Miller escorts Anna and the restrained Adrian Wren into a secured records room at the Municipal Records Annex. Mara Vale remains behind with station security and her recorded statement.
Metal cabinets line the walls. On the central table, Wren’s consulting files, donor records, and the archived missing-person investigation wait beneath evidence markers.
Detective Miller
Wren stays restrained, and nobody handles a document without logging it. We compare records first, then we ask questions.
Wren sits opposite Anna, wrists secured before him. His tailored coat is immaculate, but his attention fixes on the oldest investigation folder.
Adrian Wren
You are looking for a connection that was never meant to be visible. The client list is only one layer.
Miller opens the first folder. A yellowed index card slips from its sleeve, bearing a handwritten notation beside Wren’s consulting firm and Anna’s father’s name.
Detective Miller
This notation predates the casino operation. Wren, explain why your client list references him before Pike received the message.
“I confront Wren about the handwritten notation”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -2)
Anna
You will explain this notation. Why was my father’s name in your firm’s records before Pike received your message?
Wren’s composure fractures. Miller’s recorder continues, while Anna’s direct accusation leaves him no credible way to call the notation an administrative error.
Adrian Wren
Because I had already selected him. The client asked for a pressure point connected to the missing-person investigation, and your father fit it.
Adrian Wren
I supplied Pike with his name, address, routines, and the warning that he would recognize danger. The casino operation was built around making his death implicate others.
Miller marks the index card and the confession in the evidence log. Wren’s raised voice carries into the corridor, drawing a records officer to the secured door.
Detective Miller
That is a confession of selecting the victim and directing the operation. We have it recorded, but the interruption means every document now requires a second chain-of-custody witness.
The officer enters to witness the logging process. Wren lowers his gaze toward Anna’s father’s name, while the decisive connection between the old case and the murder stands preserved.
“I offer Wren protection for useful information and press Wren to name his client.”
SUCCESS (Good Interrogation, rolled -1)
Anna
Give us useful information, and I will put protection on the record. Name your client, Wren. Who ordered my father marked?
Wren studies Anna, then Miller’s recorder and the witness at the door. The offer gives him a lawful path to safety, but no promise of immunity.
Adrian Wren
Protection from Pike, from the organization, and from whoever funded the request. I want that documented before I speak.
Detective Miller
You’ll receive protection consideration for verified information. You will not receive immunity here.
Wren exhales and gives the client’s name. At that moment, the recorder’s battery warning sounds, forcing the records officer to begin a second written transcript.
Adrian Wren
The client was Calder Foundation Services, acting through its director, Marcus Calder. He commissioned the pressure-point profile and approved your father’s selection.
Miller records the name by hand while the officer logs the failing device, the interruption, and Wren’s exact statement. The answer is preserved, but the original recording is incomplete.
✓ Quest Accepted
Complete the written transcript of Wren's confession
“I will have Wren verify and sign the completed transcript.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
Anna places the completed transcript before Wren, with the client name, his exact statement, and the recorder interruption marked in the margins. The records officer keeps watch.
Wren reads every page slowly, comparing the typed account with Miller’s handwritten notes. He stops at the sentence identifying Marcus Calder, then continues to the certification line.
Adrian Wren
This is accurate. The wording about Calder Foundation Services and Marcus Calder is mine. I am not retracting it.
He initials each page and signs the final sheet. The pen skips across his surname, so the officer supplies a second pen and records the replacement.
Adrian Wren
I verify this transcript as a complete account of what I said today, excluding nothing about the client or the commission.
Miller countersigns as witness, while the records officer logs Wren’s signature, the failed pen, and the incomplete audio file. The signed transcript now secures the confession.
Detective Miller
That puts Calder’s name into the chain of custody. We preserve this transcript before anyone questions how the recording ended.
Quest Complete
Complete the written transcript of Wren's confession