Chapter 4 - The Arrest at Westgate
The morning sun had barely crested the foggy peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains when two Gatlinburg police cruisers and a unmarked state trooper vehicle pulled up quietly outside Cabin 412 at the Westgate Resort.
Inside the luxurious, two-story timber lodge, Eric Bennett was sitting on the leather sofa in a plush white resort robe, sipping a hot cup of gourmet espresso while scrolling through his phone’s social media feeds. On his personal Instagram account, he had just posted a photo of the misty mountain sunrise with the caption: 'Family retreat weekend! Celebrating Noah’s big 1-0 in style! #Blessed #FamilyFirst #SmokyMountains.'
In the master bedroom, his wife, Karen, thirty-six, was applying expensive face cream in the vanity mirror, humming a light tune.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The heavy oak front door of the cabin shuddered violently under a series of thunderous, metallic blows.
"Gatlinburg Police! Open the door immediately!" a voice boomed over a bullhorn outside.
Eric frowned, setting his espresso cup down on the glass coffee table with a sharp click. "What on earth...?"
He walked to the front entrance, pulling open the wooden blinds.
Outside, four uniformed officers with drawn sidearms were stacked along the porch, while two state troopers stood at the bottom of the steps, their weapons aimed directly at the door.
"Eric Bennett! Step out with your hands above your head!"
Eric opened the door, his face twisting into an expression of indignant, upper-middle-class outrage. "What is the meaning of this?! Do you have any idea who I am? I am a senior vice president at—"
Before he could finish his sentence, two officers lunged forward, grabbed him by his wrists, slammed him face-down onto the wooden porch floor, and pulled his arms tightly behind his back.
CLICK-CLICK.
The heavy steel handcuffs locked around his wrists.
"Eric Bennett, you are under arrest for attempted second-degree murder, felony child abuse, aggravated child endangerment, and kidnapping," the lead officer barked, hauling him up from the floor by his elbows.
"What?!" Eric shrieked, his face turning pale as he struggled against the steel cuffs. "Attempted murder?! Are you insane?! I haven't done anything! There's been a mistake!"
Karen ran out into the living room wearing her robe, her eyes wide with terror as two female state troopers stepped past Eric and surrounded her.
"What is happening?! Eric, tell them to stop!" Karen screamed, her voice rising into an ear-splitting shriek. "Get your hands off me! I have a spa appointment at nine!"
"Karen Bennett, you are under arrest as a co-conspirator to felony child abuse and attempted murder," a trooper stated flatly, pinning her hands behind her back and snapping handcuffs onto her wrists.
"This is about Lily, isn't it?!" Eric yelled toward the officers as he was dragged down the wooden porch steps toward the police cruiser, his white robe flapping open in the cold mountain air. "She’s just exaggerating! My father was supposed to go check on her! This is my father's fault! Walter ruined this!"
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The lead officer stopped, looking at Eric with a look of utter, icy disgust.
"Your father saved your daughter's life, Mr. Bennett," the officer said, shoving him into the hard plastic back seat of the cruiser. "And he's the one who made sure you'll be spending the next thirty years in a state penitentiary."
