Chapter 2 - THE ARREST AND THE ALIBIFour paramedics burst into the backyard with a stretcher, followed closely by two armed police officers. The scene was pure chaos—the torrential rain, the flashing lights, and Judith Vale screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Officers! Thank God you’re here!” Judith rushed toward the lead officer, Officer Henderson, pointing an artificial, manicured finger directly at my chest. “This man broke onto our estate! He destroyed our property and assaulted my son! Arrest him immediately!”
Officer Henderson looked at Judith, then looked at me, then at Emily, who was being carefully lifted onto a stretcher by the medical crew. Her bruised face and blood-soaked hair were illuminated under the harsh white lights of the paramedics' flashlights.
“Ma’am, calm down,” Henderson said sternly. “Who is the injured woman?”
“She’s my wife,” Brandon stepped forward, putting on a weak, pathetic limp. “Officer, she had a terrible fall down the basement steps. She was hysterical. We put her in the storage unit temporarily to keep her from hurting herself while we waited for a private doctor. Then her crazy father showed up and attacked me!”
I let out a low, dark laugh.
“A fall down the steps?” I stepped into the light. “Officer Henderson, check the back of her head. Check the grip-marks on her wrists. And then ask Mr. Vale why he had a padlock on the outside of a windowless shed if he was merely 'protecting' her.”
“He’s lying!” Judith barked. “He’s a bitter, lower-class maintenance worker! He’s trying to extort us!”
“Is that so?” I pulled a high-end encrypted smartphone from my pocket and unlocked it. “Officer, twenty minutes ago, before I breached this door, I activated the remote surveillance feed for this property. You see, when Vanguard Citadel acquired this estate, I personally upgraded the perimeter security. Every camera on those eaves—” I pointed up toward the roofline—”is connected directly to my private server.”
Brandon’s face went ghastly white. He glanced up at the small black domes hidden under the carved wooden gargoyles of the roof.
“You… you put cameras on our house?” Judith gasped, stepping back.
“It’s not your house,” I said calmly. “It never was. And if you check the live footage from 8:42 PM today, Officer, you’ll see Brandon Vale striking my daughter across the face in the grand foyer, dragging her by her hair across the gravel courtyard, and locking her inside that shed while Judith Vale watched from the doorway holding a glass of wine.”
Officer Henderson’s demeanor shifted instantly. His hand moved down to rest on his holster. He looked at his partner. “Cuff him.”
“What?!” Brandon screamed, taking a step back. “Do you know who I am?! My uncle is the District Attorney! You can’t touch me! Get your hands off me!”
The second officer grabbed Brandon’s arm, slammed him face-first against the mud-splattered hood of the police cruiser, and pulled his hands roughly behind his back. The metal handcuffs clicked loudly in the quiet night.
“Brandon Vale, you are under arrest for felony domestic assault, unlawful imprisonment, and aggravated battery,” Henderson declared cold-bloodedly.
“Mother! Do something!” Brandon squealed, his face mashed into the cold steel of the police car. “Call Uncle Richard! Call him now!”
Judith was hyperventilating, her wine glass finally slipping from her fingers and shattering against the stones. “You bastard, Martin! You set us up! You gave us this house just to trap us!”
“I didn’t trap you, Judith,” I said, stepping closer as the paramedics wheeled Emily toward the ambulance. “Your own cruelty trapped you. I just made sure the lights were turned on so the world could watch.”
As they shoved Brandon into the back of the cruiser, he glared at me through the rain-streaked window, his eyes wild with a sudden, malicious hatred. He didn't look defeated; he looked like a rat backed into a corner—and rats always bite.
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“You think you won, old man?” Brandon spat as the officer held his head down to shove him inside. “Check your daughter’s bank accounts! Check the company ledgers! By tomorrow morning, you won't just be a father of a victim—you'll be the father of a convicted embezzler!”
My chest tightened. I turned to look at the ambulance, where Emily was fading in and out of consciousness. What had they done to her before I arrived?
