The Set-Up Read online

was coming out of the Credit Suisse was probably well off, but they didn’t seem to care. “Let go of my sister, you’re hurting her,” Erik continued to protest.

  “There’s been an incident inside the bank and we need to ask you two a few questions.”

  “We don’t know anything,” Erik said.

  “Are you sure?” the cop asked, “You two look a little shaken up.”

  Erik and his sister were placed in the back of a police car and taken to the nearest station, which happened to be only a few minutes away. The inside of the police station was completely decorated in colourful fresco paintings – a type of wall mural typically found in old churches. The station had a rich history dating back hundreds of years and had become a popular tourist attraction.

  The siblings were escorted into the police station and placed in separate rooms to be questioned by the Swiss authorities. They told the police what they saw, but were vague about why they were at the bank. Erik was smart enough to know he needed a lawyer present whenever talking to the police, but opted not to have one. The only lawyer he knew was the family’s lawyer, and he didn’t want to reveal the real reason why he and his sister were there. He figured it was unlikely anyone would arrive at the conclusion that they planned to insert their names into their father’s will. As long as they both kept quiet about that part, there was no reason to feel nervous.

  The detective finished his first line of questions and told Erik to wait while he left the room. The first few minutes went by fine. At the ten minute mark, Erik began to get a little nervous. At fifteen minutes, a knot welled up in his stomach. His throat was dry and he was sweating profusely. By now, twenty minutes had gone by and Erik was still sitting in the tiny interrogation room, unsure what the hold-up was. Just then, the detective returned.

  “So…” the detective began, taking a seat opposite to Erik. “Why don’t you tell me about what was in your father’s safe deposit box?”

  “I don’t have to tell you that,” Erik replied, knowing about Switzerland’s long-standing tradition of banking secrecy laws.

  “True, you don’t have to tell me, but if you want to taste freedom again, you may want to reconsider your position.”

  “What are you talking about?” Erik asked, doing his best to control his temper. As the son of a powerful business man, he wasn’t used to taking orders from anyone. It was the exact thing his father was worried about – developing a sense of entitlement without having earned it. “What reason would I have to kill two bank employees?”

  “I never said you killed anyone,” the detective responded. “What I want to know is why you and your sister forged a power of attorney document to access your father’s safe deposit box, and then before you were able to access it, someone broke into the depository and killed two people.”

  “What does that have to do with me?” Erik asked.

  “Whoever killed those bank employees also broke into one safe deposit box… and I’ll give you a guess as to which one it was.”

  Erik couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He sat there a moment processing the facts. Something just didn’t add up. Whoever killed the two bank employees must have arrived before the bank opened since he and his sister were there at 9:00. Unless the murders took place the day before, but since it was Monday, that would mean that the bank employees would have been killed on Friday. But if they were killed on Friday, surely someone would have noticed them. Erik’s head spun in confusion as he conjured more questions than answers. Why his father’s safe box? What else was in there?

  “Did you check the surveillance?” Erik asked.

  “Kid, I’ve been a detective longer than you’ve been alive,” the officer said, implying it was a dumb question.

  “Okay, so what did the tape reveal?”

  “Let me worry about that. For now, I’ll be the one asking the questions.”

  It was an odd response, one that didn’t help to illuminate the situation. Why was the officer so vague about the security tape? Wait, why was the detective even at the bank? How could he have known about the incident? Erik arrived at the only logical conclusion – I’m being set up. With such a large empire at stake, it wasn’t clear how deep the corruption went. He looked up at the detective in a new light.

  “I want to speak to my lawyer now.”

  – THE END –

  ***This is a work of flash fiction specially commissioned by USA Network***

  Edward Mullen is a novelist, blogger, and podcaster from Vancouver, Canada. Prodigy Returns is his fifth novel.

  Born and raised in beautiful British Columbia, Edward developed a love for the wilderness. This love, combined with an innate curiosity about all things, eventually spawned a healthy imagination for storytelling.

  Despite spending a lot of his time indoors writing, Edward continues to enjoy the outdoors. He is an avid tennis player, mountain biker, snowboarder, runner, and traveller.

  For more information about Edward Mullen, such as his podcast, blog, or upcoming books, please visit:

  www.EdwardMullen.com

  Thank you for reading and sharing, it is much appreciated!

  Edward Mullen

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