Page 159 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)

The following is from a recorded interview with the District Attorney and Miriam Barton:

DA: Please state your name for the record.

Miriam: Miriam Barton.

DA: Can you explain the allegations against you?

Miriam: You have to understand … No one was supposed to get hurt.

DA: I’m going to need you to walk me through it. Start at the beginning.

Miriam: I was just trying to get what I deserved.

DA: What do you mean by that?

Miriam: I was filing for divorce when I found out that my husband slipped a clause into our prenup that would leave me penniless. So, I made a plan to ensure I wouldn’t be left without means.

DA: You used your daughter and her friends to collect ransom money?

Miriam: You make it sound worse than it was. Their families had plenty of money. They wouldn’t miss it. Besides, he assured me the drugs he used were safe and they wouldn’t remember a thing.

DA: You’re referring to Levi Monroe?

Miriam: Yes .

DA: How did you meet him?

Miriam: Online.

DA: You mean on the dark web?

Miriam: Well kidnappers don’t go advertising on billboards, now do they?

DA: So you hired Monroe to kidnap the girls to collect ransom money. How much?

Miriam: Ten million.

DA: What happened to the money?

Miriam: There was no money. Cara’s father was dragging his feet, refused to pay.

DA: Then what happened?

Miriam: I don’t know. Sloane just showed up out of the blue babbling about witches and the bayou. Of course no one was going to pay the ransom then. So I called Monroe, told him I wanted to call the whole thing off.

DA: What was his response?

Miriam: He wasn’t happy. Said he wouldn’t return the girls unless I paid him. But I didn’t have any money. I was going to pay him with part of the ransom.

DA: What happened next?

Miriam: The storm.

DA: Hurricane Katrina?

Miriam: Yes.

DA: And Monroe?

Miriam: I never heard from him again. The police presumed the girls died in the storm, so I assumed he did too. But I never stopped looking for her, my Elizabeth. I just knew she was alive. I knew it. When can I see her?

DA: She doesn’t want to see you, Mrs. Barton.

Miriam: I understand she’d been through a lot, but if I could just explain it. She has to understand that I never meant for any of this to happen.

DA: But it did happen, Mrs. Barton. You hired a serial killer to abduct your daughter and three of her friends. Two of them are dead and Sloane Bridges has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment since she fled New Orleans .

Miriam: I-I didn’t know this was going to happen. You have to believe me.

DA: I believe you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one ? —

Dana hit stop. She’d heard more than enough. Monroe had been right. This story didn’t have a happy ending. But at least it had ended.