It was a small, mechanical sound, but it felt like the loudest thing I had ever heard.

Derek’s posture slumped instantly.

The cold seemed to hit him all at once, his shoulders shivering under his thin suit.

“You’re making a massive mistake,” Derek muttered, his voice suddenly losing its strength.

“We’ll see about that at the station, sir,” the officer said.

He guided Derek toward the back door of the nearest cruiser.

Derek looked back over his shoulder at me one last time.

The arrogance was gone, replaced by a desperate, ugly panic.

He looked small.

He looked like the weak man he had always been behind closed doors.

The officer pushed his head down gently and closed the cruiser door.

The heavy thud of the police car door was final.

Annika exhaled, a small cloud of steam escaping her lips.

“It’s done,” she said.

“The fraud charges alone will freeze his assets by tomorrow morning.”

“And the assault?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the police car.

“The photographs from last month, the medical report, and the recording from tonight are more than enough,” she said.