Chapter 2 - THE ARRIVAL OF THE STORM
The sound of heavy tires gripping the wet asphalt outside announced the arrival of the State Police before they even hit the sirens.
Three black SUVs pulled into the precinct parking lot,
their headlights cutting through the darkness and casting long,
flickering shadows into the lobby.
Landry looked out the window,
his jaw tightening as he realized that my threat wasn't a bluff,
but a promise.
Ten uniformed State Troopers walked into the station,
led by a woman I had worked with on a dozen corruption cases,
Major Sarah Vance.
She didn't waste time with pleasantries;
she walked straight to me and nodded toward my mother.
"Clara,"
she said,
her voice echoing the professional coldness of the room,
"my medics are right behind us."
Two EMTs rushed in with a gurney,
and for the first time since I arrived,
I saw the tension leave my mother's shoulders.
I stood by as they carefully unlocked the handcuffs,
the metallic click sounding like a gunshot in the quiet room.
"Major,"
I said,
pointing a finger at Landry,
who was trying to look busy at his desk,
"I want this entire building locked down."
"I have reason to believe that a weapon,
specifically a wooden baseball bat,
has been concealed or destroyed on these premises."
Brooke began to back away,
her eyes darting toward the exit,
but a State Trooper stepped into her path with a firm,
unmoving presence.
"I didn't do anything!"
she stammered,
her voice losing its theatrical edge and turning into a panicked whine.
"It was self-defense,
I swear!"
Major Vance turned her gaze toward Brooke,
a look that had made hardened criminals confess in minutes.
"We’ll see what the forensic sweep says about that bandage on your face,
Mrs. Carter,"
Vance said,
referring to the tiny strip on Brooke's cheek.
"And I'm very interested to see the footage from the dash-cam of the responding officers."
Landry stepped forward,
trying one last time to exert his local influence.
"Major,
this is my precinct,"
he said,
though his voice lacked the conviction it had ten minutes ago.
"You can't just walk in here and take over an active investigation without a warrant."
Vance pulled a folded piece of paper from her jacket and handed it to him.
"It's an emergency integrity warrant,
Thomas,"
she said,
calling him by his first name with a touch of pity.
"Signed by a circuit judge fifteen minutes ago."
"You're relieved of duty,
pending a full investigation into the preferential treatment of suspects related to your family."
Landry looked at the paper,
and for a moment,
I thought he might fight,
but then he saw the other troopers moving into the back offices.
He slumped,
the image of the powerful small-town captain dissolving into that of a tired,
corrupt old man.
I walked over to the EMTs as they lifted my mother onto the gurney.
"I'm here,
Mom,"
I whispered,
taking her hand.
"You're going to the hospital,
and you're never going back to that house while they are in it."
She squeezed my hand,
her eyes welling with tears that finally fell.
"He didn't say anything,
Clara,"
she choked out,
looking toward Arthur.
"He just watched her hit me."
I looked over at my brother,
who was now sitting on a plastic chair,
his head in his hands.
He looked like a broken child,
but I felt no sympathy.
He was a man who had chosen a lie over his mother's life,
and he was about to find out exactly what happens when the truth finally catches up.
"Major,"
I called out,
my voice sharp and clear,
"I want a full search of the trunk of the responding officer's patrol car."
"I noticed mud on the floor in the hallway earlier,"
"and the officer's boots are clean."
May you like
"The mud is from the garden behind my mother's house."
"That's where Brooke hid the bat."
