Chapter 8 - THE ARREST
Z
The rain had eased into a steady drizzle by the time Chief Miller, two deputies, Harold, and I walked up the paved driveway of the Montgomery estate.
The front doors of the grand house were solid mahogany with gold handles. Chief Miller didn't knock softly. He hammered his heavy fist against the wood until the sound echoed off the stone pillars.
A minute later, the door creaked open.
Valerie was standing there, now dressed in a plush silk robe, a glass of red wine in her hand. She put on an expression of mild annoyance, though I could see a flicker of deep panic in her eyes when she saw me standing right behind the police officers.
"Chief Miller?" Valerie said smoothly, taking a sip of wine. "Is something wrong? The storm was quite loud, did a tree fall?"
"Mrs. Montgomery," Chief Miller said, his hands resting on his utility belt. "We are here investigating an incident that occurred on the property line thirty minutes ago. A retaining wall collapsed, trapping eight-year-old Olivia Vance."
Valerie gasped, putting a manicured hand over her heart in a sickening display of fake concern. "Oh my goodness! Is the little girl okay? That awful old wall... I told my contractors to look at it last year! I had no idea—"
"Save it, Valerie," I said, stepping forward. "You stood on your deck. You looked right at us with your flashlight while she screamed for help."
Valerie straightened up, her eyes narrowing into cold slits. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was inside reading all evening. I never went outside."
"Is that right?" Chief Miller asked. He pulled out a clear evidence bag containing the yellow raincoat Valerie had been wearing just thirty minutes ago—the one she had hung up on her porch hook to dry. Water was still dripping off the hem onto the tiled entryway floor.
"And," Chief Miller added, pulling out a printout of the digital photograph from his pocket, "we have time-stamped photographic evidence showing you standing on your upper deck, illuminated by your flashlight, observing the victim in distress at precisely 6:14 PM."
Valerie looked at the photo. Her face turned entirely pale, the glass of red wine slipping from her fingers and shattering on the marble floor, splashing red liquid like blood across her white slippers.
"That... that picture is fake!" Valerie shrieked, backing away into the foyer. "She edited it! Her father was a fraud and she is a liar!"
"Valerie Montgomery," Chief Miller said sternly, stepping across the threshold. "You are under arrest for criminal reckless endangerment, failure to render aid to a minor in critical distress, and gross negligence."
"You can't arrest me!" Valerie screamed, her voice cracking into a high-pitched hysterical shriek as Deputy Davis grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her back. "Do you know who my husband is?! He sits on the town council! I will have your badge, Miller! I will sue every single one of you!"
"You have the right to remain silent," Deputy Davis read off his card, snapping the cold steel handcuffs around her wrists. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
Harold stood beside me, leaning on his cane, watching as Valerie was led down her grand front steps in handcuffs, her silk robe dragging through the wet mud of her driveway.
"Your dad would be real proud of you today, Samantha," Harold whispered softly.
May you like
I looked at the house up on the hill, then down at my own small, sagging home near the lake.
"It's not over yet, Harold," I said quietly, watching the red lights flash against the dark sky. "Now we tear down the wall."
