Chapter 2 - The Audit of Loyalty
The silence that settled over the backyard was heavy and absolute. The only sound was the faint hiss of molten plastic cooling in the embers of the iron fire pit.
Diane looked from the paper to our father, her lip trembling in disbelief. "What is he talking about, Dad? You told me this house was being left to both of us equally in your will."
My father didn't answer. He looked down at his glass of warm beer, his jaw clenched tight.
"Three years ago," I said, stepping into the circle of light cast by the patio lanterns, "Dad mismanaged his small business accounts. He was ninety thousand dollars in debt to private lenders and facing tax foreclosure. The bank was two weeks away from auctioning this property off."
"Rachel took out a second mortgage on her own condo to clear the tax lien," Evan explained, tapping the blue ledger in his hands. "She bought the deed outright to protect her parents from homelessness. In exchange, your parents signed an agreement granting them a conditional life estate. They live here rent-free, but Rachel holds sole legal title."
"You... you bought our house behind my back?" Diane hissed, turning her rage toward me.
"I saved our parents from living on the street while you were taking vacation trips to Cabo and claiming you were too broke to contribute," I replied. "And part of the deed agreement states that no illegal activity, destruction of property, or unapproved structural changes may occur on the premises. Otherwise, the life estate is immediately revoked."
The police officer, Officer Miller, cleared his throat and stepped forward with a notepad. "All right, let's keep it orderly. Ma'am, you called regarding property destruction?"
"Yes," I said. "My nephew, under the instruction of his mother, took my daughter's computer out of her bag and threw it into the fire pit. I have the entire incident captured on the high-definition security camera mounted above the roofline."
Officer Miller looked toward the fire pit, then at Jake, whose hands were still smudged with dark gray soot. "How old is the boy?"
"Fifteen," Diane blurted out, stepping in front of her son defensively. "He's a minor! You can't arrest a fifteen-year-old over a household accident!"
"It wasn't an accident," Evan countered, producing a small tablet from his briefcase. "We have the cloud stream queued up right here, Officer. You can clearly hear Mrs. Diane Vance tell her son, quote, 'Go ahead, Jake. Teach her,' before the boy hurls the device into the fire."
Officer Miller watched the video on Evan's screen. His expression hardened as he heard my father say A teenager doesn't need something that expensive followed by Zoe's cruel comment about drawing with crayons.
"Mr. Collins," Officer Miller said, turning to my father. "Did you encourage or allow this minor to burn personal property on your yard?"
"It was a family matter..." my father muttered weakly. "Rachel has been acting arrogant lately because of her promotion at the clinic. We just wanted to teach the girl some modesty."
"You don't teach modesty through felony grand larceny and arson," Evan said flatly. "The laptop was a top-tier digital workstation valued at three thousand two hundred dollars. It contained irreplaceable proprietary intellectual property belonging to my client's daughter. That places this action squarely in felony territory."
Diane began to panic. "Officer, please! He's just a child! He didn't mean it!"
"Ma'am, if you instructed him to do it, you can be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor as well as criminal mischief," Officer Miller warned. He turned to me. "Do you wish to press charges, Ms. Collins?"
May you like
I looked at Lily. She was staring at the ground, her shoulders shaking silently. She had spent endless nights working on those designs, sacrificing her weekends to master software while her peers went out.
"Yes," I said without hesitation. "I want a full police report filed, and I want criminal charges pressed against everyone responsible."
