Chapter 8 - The Downfall"One by one, the dominoes began to crash."
Within two hours, Cedar Grove Farm had become an active crime scene.
State Police vehicles lined the long driveway where Derek’s wealthy corporate friends had been drinking champagne just hours earlier. Yellow crime scene tape was stretched across the entrance of the main house and around the perimeter of the western field.
My mother sat on the front porch steps, holding her head in her hands as she watched two state troopers place hand-shackles on my father. He was led away in silence, his head bowed, shoved into the back of a black-and-white cruiser.
Kelsey had driven back to the farm alone after Derek abandoned her at a gas station down the road, panicking about his impending legal arrest. She stood near her car, hyperventilating as she watched her father being loaded into a police vehicle.
"Tessa! Please!" Kelsey screamed, running toward me as I stood near the police command trailer. "Tell them it's a mistake! Tell them to let Dad go! We can fix this! Derek and I will sell our condo! We’ll pay back every penny of the $750,000 loan! Just stop the investigation!"
"I can't stop a criminal investigation, Kelsey," I said, my voice cold and firm. "The State Attorney General’s office is taking over the identity theft and financial fraud charges against you and Derek. And Dad... Dad is facing charges far worse than financial fraud."
"What are you talking about?" she sobbed. "What did Dad do?!"
"Ask the forensic team currently digging up the western field," I replied flatly.
Kelsey gasped, covering her mouth with both hands as she looked toward the distant field, where heavy excavating equipment was arriving. The horrifying truth finally began to sink into her mind.
An hour later, the Lead Investigator walked over to me, holding a clipboard.
"Ms. Whitmore," the officer said quietly. "We found the remains near the old oak tree in the western field, exactly where your grandmother’s map indicated. We'll need a formal statement from you regarding the journals found in the cellar."
"I'm ready whenever you are, Officer," I said.
May you like
My mother looked up from the porch, her eyes bloodshot and full of regret. "Tessa... what about us? Where are we supposed to go? The house is sealed!"
"You can stay at a motel, Mom," I said, echoing the exact words my father had used on my children hours earlier. "That is your problem to manage as an adult."
