Veneration of Dreams // Ransom Drysdale

fourteen // lakeside blues

Katarina looked up at Ransom in doubt as Rick Donovan walked out of the confession room with an armed escort and the tape flickered black.

"I don't understand, are you telling me nothing happened?"

"I thought you were smarter than this," Ransom said, setting his glass down on the table. He leant over her and wound back the clip, forcing her to watch the tape again. She fought back the urge to look away as her father collapsed on screen and two paramedics rushed in. While Donovan looked on, his hands cuffed to the table, they raised Gabriel Lago into a shaky white stretcher, draped his body in a thin white sheet and wheeled him away.

"They didn't even try to help him." Katarina muttered.

Glancing at her, Ransom reversed to the opening. Gabriel nodded to Donovan in greeting as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He appeared to go for a handshake before changing his mind and settling wordlessly into the chair instead. A moment later, he clicked his pen and gestured for Donovan to begin speaking.

"Watch his shoulder," Ransom said and Katarina traced her father's arm down to where his hand rested beneath the table before looking back up in time to catch his shoulder recoil slightly.

"He flinched?" She questioned as Gabriel coughed into his hand.

"Donovan tossed him something," Ransom corrected, "And Gabriel didn't cough, he just put it in his mouth. Five minutes later, he's unconscious."

Katarina glanced at him in disbelief, using all of her will power to remain seated.

"This isn't exactly hard evidence, Ransom, it's barely circumstantial."

"Look at the paramedics, that's a state badge," He said, pausing the video on a man in a navy blue suit, "But you said there was never an ambulance that day."

"There wasn't, I checked the logs...and the nurses in the facility use green. So what? You think Rick Donovan, the hopeless addict, killed my dad? When we caught him, he couldn't tie his own shoelaces without our help." Katarina said.

She managed a smile but the lack of emotion in Ransom's expression cast her mood back down.

"It's an idea, Kat, but I need you to confirm something first," He replied, backing up a few seconds to when Gabriel had turned briefly towards the door, putting his face in direct view of the camera for the first time. The footage was fuzzy but that didn't explain away the doubt.

"Is that your father?"

Katarina exhaled shakily, edging closer to the monitor. She stared between the two men, both of equal build and stature, as her mind grappled with the reality of what she was seeing. Ransom pressed play.

"No," She mumbled, failing to recognise the man in the stretcher although he wore the same dark suit she had seen her father in a dozen times, "No that's-"

Ransom nodded, unpausing the footage and waiting for the split second when Rick Donovan stood up so the light could illuminate his worn face.

"And that?"

Katarina cursed out the cheap security cameras but the truth was obvious enough now that she knew what to notice.

"They switched places," She mumbled, pushing back the chair and stumbling to her feet.

"Donovan didn't kill your dad, your dad killed Donovan. He used him to fake his death."

Katarina swallowed dryly, reaching for her wine then changing her mind. She remembered the case, her mind scrambling for each puzzle piece now that she had envisioned the final picture.