Chapter 4 - The House of Cards
The room exploded into a chaotic flurry of movement.
The state troopers moved with practiced, military-grade efficiency. Two of them stepped past Chief Enzo, their hands firmly grasping his shoulders as they forced him to turn around, ratcheting his arms behind his back and snapping a pair of heavy, professional handcuffs around his wrists.
“You can’t do this!” Enzo screamed, his voice cracking as his heavy frame was pressed against his own front desk. “I have political connections! The mayor—the district attorney—they’re on my side!”
“Not anymore, Enzo,” Marcus said, pulling the chief’s gold badge from his shirt pocket with a sharp, metallic rip. “The district attorney’s office signed off on the warrant twenty minutes ago. They’re currently cleaning out their own desks.”
Officer Ross and Officer Miller immediately raised their hands, stepping away from their desks and unholstering their duty weapons, placing them carefully on the countertops. They were smart. They knew that any resistance now would mean a ten-year stretch in a federal penitentiary.
I walked over to my mother. Marcus Vance stepped beside me, a small, silver key in his hand. He unlocked the crude handcuffs binding her to the bench, gently helping her to her feet.
“Let’s get you out of here, Mrs. Peterson,” Marcus said, his voice surprisingly gentle for a man of his size. “The medical transport is waiting outside.”
My mother leaned heavily against me, her broken wrist cradled against her chest. As we walked toward the exit, I stopped in front of Colton and Dana.
Colton was shaking, his eyes wide with a pathetic, childlike terror. He looked at the handcuffs on Chief Enzo’s wrists, and then at the state troopers who were now bagging the mud-stained blanket from beneath the desk.
“Casey...” Colton whispered, his voice cracking. “I... I didn't know. I didn't think they would hurt her. Dana said... Dana said they were just going to scare her into leaving us alone.”
“You stood there, Colton,” I said, my voice dead and empty. “You watched your wife strike our mother with a metal bat. You watched her bones break. And then you lied to protect her family’s money. You are no brother of mine.”
I looked at Dana. Her face was completely blank now, the arrogant malice replaced by a cold, calculating survival instinct.
“You think you’ve won, Casey?” Dana whispered, her eyes narrowing. “My family has millions. We will hire the best defense team in the country. I will be out of jail before the sun comes up, and your little state investigation will fall apart in court.”
“Your family’s assets were frozen at 2:52 a.m. under the State Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act,” I said, looking down at her. “Every bank account, every real estate holding, and every corporate shell company associated with Fox and Peterson Development is currently locked. You don't have millions anymore, Dana. You don't even have enough to pay your phone bill.”
Dana’s eyes widened, her mouth parting in a silent, horrified gasp as the first real wave of panic finally broke through her defense.
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“Trooper,” I said, turning to one of Marcus’s men. “Arrest Dana Peterson for first-degree elder abuse, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and filing a false police report. And arrest Colton Peterson as an accessory to those crimes.”
As the metal cuffs clicked around their wrists, I turned my back on them, walking out into the cool, cleansing rain, supporting my mother as we made our way to the waiting ambulance.
