EXCERPT #17

[…]

INTERVIEWER: “The trial.”

WITNESS #9791: “A circus. Next question.”

INTERVIEWER: “[Laugh] I mean it, sergeant. Let’s hear more about it, shall we?”

WITNESS #9791: “Well, did you get access to the audio tapes or not?”

INTERVIEWER: “I did.”

WITNESS #9791: “Then you got nothing else to hear from me. That’s why I said ‘next question’.”

INTERVIEWER: “I think you understand what I meant. I’m interested in hearing what was left out of the tapes.”

WITNESS #9791: “Such as?”

INTERVIEWER: “What actually happened that day would be a good place to start, I think.”

WITNESS #9791: “Are you going on record accusing me of lying under oath, son? Is that what we’re doing right now?”

INTERVIEWER: “[Laugh] Of course not, sir. The Republican Army appointed a commission to investigate your claims, I believe.”

WITNESS #9791: “Yeah, so what if they did?”

INTERVIEWER: “They acquitted you of all charges of treason, is what I reckon.”

WITNESS #9791: “Yes, I remember that part, thank you for clarifying.”

INTERVIEWER: “Furthermore, you were honorably discharged and awarded highest honors.”

WITNESS #9791: “Is this getting somewhere, or…?”

INTERVIEWER: “I mean, like I said earlier, this is not a bad track record, not by any stretch. Quite the high note to end your military career on, wouldn’t you say so?”

WITNESS #9791: “Okay, enough with whatever this bullshit routine is, can you just tell me what you want to know so I can either answer it or not?”

INTERVIEWER: “Private Romanek’s report, naturally.”

WITNESS #9791: “[Silence] Just say what the question is.”

INTERVIEWER: “How may I put this? On a scale of one to ten, one being him and ten being someone who wasn’t indicted in the first place, where would you place the deal you were given?”

WITNESS #9791: “[Silence] I see where this is going.”

INTERVIEWER: “Care to tell me where that is?”

WITNESS #9791: “I already told you. You think I’m full of shit. You think I lied to the commission to save my ass. Stop dancing around it, just call a spade a spade, just bring me the papers you want me to sign if you want a confession so bad. I didn’t come here to spend all day listening to your collection of euphemisms for telling me to spill the beans.”

INTERVIEWER: “Well, if I brought the papers, would you sign them?”

WITNESS #9791: “Of course not.”

INTERVIEWER: “[Laugh] Good, because there are no papers. For this project we’re operating by word of mouth.”

WITNESS #9791: “That and tape recordings, you mean.”

INTERVIEWER: “Among other things, yes.”

WITNESS #9791: “[Silence] Is this why you brought me here? To ask me, politely, to throw myself into the dog pen so you can get dirt on the guy you were hired to catch?”

INTERVIEWER: “I know this is a rhetorical question but no, we don’t need ‘dirt’ on anyone to make sure this investigation doesn’t fall through. Furthermore, we don’t need you compromising your plea deal in order to help us.”

WITNESS #9791: “Calling it a plea deal just shows how much my word means nothing to you, apparently.”

INTERVIEWER: “Sergeant, I’m not here representing the law, I’m here representing private interests that align with yours, at least for the time being. You don’t have to stick to the script, your trial was fifteen years ago. You’re out of the woods.”

WITNESS #9791: “[Slamming on table] ‘Out of the woods’? Is that what you call this? I can’t even sleep at night because of what this bullshit criminal operation inflicted upon me and like twenty other people, both physically and mentally. I lost the ability to simply lie down and sleep like a normal person. You think I slept in the past twenty four hours? [chair dragging] I’m about to lose my medication, my pension, my house, who knows what else after that. Do I look like a man outside of the woods you speak of, you slick-haired brat?”

INTERVIEWER: “I’ll need to ask you to sit down, sergeant.”

WITNESS #9791: “Look buddy, I got way too much riding on what little I was given to work with. I don’t give a shit about the honors, this whole thing made me realize I fucking hate this army and this country. If they want to label me a traitor and a coward, fine, I’m not losing sleep over that of all things that have been keeping me up at night. I know where their loyalty lies, I know what type of person they’re willing to call a hero.”

INTERVIEWER: “[Silence]But…?”

WITNESS #9791: “‘But’? The fuck you mean, ‘but’? But I need that pension, man. What’s so hard to understand about someone not doing something because they’re scared of starving to death? That shit is my only source of income, I can barely stay afloat. I can’t even get a dead-end blue-collar job like most of my friends without getting written out of my own pension, all thanks to this bullshit unemployment legislation those parasites at the Committee keep pushing every year, may God fucking curse their cocksucking souls into the tar pits of Hell. [Silence] I need to pay bills, I need to buy medication. Now they want to cut me off and I can’t even pay for new roofing during the rainiest season all year. Don’t you see, kid? They’re trying to snuff me out like a rat. That’s all I am to them, some vermin they need to get rid of but just can’t find the right angle to swat. First it’s the pills, then it’s the house, then it’s me panhandling my way into dying of hypothermia on some park bench, or freezing to death after falling in some ditch. I can’t end like this. I have a family.”

INTERVIEWER: “[Silence] I understand your concern, Ivan. But you also need to understand that in the event that anything happens to you, they’re still under government protection. The Reparations Act oversees the closest of kin even of the men you killed, let alone those who fought them.”

WITNESS #9791: “Bullshit. They said my consultation was safe under the Act as well, and see where that went.”

INTERVIEWER: “Yes, I understand, what they did to you was unfair, there’s no question about it. But I need you to trust me right now. Our legal team went through your files several times over before I was greenlit to even approach you.”

WITNESS #9791: “Wait. What do you mean by that?”

INTERVIEWER: “That it was ruled as anti-ethical to even involve you in this probe if there was any risk of this involvement damaging your family’s livelihood. I was only allowed to approach you after our legal team made sure they were safeguarded under the Reparations Act. [Silence] The papers are right here, if you want to take a look at them. This is the legal report from the week before our first phone call.”

WITNESS #9791: “[Silence] I don’t know, kid. This looks legit and all, but… I lived long enough to regret having trusted legal teams I never got to meet in person. More than once, I mean.”

INTERVIEWER: “Ivan, I’ll just be candid. I know you think we’re monsters, but we’re just a joint effort in public security. It’s the people who put you in this situation that we’re asking for your help to hold accountable.”

WITNESS #9791: “[Laugh] And save face, in the process. Conveniently.”

INTERVIEWER: “I believe you told me to call a spade a spade, didn’t you? So yeah, I’ll just tell you as it is. We need to catch Partridge before more people get hurt and we have to answer for it. You can help us, but only if you agree to tell me what happened that day.”

WITNESS #9791: “[Silence] This building is technically your office, isn’t it?”

INTERVIEWER: “For now, at least.”

WITNESS #9791: “So I guess I can’t drink here.”

INTERVIEWER: “[Silence] Let me call my supervisor.”

[RECORDING STOPS]