Chapter 10 - Behind the Ballistic Partition-10
Ten minutes later, I walked into the primary visitation booth to face Elmer one final time before his transfer to a maximum-security federal correctional facility in Indiana.
The room was divided by a thick, seamless pane of reinforced ballistic glass. Elmer sat on the cold metal stool on the other side, his orange jumpsuit wrinkled, his face gaunt, his hands shaking in heavy iron shackles as he lifted the plastic intercom phone. I picked up my receiver, holding it to my ear in total silence.
"You look remarkably well, Joanna," Elmer whispered through the line, his voice a raspy, broken shadow of its former self. "I see the civilian clothes suit you just as well as they did when you were playing the quiet, submissive auditor at my dining table."
"I am not here to exchange pleasantries with you, Elmer," I said, my voice carrying the clinical detachment of a lead investigator closing an empty file. "I am here to deliver the final court orders. The divorce decree was finalized by Magistrate Croft this morning. Your parental rights have been permanently and irrevocably terminated by order of the family court, and a lifetime protective order has been issued prohibiting you or any member of your family from ever contacting Louisa."
Elmer let out a sharp, bitter bark of laughter that degenerated into a dry, ragged cough. He pressed his face close against the ballistic glass, his eyes flashing with a sudden, desperate malice.
"You think you've won, Joanna?" he whispered, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the plastic receiver. "You think you can just take our daughter, take your trust money, and go back to your quiet little life? The Noraline syndicate... it wasn't just my father's local project. The cartel behind those Cypriot holding firms... they don't care about federal court verdicts. They care about their lost capital! Eighty-five million dollars of their money is currently frozen because of your camera trick!"
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He leaned closer, his breath fogging the glass partition between us.
"They know your name, Joanna. They know where you live, where you work, and where Louisa goes to preschool. You might have locked me in this steel cage, darling, but you've locked yourself and our daughter in a prison of fear for the rest of your days. Every time a car slows down outside your house... you’ll know they're coming to collect the debt."
