[09:20] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): As Dante entered, he smiled and nodded to them both, unusually quiet. Seating himself slowly, he set down the folder in front of him, tapping it gently. For a minute or two, all he did was stare directly at Ashley, his face completely blank. Finally, his voice broke the silence. "I am only going to ask this once, before I start recording this, Ms. Desire. Because I push record, there is no going back. Are you absolutely sure what you are about to say on this recording is the accurate truth regarding the day at the diner?" His eyes smoldered hotly as he practically pierced through her with his gaze.
[09:21] Ming Yheng frowned "I never said such a thing" and waved her hand dismissively, indicating she wasn't planning to continue with this topic. She nodded in a very official polica way to Dante when he entered the room "Detective, I chose to not cuff her, she cannot make trouble anyway and talking when wearing handcuffs is too....uncomfortable".
[09:24] Ashley: meets Dantes gaze for a while before turning away resting her elbow on the desk and stared at the glass on the other side of the room she looked back when Dante spoke "I dint agree to say anything and I make no promises you called me to the interrogation not the other way around."
[[09:28] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): As Ming spoke, he only nodded to her statement. His eyes remained fixed, burning directly at Ashley. As she casually dismissed his questioning, Dante only smiled. "That let me say this.... your silence is not going to protect you. In fact, I daresay, it's going to change nothing about your situation." He opened the folder, and tossed two pictures her way. One was of the metal carafe, with her fingerprints dusted on them.... and a picture of Chuck's arm, the burns clearly detailed. "Recognize your handiwork?"
[[09:32] Ashley: for the most part kept her gaze on the window she was actively avoiding looking at Dante and Ming when he pushes the images towards her she looked down looking at the carafe before looking up to Dante "Why are we here Detective?" * she asks ignoring the question about recognizing the Carafe or not though she did wince a little seeing the arm burns
[09:36] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): Dante noted her reaction to the photos... and so did the camera, he was sure. Taking the pictures back, he sighed. "Because, I have this theory. Not even a day after Chuck was shot, you end up at Ms. DeRosa's house... to try and make her change her tune. But, her statement is already set to stone... and she refused to be intimidated by your tactics. So, essentially, that was a stupid move on your part. But... that's a whole other story. Let's focus on the diner scene for a moment." Looking down to the folder again, he opened it, and held out four more pictures. They all showed both her and Tony, in close proximity. "You don't look very scared, seeing Mr. Esposito strangling a woman before your very eyes. In fact, these images show you going INTO the kitchen where he was, just before the shooting occurred. Shall I continue?" He placed the pictures back in the folder, and smiled softly at her.
[09:42] Ashley: narrows her brows a little listening intently to what Dante was saying she leans back into the chair a little and takes a deep breath "There is so much wrong in everything you have said detective but correcting you would be like shooting myself in the foot and I quite like my foot." * she then shrugs a little "I am more afraid of cops than I am of thugs .....tell me did Dande ...I mean Mari tell you I was trying to intimidate her or is that a conclusion you have come to? ...but anyway please do go on"
-Beginning of Recording-
[09:46] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): Dante was nonplussed by her bravado. She might not be the dumbest criminal he'd met.... but she sure was reaching for stars trying to brush him off the way she was. "That's confidential, miss. But, let's proceed, since you clearly have done nothing wrong." Without waiting, he pushed the record button. "Today is January 7th, 2022, time is 9:46am. Please state your name for the record, miss."
[09:49] Ashley: she shrugs "Technically a lawyer would tell you everything I have to say is confidential as well detective cooperation is a two way street right?" * she says when he presses the button and asks for her to state her name she raises a brow as if silently asking 'Really?' * she then turns away and goes back to staring the the window clearly having no intention of giving her name for the record
[09:56] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): "Let it be known for the record, the detainee's name is Ashley Desire, though she has chosen to invoke her right to remain silent. Now, Ms. Desire, since you have chosen to go the silent route, which you are legally allowed to... allow me to illustrate the situation you are in, for the record." Dante paused a moment, flipping open the folder, and scanning it over briefly. "On the day in question, CCTV observed you entering the diner. As well as a Mr. Tony Esposito. While at the time, it can be assumed you had no connection, once things became aggravated, the video shows you not only unafraid of him, witnessing him strangling Ms DeRosa.... but you actually picked up a scalding hot carafe of steamed milk, and brought it into the kitchen he was in. Your prints were lifted from said carafe's handle. Also... after reviewing Mr. Berger's medical file, it was ascertained that the second degree burns he suffered contained high traces of animal protein..... milk." Dante paused a moment to let this sink in, his smoldering eyes still fixed on her face as he spoke.
