Chapter 17 - What Marcus Finally Said
Marcus had spent his adult life convincing other men they were afraid of him. Yet when Investigator Grant arrived at the secure interview room, he kept asking whether the hallway was clear.
"Greer told me to make the boy talk," he said. "He said if I scared him, Sol would move. That's what they wanted: to see which old men would protect him."
"Why would you do that to a child?"
Marcus looked away. "Because I was good at being the kind of man Greer needed."
He described the exchange of favors: preferred housing, extra calls, small privileges. In return, he intimidated inmates who complained about missing men. He had never seen the full contract scheme. He had seen enough to know people were being hurt.
"You want credit now?" Grant asked.
"No. I want them to stop."
Marcus also explained what the cafeteria had witnessed. Years earlier, Sol had started stepping between new arrivals and older predators. Men didn't stand because they worshipped the boy or recognized his face. They stood because Sol stood, and everyone understood that something terrible had crossed a line.
"I thought he was weak," Marcus admitted. "Turns out I was the one following orders."
Owen learned about the interview from his mother, who had been asked whether he'd agree to a child-friendly recorded statement. He said yes only after a counselor explained that he could pause, ask questions, and refuse to sit in the same room as the men who took him.
"Will Marcus get out?" Owen asked.
"Telling the truth doesn't erase what he did," Iris answered. "That's for the court to decide."
At Greywater, Sol received a letter from Owen. It contained a hand-drawn checkers board with every piece present. Sol smiled for the first time in weeks.
May you like
Then an officer came to move him to a protected unit.
In the hallway, the officer whispered, "Pierce has been arrested. But Greer says the kid is lying."
