The silence in the Interrogation Room was brittle, broken only by the ragged, wet gasps of Gerald Gaines as he sat shivering on the floor. Gareth Quinn, the Director of the Lakeport Development Authority, looked down at his former confidant with a gaze that had turned as cold as a mountain spring. The "fraternal warmth" he had displayed moments ago was gone, replaced by the sharp, survivalist instinct of a veteran bureaucrat.
"No objections! None at all!" Quinn exclaimed, his voice high and frantic as he turned to Ambrose Ward. He waved his hands dismissively, as if trying to push the very memory of his earlier defense out of the room. "I support the Joint Investigation Task Force's decision 100%. To even suggest a formal censure or a report to the Governor's Secretariat was a mistake on