[10:03] Ashley: she listened to what Dante was saying before turning back to him "Fear looks different for different people detective you have absolutely no way of determining whether or not I was afraid at the time ....let the record show that ..." * she says turning to the recorder before turning back to Dante "And I will admit to taking the Carafe into the kitchen." * she was looking a bit angry right now
[10:10] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): Dante watched her reaction, still smiling that faint, knowing smile. "Then, you admit to having assaulted Mr. Berger with scalding milk, causing the burns he now suffers? But, let's move on." He gazes down once again at the file, flipping a page, and nodding. "After the shooting when I arrived on scene, you assisted in helping to stabilize Mr. Berger. I commend you for that. He might not still be alive if not for your efforts in assisting me. The doctor's say I will be able to speak with him to get his statement in the next day or two. I wonder what he wilkl tell me about the events that day?"
[10:10] Ming Yheng had been listenint ith more than common interest and Ashley's attitude was increasing Ming's irritation. Despite Dante being higher in rank and everything being recorded Ming suddenly snarled while rubbing her baton that was attached to her duty belt: "MISS DESIRE..LET ME REMIND YOU THAT THE DETECTIVE IS INTERROGATING YOU!! YOU ARE NOT INTERROGATING HIM!! MIND YOUR ATTITUDE!!"
[10:17] Ashley: she was about to say something but detective decided to move on leaning forward a bit at the mention of what Chuck would say "He would probably not tell you that he tried to slice at me with a clever even though I was just holding a Carafe of milk." * which was a lie but she figured cameras would show Chuck holding a Clever at the very least since he did use that to attack Tony but when Ming shouts whe gets started and almost falls off ehr chairs standing up and stumbling back into the next chair "DAMMIT ...YOU CHARGE ME FOR INTIMIDATION AND THEN DO THE SAME THING ...LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT."
[10:24] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): At Ming's outburst, Dante merely raised a hand to her. "That will be enough, Officer Yheng. Ms. Desire is well within her rights to speak as freely as she so chooses." There was no anger in his tone; but his fixated gave still unwaveringly locked on Ashley's face, studying every reaction intently. As Ashley had her outburst, Dante's control slipped... both hands slammed to the table with enough force to shake everything on it. "That's ENOUGH! Officer... no further outbursts," he slowly turned his head, gazing at her with those same smoldering eyes. "Please. You are here to observe." Their eyes locked for a moment... and she could see the rage within, like lave flowing. Turning back to Ashley, he cleared his throat. "My apologies for my colleague's outburst. It won't happen again, I assure you. So, if I am to understand correctly.... you entered the kitchen, while the assault on Ms DeRosa was happening. And, you contend that Mr. Berger, who by this time was well within his rights to defend his business, attacked you with a clever.... seeing that you were brandishing a weapon, of sorts, of your own. Yet.... you don't have a mark on you... and he has 2nd degree burns. Intriguing...." Dante paused a moment, tapping out a pair of cigarettes, and pulling the ashtray closer. This was one of the few rooms smoking was allowed. He slid one towards Ashley, and lit one of his own.
[10:31] Ming Yheng has always been very unpredictable when dealing with criminals or suspects, as said before by her typist she can be a sweet caring officer of the law and within a split second she is able to change her composure to that of a T-rex, ready to decapitate someone with her teeth. She had her baton now in her hand and tapped it slowly against her right upper leg. She noticed the anger in Dante's eyes and lowered her eyes, too proud to apologize with words but the change of her composure should show him she relented...and she turned her gaze towards Ashley again, baring her pearly white teeth at her, smiling lovingly.
[10:34] Ashley: narrows her brows she felt like she was trying to navigate a maze of deception she knew she had to take the fall but also had to not make it obvious so she had to at-least try to pretend to be innocent at-least till the gun was mentioned she looked over to Ming before taking the cigarette and leaning forward to let Dante light it for her before taking a drag while wishing the cigarette was molly "I tried playing the hero and went in to help the Cheif I guess he saw me as a threat and attacked causing me to panic and throw hot milk."
[[10:42] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): Seeing Ming's remonstration and reservation, Dante nodded softly, turning his full attention back to Ashley, and lighting her smoke. Listening with that same intense look, his smile widened. "Tried playing the hero, you say.... by, not stopping Mr. Esposito from say, strangling a waitress? You made no attempt to stop him. And, from the cloth we collected, which is a piece of the suit that Mr. Esposito was wearing that day.... not a drop of milk on it. Funny that," Dante mused, taking a long drag, and blowing a few rings of smoke to the ceiling. "Now... let's fast forward a bit... to Ms. DeRosa's house. Before I even arrived on scene... you'd already shot a bullet into her fridge... my guess, she was standing close by, and that was a 'warning shot.' Also... if you weren't there to intimidate her.... why would you be carrying a gun... and a baseball bat? Were you planning to hit the batting cages after a casual visit? Oh... wait... we don't have any of those nearby..." And then, Dante grinned. A slow, sadistic smile that seemed to rise up almost to the corners of his eyes...
