Chapter 54

*Jake*

We are standing on the other side of a one way mirror, with Trixie sitting at a table on the other side of the mirror. It takes every ounce of restraint I have in me not to go over to the other room and stangle answers out of her. Detective Smith is with us, he will not be doing the interrogating but will be there to pass along any questions we may have. He told us that she already waived her rights to a lawyer boasting that she had connections, she didn’t need a lawyer.

Two detectives enter the room and sit opposite to Trixie. They go through the usual talk about the interview being taped and her having the right to call an attorney. Again she waived her rights. Wasting time is all this is doing. I sigh in frustration and Luke reaches over to squeeze my arm, he understands what I am going through.

They start simple, asking her why she was at Payton’s office and how she got up to the executive floor. She answers simply, matter of factly: a friend had wanted to surprise Payton with a weekend getaway and had sent her to Payton’s office to pick her up. When they ask her the name of the friend she pauses and stutters a little, easy to see she is grasping at names in her head. She comes up with Jane Smith—real original. Then she gets back in her groove and spits out an address and phone number for this Jane, who we all know doesn’t exist.

Getting into the office building and up to the top floor seemed to be a combination of crap security and good timing. Someone was leaving the building as she entered the main doors. No one was at the security desk (I guess the guard had started his lockdown routine just as she arrived). She got in the elevator and went as far as the floor ‘Jane’ told her Payton worked on but she wasn’t in her office. One detective stops her to ask if anyone else was there, to which she responds honestly this time, saying there was a man working at a table to the side but when she saw Payton wasn’t there she figured she would wait for her outside the building.

A detective asks why she didn’t just do that the first time. Trixie pauses again as if trying to come up with an excuse. She really did not have this planned out very well. Then she tells the detectives that she was afraid she would have missed her. They let that pass and asked her to continue with what occurred while she was in the building.

According to Trixie, as she turned away from Payton’s office, she saw her get on the elevator. She sang out to her but Payton didn’t hear. Lucky for her, she noticed the floor the elevator went to and she simply waited for it to come back and went to that floor herself. When she got there, she simply waited for Payton to return to the elevator to go back to her floor. The main detective asked why she didn’t just wait for her on her own floor instead of following her. Trixie simply shrugged and laughed it off, saying she never thought of that. Meanwhile I am thinking she was afraid if she hung around the same spot too long, someone mainly me would see her. No, when you want to stay invisible, the best thing to do is keep moving to blend in with everyone else.

The detective tells her to continue. Her response is that there was not much left to tell. Payton came back to the elevator, where she recognized Trixie and went with her willingly. She then dropped her off at the Sofia Hotel, where Jane was waiting for their spa appointments. I almost laughed at this. Payton was not a spa girl and I am pretty sure Trixie is not either. However, I was getting more tense by the minute. Why were they letting her go on like this? It was wasting time, valuable time. I start to ask Detective Smith this, when the other detective with Trixie begins his interrogation.

“Okay, Ms. Rodriguez, you had your chance to tell us your little story,” the way he says this makes Trixie immediately sit straight and swallow. “Now, how about you close up that little fairy tale book you have been reading out of and try the truth,” although I cannot see his face, I can imagine the glare he is sending her way. Okay, so he is the ‘bad cop’, let’s get on with this.

Trixie recomposes herself and swears she is telling the truth that is all that happened. Bad cop picks up the ipad and plays the video they have from the surveillance tape. Trixie tries to use this as proof that her story is the truth at first. Then the Detective points out the fact that you can clearly see something pressed into Payton’s back. Trixie insists there was nothing there, she was just leading her. When they get to the struggle at the exit, Trixie pales but doesn’t say anything. The Detective then ups the ante and asks her about being picked up for illegal possession just a few nights ago and how they would be contacting the arresting officer to see exactly why she was not charged.

That’s when Trixie begins to sing and throw Officer Dean MacDonald completely under the bus. We listen to her trash out the details. Dean did indeed stop her on a traffic violation and confiscated 2 rolled joints from the console of her car. He told her that while it wasn't against the law to smoke marijuana in California, it was illegal to have it in clear view in your vehicle while driving. After all, within such easy access, she could actually smoke them while driving and that was completely illegal. She pleaded with him that she had no intention of smoking it in the car or driving under the influence but he insisted he had to take her in. Once they got to the station and he took her into an office, not an interrogation room, where he had a proposition for her. A “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” agreement. He wouldn’t tell her at the time what she had to do but assured her he would be in touch. She doubted that she would ever hear from him again, how could she possibly help out a cop?

However, a week later Dean arrived at her apartment, an address she did not share with him, she emphasizes, with the details of the snatch and grab. Trixie turns on the waterworks then, she was terrified of what he would do if she didn’t go along with his plan. One woman to another, she did not want to do this to poor Payton. Then Dean gave her a tazer and showed her how to use it. She couldn’t imagine how scared the poor woman would be but she was even more afraid what would happen if she didn’t do as she was told.

I can’t hold it in any longer as I slam my fist against the glass and scream, “where the fuck is she!” Detective Smith and Luke are on me in an instant.

“Look, I know this is frustrating but you chill,” this comes from Luke.

“Jesus Christ, you hothead. She knows someone is listening now,” this from Detective Smith. “If she clams up and doesn't tell us where she took Payton, it's on your shoulders. Fucking civillians, you are not even supposed to be in here.” He shakes his head at me. While I don’t give a shit what he thinks of me, I do feel a sense of panic over the thought that Trixie might stop talking.

I tune back in to what is being said on the other side of the glass and I hear Tixie’s next words, “took her to the Devils’ compound.”