Picture Story: Law & Disorder Pt. 4 (Patreon)

Detectives Benton and Gabler of the Unconventional Victims Unit brought their suspect - technically, a "person of interest" at that point - back to the squad room for questioning. The name on her driver's license turned up a criminal record. They put her in one of the interrogation rooms and made her sweat while they looked through her file. 

"Persephone Jackson," Benton read from the printout. "And you go by Persie."

The young woman scowled. "My friends call me that. You aren't my friend."

"Fair enough," Benton said, setting aside the file. "I see you've been collared for shoplifting and theft."

"I was framed," the girl replied with a smirk.

"Sure you were," Gabler interjected. She circled around behind Jackson. "So, you're just a nice girl who's gotten a bad rap."

"Yeah, that's me," the girl replied stonily.

Gabler moved up beside the girl. "Showing up at crime scenes is just a hobby for you, I guess?"

Persie shrugged.

Benton laid out several photos of the Sculptor's 'trophies.' The girl's eyes seemed drawn to the images. "These are statues of women who have all gone missing. If they are still alive, we would like to find them." Cynthia allowed that to sink in. "If they are dead, we want to nail the son-of-a-bitch who killed them."

Gabler leaned in close to Jackson. "If you know anything about what happened to those women, now would be the time to talk." The girl looked away. Gabler slammed her palm on the table, causing the girl to jump. "What's your involvement with this?" Ellen demanded. "Do you know who the Sculptor is?"

The girl looked physically ill. She squirmed in her seat and looked around as if seeking an avenue of escape. "I can't," she murmured, a shiver running through her body. "If I tell you anything... she'll do to me what she did to them..."

Benton's eyes narrowed. "She? You mean the Sculptor? If you tell us who she is, we can protect you."

Persie laughed maniacally - she seemed on the edge of losing it. "You have no fucking idea who you're dealing with! You can't stop her! She wants revenge, and she won't stop until she gets it..."

Gabler frowned. "Revenge for what?"

"It started with my dad," Jackson murmured, sagging against the table like a deflated balloon. "She says that he raped her... but she was the one that got punished for it. Because... because my dad is untouchable, like the rest of his kind. She couldn't get to him directly - the rest of his family shields him."

"A mob family?" Gabler suggested.

"It's not the fuckin' Mafia, you dumbass!" Jackson shouted, her eyes wild again. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "She can't go after my dad or the other... others like him. So, she's going after their children. The kids are vulnerable..."

Benton and Gabler exchanged a troubled look at that, but did not interrupt the girl now that she was talking.

"She hates me the most, because my dad is the one who ruined her life," Persie murmured. "She said she was going to leave me alive until the end, so that I would have to watch her bring down the whole damn thing... because she figures they will eventually have to act, if she keeps taking down their kids... the kids like me. And if they act, they will expose themselves to the world..." Her voice trailed off and she just stared at her reflection in the two-way mirror.

The two detectives exchanged another bemused look. "You said 'children'... the women who have disappeared are all adults," Gabler interjected.

"She wouldn't go after younglings," Jackson replied wearily. "She's not that much of a monster... even though she looks like one..." She took another deep breath. "But she's monster enough to go after the adult children... not just the children of my dad's... family... but all of them. She wants to expose all the secrets of all the old... families... by taking down the kids like me..."

It was clear that the girl was dancing around some important piece of information. "You keep saying 'kids like me'," Benton pressed. "What makes you so special?"

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes. "I'm a demigod..."