Chapter 8 - The Glass Barrier
The Maricopa County Lower Buckeye Jail was a cold, brutal place of cinderblock walls and heavy steel doors.
I sat in a small visitation room, separated by a thick pane of bulletproof glass. On the other side, a heavy metal door opened, and a guard escorted Derek inside.
He was wearing an orange jumpsuit. His hands were handcuffed to a waist chain. The polished, powerful executive was gone; in his place was a hollow, defeated man with sunken eyes and graying stubble along his jawline.
He sat down heavily and picked up the black plastic telephone receiver.
I picked up mine. I didn't say a word. I just looked at him.
"Laura," his voice came through the earpiece, raspy and thin. "Thank you for coming."
"I'm here for Samantha's trust documents," I said, my voice as cold as steel. "You have fifteen minutes."
Derek let out a dry, pathetic laugh. "You always were so rigid when you were angry. You know... I didn't want any of this to happen to Sam."
"You locked her outside in forty-degree rain, Derek," I said, leaning closer to the glass. "You took life insurance policies out on her. You allowed your psychotic wife to frame her with drugs. Don't sit there and pretend you cared about her."
"Brenda pushed the insurance!" Derek blurted out, his eyes wide with desperate self-preservation. "It was her idea! The surrogacy business was failing, the feds were closing in, and she panicked! I never intended to let Sam die, Laura! I swear to God!"
"You watched her lie unconscious on your concrete driveway," I reminded him, my voice shaking with restrained fury. "You looked me in the eye and said she was just being dramatic. You knew she was dying, Derek. You just didn't want to get your hands dirty."
Derek pressed his forehead against the cold glass, tears finally slipping down his face. "I lost everything, Laura. My firm, my home, my reputation... everything."
"You lost nothing you deserved to keep," I said. "You built a life out of cruelty, control, and exploiting vulnerable women. You thought you were invincible because you had money and a big house. But an eleven-year-old girl with a pencil and a piece of paper brought your whole fake world burning down."
Derek looked up, his face twisted in bitter regret. "Is she... does she hate me?"
"She doesn't think about you at all anymore, Derek," I lied smoothly, knowing it would cut him deeper than hatred. "You are a ghost to her. A bad dream she woke up from."
I signaled to the guard standing near the door.
May you like
"Sign the trust papers, Derek," I said, setting the receiver back on the hook. "It's the only useful thing you will ever do for your daughter."
He watched me through the glass, weeping silently, as he signed the documents presented by his attorney. I grabbed the executed files, turned my back on him, and walked out into the sunlight.
