131 Acting on Impulses (2/2)

”Not really, no,” he shrugged.

I could tell he was close to being done. But we couldn't stop trying.

”Well, she was your wife and you had a child together. That tells me you loved her a lot and therefore married her. And didn't the thought cross your mind when she left you?” Nash asked. He leaned forward and stared intensely at McCain.

”Of course, the thought crossed my mind, but I am not a monster who acts on his impulses.” He gritted through his teeth. His body language told me that he didn't believe the words he was saying either. He was having to force them out of him. Or maybe I was reading him wrong. Maybe he did think he was not a monster, despite how badly he had beat up his ex-wife and child. Despite having killed her and cleared evidence of him around the perimeter to obstruct justice.

”Acting on impulses doesn't make you a monster,” I interjected quickly. ”You're human.” And that was why humans were worse. ”And I am not judging you for trying to talk through your problems with her.”

Nash nodded. ”Yes, we will not judge you for wanting to talk to her and sort things out. Maybe you did talk about things and you guys wanted to have sex and went to the bedroom. Maybe something went wrong and you panicked. Is that a possibility?”

McCain shook his head. ”Never.”

”So, you're telling me you never went into her bedroom?” Nash confronted.

”No.”

Nash glanced at me.

”And you never tried to choke her… during a sexual act?” I prompted. McCain's eyes jerked to me.

”No…”

”You didn't touch any part of her body?” I asked.

”No.”

”Are you afraid to tell me if you did?” I gave him another way out. ”Because it seems like you are trying to think instead of answering my questions. You are trying to think three steps forward with our line of questioning.” I smiled politely at him.

”No.”

”I think we have demonstrated enough with you that you know that I know that you didn't leave when you said you did. You know we can follow the signal to your secret phone. You know we can get your DNA from her when she touched you.”

McCain's face turned into a grimace.

”Remember how I said I only ask questions I know the answer to? We already know you touched her.”

And realization dawned on him. He was trapped.

Nash kicked my chair. ”We want to know what happened. Tonight. So, what will you do?” Nash asked finally.

And that did it. He was silent for a few minutes. ”I want to call my lawyer,” he said finally.

I didn't show any emotions. Nash, too remained silent for a minute.

”Well, you can call your lawyer once you go out,” he said finally. We got up from the chair and went out. As we went out, we saw a throng of people waiting outside.

”If he calls Collins, he'll get McCain out in no time,” Nash hissed.

”Are you waiting for a confession? We have a lot of evidence on hand,” I commented. I saw him nod and sighed. ”Okay, then we can detain him by charging him for obstruction of justice and lying on testimony,” I suggested.

”We could process that,” he agreed immediately.

But it was too late. We could see Collins pushing through the crowd and coming in. The media surrounded him. His face was easily recognizable from the high-profile cases he had undertaken. We heard a flurry of questions, but thankfully Collins didn't answer anything out of spite.

”You're holding my client?” he said, his jaw ticking.

”No, we are not holding him. He willingly came to talk to us without a lawyer,” Nash responded confidently.

”It's past midnight. This is unlawful,” Collins hissed.

”Sorry, we followed procedure and received his consent,” Nash said plainly. ”We were just about to call you to get him,” he said after a pause.

”Did he say something?” Collins asked immediately.

”Please talk to your client,” Nash urged. We waited outside as Collins burst through the door to inside the room.

”Get up!” he commanded. ”We'll talk about this later. We need to get you out of here immediately.”