[10:47] Ming Yheng 's chest was rising and falling, caused by her heavy breathing, her nostrils flared and her breasts were straining the shirt she was wearing. She didn't speak anymore but she had her eyes locked on Dante giving Ashley a cigarette...she needed one too, badly and reached with one hand in a pocket of her jacket only to realize she had forgotten to put her smokes back into her jacket after the smoking break she took a little earlier , partly cursing lowly in her Chinese dialect, incomprehensible for most, even for Chinese people who aren't born in the part of China where she hails from:"他妈的地狱,我需要一支烟 , goddammit..."
[10:48] Ashley: leans back trying to look worried she wasent the best actor so it looked like was having some trouble with getting the facial expression right of looking worries making audible gulps and awkward smiles and making her wrist shake a bit without any of the other body shaking taking a long drag to pretend to calm herself before she says "That was a mistake it was a high stress situation I made a few mistakes by not attacking Tony and instead going into the kitchen but what do you expect I am not a trainer professional after all so I went to check on the Cheif the Carafe was there to defend myself if Tony came in." * she lies and nods agreeing "The shooting at Ms Deroas house was a completely unrelated incident I was definatly not there to try and kill a witness why would I arent I innocent?"
[10:57] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): Dante heard Ming's curse in Chinese, and smiled slightly, sliding his pack of menthols across the table towards her without even looking. He was fixed on Ashley still. Nothing about her acting was even close to impressive, and it was truly starting to grate on him. Leaning his head to rest on his palm, elbow on the table. "Unrelated? Mmm... that you happened to know where she lived, went inside, shot at her fridge, and she even told me exactly why you were there, on scene statement?" He tsked a few times. "Your hole is digging deeper, Ms. Desire.... it's you holding the shovel."
[11:01] Ming Yheng isn't really fond of menthol cigarettes but her need for a cigarette was too much to decline the offer. She took one and winked at Dante, of course accompanied with a smile that only he would recognize as more than a common one. Lighting the cig she leaned with her back against the wall and pretended no to listen for now, to give Ashley's uncomfortable feeling caused by Ming's presence a time out.
[11:03] Ashley: winces a little she knew where she lived thanks to Miller and partially thanks to Dante talking about Miller and Maris connection she sure as hell dint want her association with Miller to be known "What can I say I took a liking to her and wanted to show her my baseball bat and gun ...the gun just happened to misfire accidentally and I dont know what she told you I dont understand why she would say anything against me maybe she had a misunderstanding." * she shrugs a little she figured Maris house dint have recording cameras and it was just going to be her word against mine.
[11:10] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): After Ming took a smoke and relaxed a little, Dante, still not having turned his gaze from Ashley for even a moment, reached out, and casually put the pack back into his coat pocket. "A liking to her? Hmm... you were ready to beat feet the moment I came on scene at the diner. But, you suddenly felt a bond to her? Interesting. And... I'm sorry.... did you say, 'your gun misfired'? " At this, Dante HAD to laugh, and it was loud and unrelenting. "So, based on trajectory, bullet placement, and height... you didn't raise your arm to shoot? It just... happened to magically fly out of the barrel, and swung up and into the fridge? Is that what you are telling me?" The mirth in Dante's face suddenly vanished... and he was back to the stone faced expression. "Modern firearms, including the one we confiscated from you, are equipped with mechanisms that prevent unintentional firing. Meaning, you actually have to manually set it, and pull the trigger, for it to fire. You can even cock the hammer, and toss it against a brick wall... and it STILL would not fire.... so.... you can clearly see my confusion."
[11:18] Ming Yheng smirked, Dante was right, Ashley was certainly digging her own grave and Ming loved it. She was impressed by Dante's interrogation method and would definitely relay it to the Sergeant. But when he said:"You can even cock the hammer", Ming's jaw dropped, she caught her falling cigarette just in time and stared at the man. Ming's English isn't perfect at all and sometimes she has issues with words having more than one meaning. "Detective, language..", she whispered to him.
