want to save your own member for cold blooded murder."
"Camille I really don't think this is the time for this," Cara says.
"Well when is the right time Cara? We all know that you hated Jeanine. I bet you are glad she is dead," Camille says.
"Camille some of what you are saying is correct. But planning to kill hundreds of innocent people is not to be compared with Jeanine being murdered," Max says you can hear the anger in his voice. "Tori is a member of my faction and we will deal with her."
"I'm sure you will just brush it under the carpet," Camille says. "Dauntless are supposed to be our protectors and it looks like all they do is cover things up."
"Camille I think you are forgetting that one of our leaders has been found guilty today," Max says. "I can assure you that Dauntless will have no problem executing him for his crimes."
Just as Camille is about to answer Jack enters the room and tells us that it is time for Eric's interrogation to begin.
Before we leave the room Joanna Reyes from Amity stops and talks to Max. I can't hear what they are saying but Max seems to relax talking to her. I even see a slight smile on his lips before they end their conversation.
We walk back into the room we were in only an hour ago and find that there are a lot less people here. The shooting must have scared them away. We take our seats and watch as Eric is brought in and Niles prepares him for questioning.
"Please state you name," Niles says.
"Eric Coulter."
"What are your parents' names?"
"Raymond and Sonya Coulter."
"What is your faction of origin?"
"Erudite."
"Which faction did you transfer too?"
"Dauntless."
"Which faction are you loyal too?"
"Dauntless." There are murmurs throughout the crowd.
"Did you know the tracking serum that Jeanine wanted you to inject Dauntless members with was a long range simulation serum?"
I find that it is strange that he is asking Eric this question because Graham already said he didn't know.
"No. Graham asked me to meet with him about the tracking serum but I was training initiates and didn't have time."
"Would you have gone along with what Jeanine had planned?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it would have been Graham who asked me too. As a member of Dauntless you do what you are told without question."
"Graham told us that you were hunting divergent's for Jeanine. Is this true?"
"Partly."
"How many divergent's have you killed?"
"None."
Tris and I look at each other. You can see the surprise on our faces. I could say that I am completely shocked with this answer.
"Can you explain this please?"
"The orders came directly from Jeanine. She isn't a leader of Dauntless so I made it look like I was following her."
"Did anyone else help you with this?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell us the name of that person or persons?"
"No. I just know they are from Abnegation. We never met in person. We had a drop off point where we left information for each other. I also had help from Tom Stanton a dauntless member. He was helping divergents' when I came to Dauntless. He showed me what to do. When he failed with someone that Jeanine wanted killed she had Vera murder him. I took over the job in Dauntless after that."
So that was what Vera was trying to hide. She must have known it was going to come out. But killing yourself, I don't think I could do that. I couldn't kill someone the way she did either.
"What became of the people you pretended to murder?"
"I don't know. I would get the person out of Dauntless, make it look like an accident or suicide. That is where my part ended. I didn't want to know."
Could Tori's brother George still be alive? What about Amar?
"Where did you get the bodies from?"
"The morgue. We have a lot of the factionless use our morgue, it is closer than Erudite. So I would use them."
"One last question Eric. What is your deepest regrets?
"That I didn't beat Four. He was number one in our initiation class; I wish I could have beaten him, also I wish I had beaten him to become Dauntless leader. And that I didn't get the chance to ask out Tris, Four doesn't deserve her. He doesn't deserve any of what he has . . . I do."
I just sit there as I watch the room empty. I really don't know how to react to what Eric has just said. The whole taking bodies from the morgue is just creepy but he was saving other people's lives. But then it makes me wonder if Amar and George are alive. How many other people who were thought dead are alive also?
Then there are the regrets that he has. I don't know what to think.
"Talk about some exciting revelations," Uriah says a little to excitement in his voice.
"Did you know that is how he felt?" Uriah asks.
"I knew he hated me. But I didn't really know why. I thought it was because of where I was from. I knew he had taken to helping Tris whenever he could but I thought he was trying to get into Max's good grace so he could get a leadership position," I say.
"What about you Tris? Did you know?" Marlene asks.
"Not a clue. I mean I knew he was nicer to me than most of the initiates but I didn't know why," Tris says.
"Well I think it is time we get back to Dauntless," Max says. "We have a lot to discuss."