[[Begin interview transcript.]]
[Mr. Higgins, security footage shows you entering the library at 3:37, and exiting with the rest of the building’s occupants at 5:27, but no one can attest to your whereabouts for those two hours. Can you explain why that is?]
Maybe the security camera is faulty.
[It’s not. We watched all the footage.]
[Silence.]
[Mr. Higgins, we can see here that you have a history with our sister department in Shelbyville. Breaking and entering, driving under the influence.]
So? Those were both when I was in college. That was ages ago.
[And we’ve been called several times to break up disputes between you and Ms. McMillan during city budget hearings.]
Look. Tricia was friends with everyone on the City Council. She used that to her advantage to get extra funding each year, and guess whose budget it came out of? That’s right, mine. And last year, she denied me access to the historical collection, even though she knew I needed it to submit a grant proposal.
[So you had motive then, to want her dead?]
What? No! Look, I went to the library that day because I had another huge grant deadline coming up, but Tricia wouldn’t let me in again because she was too busy with her big holiday party. So I… y’know, I waited until she was in the party and Joseph—he’s her manager, I think—went back into the staff area, and I… snuck in.
[You snuck in where?]
I snuck into the historical collection.
[How? From my understanding the door was locked.]
It was. I went through the staff area. Joseph almost caught me too, but I hid behind a giant, hideous papier-mâché snowman until he went past, and then I went into the historical room. That’s all I did, I swear. I stayed in there until I heard the sirens, then I went through the main door into the library and left with everyone else. You can even ask Leroy—he walked through the room around 5 o’clock, still in the Santa suit.
[We’ll ask him. But if Mr. Spencer is Ms. McMillan’s manager, why didn’t you ask him for access?]
I’ve tried. He always sides with Tricia about it. It’s bad enough that the library’s hours are terrible, but they hardly ever staff the historical room. And you can’t go in there if there isn’t a staff person to sign documents out to you, make sure you’re handling everything properly, that sort of stuff. It’s annoying. I worked in an archive in college, I know how to handle old documents.
[They wouldn’t make an exception for you?]
No. Joseph always says that city employees have to be treated like normal patrons too. I doubt they follow that rule for themselves, but… Whatever man. So I broke a few rules, who cares? It didn’t hurt anyone, and I got my application in on time.
[Someone else broke rules that day too, Mr. Higgins. And it resulted in Ms. McMillan’s murder.]
[[End recording.]]
