CHAPTER 77

77

LOG 10/16/2023 21:51 GMT-4

TRANSCRIPT: AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING Analysis Note: The subject's vitals dropped again for nearly a minute before restoring. Sordello has made it clear she doesn't want anyone going in there to check the equipment.

Sordello: Tell me about the video. Maro: I don't want to talk about the video. Sordello: I'm curious. Is that because you know it's real, or because you know it's not? Maro: You've clearly got a copy. Why don't you tell me? Sordello: That's not how this works. Maro: [ Frustrated; rubs both temples ] I can't explain it any more than half the other things that happened. Sordello: We don't need to discuss it yet, but we will talk about it. Maro: [ No response ] Sordello: Do you believe hiding in the sheriff's house was the correct course of action for you to take? You were still an active deputy at that point. Maro: I was following orders. Staying put. Trying to get outside help. That was the right thing to do. Sordello: Yet you gave that particular task to a suspect in your custody rather than try yourself. You sent one of your girlfriends off to try to work the shortwave radio rather than do it yourself. Maro: I'm one person. I had to delegate. I needed to think. Part of me wanted to get out in the streets, but if I'd left the house and tried to defuse one situation after another, there was a good chance I would have gotten myself killed and Ellie would have been alone. The only law left. Something happens to her, and there's no one. We needed a better plan. We needed options, and we had none. Sordello: Because the inmates were running the asylum? Is that how you see it? Maro: We were completely outnumbered. Sordello: Why do you think you were spared? Maro: Spared? We weren't spared. Things were just as crazy in that house as they were everywhere else. Maybe worse. Nobody was spared. We were all one wrong comment away from killing each other, same as the rest of the town. [ Grows visibly agitated ] How about you explain why you cut us off? One phone call—that's all we needed—one call to bring in help, but you let nothing out. Sordello: That wasn't us. Maro: That's bullshit. Sordello: What if I told you we made attempts to contact you and couldn't get through? The few times we did, we did everything we could to try to keep you safe? Maro: I'd know you were lying. Analysis Note: Via the private comm channel, Sordello's supervisor told her not to overstep. She no doubt heard him but didn't acknowledge. Nonetheless, she changed the subject.

Sordello: You've since learned the meeting at the middle school was orchestrated by a boy named Cody Hill. Looking back, what would you have done differently? To stop him. Maro: [ No response ]