Chapter 6 - The ICU Standoff
At 10:30 AM, the intensive care unit at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn smelled of antiseptic, iodine, and cold metallic oxygen.
Edgar lay in the center bed, hooked up to four intravenous drips, a heart monitor beep-beeping rhythmically in the background. His left leg was elevated, wrapped in thick medical dressings, swollen to twice its normal size and deeply discolored. The crotalid antivenom had saved his life, but the tissue necrosis was severe; the doctors had spent three hours in emergency surgery preventing permanent muscle loss.
Kristina sat in a vinyl armchair beside the bed, holding his pale hand. She looked exhausted, her hair unkempt, her expensive clothing wrinkled and stained.
The heavy door to the room swung open.
Nora stepped inside, accompanied by two armed Paradise Valley police officers and Detective Miller.
Kristina instantly stood up, her face twisting into a furious scowl. "Nora! How dare you bring police officers into this room! Your husband almost died last night! You left him here alone all morning while you went off to your stupid office!"
Edgar blinked awake, his eyes glassy from pain medication. "Nora... baby..." he rasped, his voice weak. "Where were you? The doctors said... they said I might need skin grafts..."
Nora walked to the foot of the bed, her hands tucked neatly into the pockets of her dark trousers.
"I was running errands, Edgar," Nora said smoothly. "I spent the morning at 1842 East Cactus Road."
Edgar’s eyes went wide. The rhythmic beep of the heart monitor instantly accelerated, jumping from sixty-eight to one hundred and ten beats per minute.
"What... what did you say?" Edgar choked out, his chest heaving.
"I met Heather," Nora continued, her tone conversational. "She’s a very lovely woman. Very trusting. She was kind enough to give my legal team six hundred pages of text messages, four years of fraudulent wire transfers, and a copy of the fake divorce decree you had manufactured to convince her you weren't married."
Kristina gasped, her hand dropping from Edgar’s arm as she backed toward the window. "Nora... you don't understand..."
"Oh, I understand completely, Kristina," Nora said, turning her head slowly to look at her mother-in-law. "I understand that you bought a six-foot western diamondback rattlesnake from an illegal exotic animal dealer in Apache Junction four days ago. We have the security footage from the gas station across the street from the seller’s property."
Kristina’s lips trembled, but no sound came out.
"We also have your text messages to Heather," Detective Miller stepped forward, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "And we have the fingerprint analysis from the canvas sack found in the master suite trash receptacle. Your prints are all over it, Mrs. Finch."
"No!" Kristina shrieked, clutching her chest. "It was for my son! She was draining him! She was keeping him from having a real family! She’s barren! She’s an unnatural woman who only cares about concrete and money!"
"The only person who was draining anyone was your son," Nora said softly, leaning over the bed rail to look down into Edgar’s terrified, sweaty face. "You stole four point two million dollars from Southwestern Materials over four years, Edgar. You forged my signature on six bank authorizations. And then you tried to have your mother murder me so you could collect twenty-five million more."
"Nora, please!" Edgar sobbed, tears streaming down his pale cheeks as he tried to lift his bandaged leg. "I was stupid! I was weak! Heather tricked me! My mother pushed me into it! Please, Nora... we can fix this! I love you!"
"You don't love me, Edgar," Nora said, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper that cut through his frantic sobs. "You loved my credit line. You loved my hard work. But most of all, you loved the idea that you could take everything I built and walk away cleanly."
She turned her back on him.
"Detective Miller," Nora said over her shoulder. "Please execute the warrants."
"Kristina Finch, you are under arrest for attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and grand larceny," Miller said, stepping forward and pulling Kristina’s arms behind her back.
Kristina screamed and thrashing, her manicured nails clawing at Miller’s uniform as the steel cuffs clicked shut over her wrists. "Edgar! Save me! Edgar! Tell them she’s lying!"
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"Edgar Finch," the second officer stepped to the bedside, producing a warrant. "You are under arrest for federal wire fraud, commercial embezzlement, and conspiracy to commit murder. You will be remanded to federal custody upon your discharge from this medical facility."
As Kristina was dragged wailing down the hospital corridor and Edgar buried his face in his thin hospital blanket, weeping hysterically, Nora walked out into the bright Arizona sun.