[11:19] Ashley: she winced and leans back the misfire was a hard sell and frowns a little he was probuly right and she was filing that in her mind for later "You are right detective I did lift up my arm and point the gun at her I was trying to act cool I figured the magazine was empty thats was my bad its just lucky no one got hurt right it was all an accident. and besides I am aldready doing time for my mistakes." * she looked over to Ming looking impressed Ashley just sighed she was waiting for Dante to pull out the literal smoking gun and end these games so she could make her false confession
[11:27] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): As Ming issued her albeit misguided attempt at correcting his grammar, he smirked softly. "Correction... pulled back the hammer of the gun," he said, giving her a look, and a wink. Then, he was back to the stone faced expression. "An accident," he repeated. "And, the bat? That too, I assume was just brought just... to show a friend? I didn't see any signatures on it, so, I have to wonder what made it so special? And, the shattered glass in the door... I am guessing that happened before you got there too? Wait.... I can answer that." He flipped through a few pages of the folder, and tossed a photo her way. It was a screen capture from one of the traffic cameras, clearly showing a scantly clad woman with a bat on her shoulder, entering Mari's shack, the glass busted.
[11:32] Ashley: looked between Ming and Dante she rolls her eyes a little at the correction before turning back to Dante "I really like that bat Detective I dont know what to tell you it was definitely worth showing off it was love at first sight." * nods matter of factly while liing throguh her teeth "And yes I did smash her door it was unsightly I was doing her a favor." * she says figuring sounding like an entitled asshole was better than a malicious one
[11:33] Ming Yheng watched the two, fully concentrated but as she inhaled too much smoke of her cigarette and way too fast, she coughed loud as if a thunderstorm entered the room, her cigarette launched like a SAM missile from her lips, across the room and hit the glass at the other side of the room. Still coughing she walked to where her cig was lying on the floor, picked it up and extinguished it in the ashtray on the table. "Fucking menthol shit..", she mumbled and headed back to where she stood earlier, leaning against the wall with her back, pretending nothing out of the ordinary happened.
[11:37] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): As Dante questioned Ashley, he heard the cough, and watched as the cigarette flew past him.... and Ming going to retrieve it. For a moment, he just watched her, with a raised brow, before coming back to Ashley. "So, you admit to unlawful entry into Ms. DeRosa's residence. Dually noted. Because as you can see from the picture, she's not even visible. Which means, you entered without her volition. And, her story corroborates this." He nodded to Ming, and then glanced back to Ashley, the stony expression melting away once more, giving lead to that evil, twisted smile. "I think we can wrap this up here...."
[11:43] Ashley: leans back seeing the cigarette fly narrowing her brow to Ming thinking she was aiming it at her and missed watching her go to pick it up looking warily at her and looked ready to jump out of her seat but then relaxes when Ming goes back to her last position "I dont actually she unlocked the door for me and if you go back to her home you will find that the lock on the door was undamaged." * that for once was the truth Mari literally invited Ashley in while Ashley was smashing her door even unlocking the door for Ashley
[11:46] Ming Yheng glanced to Dante when he said that it is time to wrap things up...her feet were getting tired already. She got ready to open the door, needing a good coffee and a normal cigarette badly.
[11:49] Veritas Ablaze (veritasablaze): "Yes, I am sure after your bat, which by the way, we did dislodge some glass from that matched the shatter profile of the window... smashed the glass, she welcomed you with open arms into her abode to bear witness to the greatness of your gun and baseball bat. Ms. Desire... I advise you to use your phone call to hire the best lawyer you can. You... are going to need it. Thus concludes the interrogation." And with that said, Dante pressed stop on the digital recording device. Picking it up, he made sure the files were sent to the station's cloud server, and his own desk. "Officer Yheng, please escort Ms. Desire back to her cell. Her charges have just been upped, by her own admittance." Dante sighed, shaking his head as he dragged on his smoke. "Is money worth so much... to do what you have done?" It was a rhetorical question, and he too, rose from his chair.
-End of Recording-
[11:58] Ashley: she stands back up and pushes the chair back before turning to Dante when he asks that question "Considering I havent been asked the one question I was expecting to be asked you havent made much progress have you?" * she just says in response to Dante moving out towards Ming to be taken back to her cell "As for the lawyer I am not sure yet." * that was a lie she was sure she was reserving calling a lawyer in case Tony tried to double cross her.
.[12:02] Ming Yheng turned before she opened the door and said: "Heeere kitty kitty!! Heeere!", her mood has just improved substantially and this time she didn't mock Ashley, she was really trying to up the negative atmosphere in the room and of course, a coffee and cig was waiting for her..."Come, girl", she added with a smile, Ashley having confessed had also made her feel much better, at least the is -some- decency left in the girl.