Chapter 12 - HANDCUFFED FOR A CRIME I NEVER COMMITTED
The officers entered the building before anyone could stop them.
Their leader was a broad-shouldered man with gray hair and a polished badge.
“Captain Robert Halden,” he announced.
He looked directly at me.
“Hannah Mercer, you're under arrest for financial fraud and money laundering.”
Caleb stepped in front of me.
I grabbed his arm.
Don't, I signed.
He looked furious.
You didn't do anything.
I know. Let Elena handle this.
Halden smirked when he saw us signing.
“Wonderful. Another family performance.”
I felt the same anger I'd experienced at Bellamy's.
But this time, I had no room for mistakes.
Elena stepped forward.
“My client will comply. I want the warrant, the alleged transactions, and the identity of the officer who swore out the complaint.”
Halden's smile disappeared.
An officer placed handcuffs around my wrists.
The cold metal bit into my skin.
As they escorted me outside, I looked back.
Caleb stood beside his mother.
His hands moved.
I'm getting you out.
I wanted to believe him.
At the police station, I sat alone in an interview room.
I was twenty-eight years old.
I'd worked double shifts, skipped vacations, and worried about paying rent.
Now someone was accusing me of stealing nearly two million dollars.
The absurdity almost made me laugh.
Almost.
An hour later, Elena arrived.
She placed the documents on the table.
“The evidence is fabricated. We've already identified discrepancies in the account-opening records.”
“Then why am I still here?”
“Because someone powerful wants you frightened.”
I rubbed my face.
“Victor.”
“Most likely.”
Elena opened another folder.
“Nora is arranging an independent review, and I've requested your release. But there's something else.”
She showed me a copy of Evan's death report.
I knew every detail on that page.
I'd read it dozens of times after his funeral.
But Elena pointed to the bottom.
The name of the supervising officer had always meant nothing to me.
Now it meant everything.
Captain Robert Halden.
The same man who had arrested me.
Elena placed another document beside it.
A record from the night Evan died.
Halden had been the officer who authorized the police roadblock near Evan's building.
May you like
My blood went cold.
The man trying to put me in prison was also the man who had helped prevent emergency workers from reaching my dying brother.
