Echoes of Resilience

Unauthorized

"What do you mean the deal was unauthorized? How is that possible? Didn't Nicholls run it by the District Attorney before we talked to Shepherd?" Officer Taylor asks her partner, shock coloring her features.

"She told me she did, but according to the DA, it was never run by anyone in her office! She was talking out of her ass to get information out of him and the DA wants to know why, so we gotta investigate." Officer Jacobs explained, struggling to keep her composure and not give into her frustrations. "I've been trying to get intouch with Nicholls, but she's gone off the grid. Her supervisor lost contact with her shortly after we were done with Shepherd. She's been MIA for over sixteen hours!"

"What does this mean for Shepherd? I mean, did Kyla just completely tank the case by offering him a deal without clearing it?"

" Thankfully the DA is willing to sign off on the deal, but if this were to get back to Shepherd, it could blow up in our faces. She manipulated him into confessing to multiple crimes by lying about a deal. His lawyer could easily get the entire interview thrown out. We're looking at a cookie cutter agent that went rogue out of absolutely nowhere. According to her supervisor, she's never done anything like this before and always does everything by the book. All he can figure is that she is somehow connected to one of Shepherd's victims."

"Okay, so we know that Shepherd has committed thirteen murders and held Meredith captive, but until he was told that the death penalty was off the table we only knew of Meredith's abduction and five murders. We suspected him of two other murders as well as Aria's disappearance at that time so that brings the count up to nine victims when you called the feds. We know she's not connected to Meredith or Rose, which leaves seven victims that she could be connected to."

"We know the states that the victims were murdered in, but they were all medical students so that doesn't mean they were originally from the states they died in, so we have to look into each victim's background as well as hers and see if there's any overlap." Jacobs starts pulling out each victim's casefile while Taylor starts looking into Nicholl's past. After about an hour of pouring through all the information they can find they're interrupted by Jacob's phone. She answers the call before looking at Taylor once she hangs up. "We're going to have to take a break, Burke wants to talk."

The two make their way to the jail Burke is being held at and wait in an interrogation room for him and his lawyer. After a few minutes Burke is led in by guards followed by his attorney. He smirks when it sees it's just the two officers this time. "Where's your friend? You know, the one that slammed my face into a wall when you arrested me, should we wait for her?"

"Your face looks just fine to me, so if you're trying to claim police brutality I don't think you have much of a case. You wanted to talk? Talk. I don't see any reason to wait." Officer Jacobs stares into Burke's eyes, mirroring the coldness she sees there. The two engage in a staring contest, both unwilling to break first. After several long moments, Burke slinks back into his chair and breaks eye contact.

"My client understands that the charges against him are severe, he's not denying anything. You have DNA as well as a confession regarding the murdered intern so he knows that denying his role in these heinous crimes is pointless." His lawyer explains to the officers while Burke averts his eyes, suddenly finding the table much more interesting.

"So why are we here? On the phone you said your client had some things he wanted to share with us. I'm sure you're looking for a deal in exchange for information, but we're just cops, we can't cut deals."

"I'm not looking for a deal. I'm sure you're curious about what happened to Rose, I'm sure her family would like some real closure. That closure can only be provided if you have both sides of the story, as of now you only have Derek's. I'm willing to tell you my side, but there is something I want in return." Burke says as he looks back up, making eye contact with Officer Jacobs first before panning his gaze towards Officer Taylor.