Remnants of the First · File 005
Preston Hale
Defendant
Double homicide
“If you told Natalie she was the only person who really got you, she’d forgive almost anything.”
- Name
- Preston Hale
- Age
- 25
- Status
- In custody, awaiting trial
- Family
- Son of Richard Hale, yes, that Hale, the one with his name on the hospital wings
- Charged with
- The murders of Natalie Mercer, 23, and Erin Shaw, 26
- Evaluated by
- Dr. Marielle Baptiste, retained by his defense
- Currently
- Waiting on trial, and not nearly as worried as he should be
The short version
Preston Hale is twenty-five, rich, ridiculously good looking, and charged with killing two women. Natalie Mercer drowned behind his family’s lake house and it was ruled an accident, right up until it wasn’t, and then there was Erin Shaw. His father’s money bought him the best defense lawyers in the state, and those lawyers hired Marielle to evaluate him, which means whatever he tells her in that room has to stay between them.
He’s charming in the way people are when nobody has ever really told them no, and he’s bored in a room where he should be terrified. Marielle doesn’t like that at all.
Worships his father. Can’t stand his mother. Write that down.
Remnants of the First · Case file
Hale, Preston
Defendant, double homicide
Evidence
Bored, not scared.
Two women are dead
and he’s bored. M
Thumb rubbing his index finger again. That’s the tell.
Evidence log File 005
| No. | Item | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Phone records, 3:14 a.m. | Redacted |
| 02 | Lake house guest list | Incomplete |
| 03 | Statement: “There’s no one else.” | M. A. B. |
Logged and sealed.
Personality
- Charming, and he’s been getting away with it his whole life
- Bored where anyone else would be scared
- Worships his father and can’t stand his mother
- Knows exactly what to say to make someone forgive him
- Has a temper he thinks nobody can see
- Remembers everything except the parts that matter
Noted details
- 01He holds eye contact a beat too long. It’s practiced.
- 02Escape? Reset? Next time…