Chapter 7 - The Arrest at the Office
At two o'clock that same afternoon, the quiet, air-conditioned offices of Midwest Logistics in downtown Columbus were bustling with corporate employees.
Michael Sterling sat at his corner desk, wearing a starched white shirt and silk tie, frantically clicking through his computer terminal. He had spent the last three hours trying to reach his family lawyer, but every time he called, the receptionist told him the attorney was unavailable due to an emergency court filing.
His mother, Diane, was hiding out at a cousin’s house in suburban Dublin, panicking every time a car drove down the street.
Michael reassured himself that without Claire’s cooperation, the police had no case. It’s my word against hers, he thought, adjusting his cuff links. She’s a hysterical woman with a history of clumsiness. We’ll claim she fell down the basement stairs.
Suddenly, the heavy glass doors of the executive suite swung open.
Three uniformed police officers, accompanied by Detective Marcus Vance and two plainclothes detectives, marched straight down the central carpeted aisle toward Michael’s desk.
The entire office went dead silent. Keyboards stopped clicking. Phones rang unanswered.
Michael’s boss, a tall man named Mr. Henderson, stepped out of his corner office, frowning. “Officer? What is the meaning of this? This is a private corporate floor.”
“Michael Sterling?” Detective Vance asked, stopping directly in front of Michael’s desk.
Michael stood up slowly, trying to maintain his polished, professional posture. “Yes? Detective, I told you on the phone, my wife is mentally unstable—”
“Michael Sterling, you are under arrest,” Detective Vance interrupted loudly, his voice echoing clearly across the wide office floor for all eighty employees to hear.
Before Michael could react, the two uniformed officers stepped behind him, grabbed his arms, and forced his face flat down onto his mahogany desk.
“Hey! Get your hands off me!” Michael roared, struggling against the steel grip. “Do you know who I am? You can't do this! I have rights!”
Snap. Click.
The cold steel handcuffs locked tightly around his wrists.
“You have the right to remain silent,” the officer read flatly, pulling Michael up by his collar and spinning him around in front of his staring co-workers. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
Michael’s boss stared at him in utter horror. “Michael... what did you do?”
“He assisted his mother in beating his wife into a coma and leaving her to die on a kitchen floor, Mr. Henderson,” Detective Vance answered coldly, taking Michael by the arm. “And then he helped her hide the evidence.”
Mr. Henderson’s face went completely pale. “Michael Sterling... you are terminated from this company, effective immediately. Do not ever step foot on this property again.”
May you like
As Michael was dragged down the central aisle, his face red with humiliation, he caught sight of his reflection in the glass wall. The powerful, controlling man who had spent four years destroying my life was gone.
All that remained was a pathetic criminal in handcuffs, being paraded out like a street thug.
