👉 Previous Decision: You chose to demand Julian explain his presence at knife-point before touching the tape.
Arthur held a hunting knife, snatched from a utility drawer, against Julian’s throat. Lily, nestled in Arthur’s other arm, whimpered softly. The newly found cassette lay discarded on the floor.
“Talk, Julian,” Arthur growled, pressing the cold steel lightly against his skin. “Why are you here? What’s on that tape? And why did you make me believe you were a killer?”
Julian’s eyes, wide and desperate, met Arthur’s. He swallowed hard. “Okay. Okay, Arthur. Just… just put the knife down.”
Arthur didn’t budge. “Tell me.”
“Army Intelligence covered it up,” Julian confessed, his voice trembling. “The murders. All of them. Not because of a rogue soldier, but because the killer was… highly decorated. A hero. His exposure would have triggered a massive military tribunal, stained the entire command.”
Arthur’s grip on the knife didn’t loosen. “Who?”
Julian closed his eyes for a moment, a wave of pain washing over his face. “I found out. I joined Intelligence, thinking I could fix things from the inside. But they tried to silence me. To disappear me.”
“And the tapes?” Arthur pressed, ignoring the throbbing ache in his chest.
“I needed a way to expose them,” Julian said, his voice gaining a desperate edge. “They monitor everything. Every channel, every frequency. Except yours. Your pirate broadcast. You’re an anomaly, Arthur. You reach people they can’t control.”
“So you fabricated the serial killer threat?” Arthur asked, the realization hitting him with sickening force. “You used me. You used Lily.”
“It was the only way,” Julian pleaded, his eyes swimming. “I knew your conviction. Your obsession with forensic truth. I knew you’d never turn it in to the FBI. You’d trace it. You’d air it. Your 40,000 listeners… that’s the only platform immune to federal gag orders.”
Arthur slowly lowered the knife. The confession, while sickening, also offered a strange clarity. Julian wasn’t the monster. He was just a different kind of victim, fighting his own war. But it didn’t lessen the sting of the manipulation.
“So, who was it?” Arthur finally asked, his voice barely a whisper. “Who was the ‘highly decorated officer’?”
Julian didn’t answer. He just looked past Arthur, his eyes fixed on the forgotten cassette on the floor. The one Lily had found.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 9 to continue the story
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