Chapter 11 - The Sister's Confession
In the cold, windowless interrogation room of the Dallas Federal Courthouse, Lauren Vance sat trembling violently in a bright orange detention smock.
Her makeup was smeared across her hollow cheeks, her expensive highlights disheveled, her hands bound tightly to the steel table by a heavy chain.
Across from her sat Detective Ramos and Assistant United States Attorney Michael Cole, their faces carved from unforgiving granite.
"Lauren, your mother Beatrice has already given a preliminary statement through her court-appointed attorney," ADA Cole lied smoothly, sliding a fabricated confession document across the metal table.
"Beatrice claims that the entire insurance policy was your idea to pay off your four-hundred-thousand-dollar debt to private bookmakers in Shreveport."
"She claims that you were the one who unlocked the backyard gate and pushed Chloe toward the ravine while she was napping."
Lauren’s eyes bugged out in petrified terror, her breath coming in ragged, hysterical gasps.
"She's lying! That evil old snake is trying to pin her own murder on me!" Lauren screamed, slamming her cuffed fists against the table until the metal groaned.
"It was all Mom’s idea! Every single bit of it!"
"Tell us the exact sequence of events on Thursday afternoon, Lauren," Detective Ramos pressed, leaning in with a digital voice recorder running.
"Mom got a notice from the bank last week that the mortgage on the house was going into default because I spent the reserve funds," Lauren wept, the truth pouring out like sewage from a broken pipe.
"Mom said we needed a massive cash injection that couldn't be audited by probate courts."
"She remembered the accidental death policy she took out on Chloe five months ago."
"She checked the radar on her tablet and saw the freezing sleet storm hitting the county at two o'clock."
"She made Chloe go outside in just her cotton shirt, pretending she was punishing her for spilling flour on the floor."
"When Chloe started crying and begging to come in, Mom locked the deadbolt, pulled the curtains shut, and told Hunter and Paige to turn up the television volume so nobody could hear her knocking."
"Mom watched through the kitchen blinds until Chloe gave up and stumbled into the woods toward the creek."
"Then Mom poured herself a glass of wine, set a timer on her microwave for four hours, and told me not to call Rachel until six-forty-five so there would be zero chance of resuscitation."
ADA Cole clicked the stop button on the digital recorder, his eyes burning with absolute disgust.
May you like
"You sat in that house for four hours, eating dinner and drinking wine, knowing an eight-year-old girl was freezing to death in a drainage pipe three hundred yards away."
"You are going to prison for the rest of your natural life, Lauren."
