Chapter 6 - The Arrest and the Aftermath
The news of Kendra’s arrest broke across central Ohio like a thunderstorm.
At 4:30 PM, two unmarked police cruisers pulled into the driveway of my mother’s home, where Kendra had been staying since being released from the hospital.
A local news crew, tipped off by a neighbor who had seen the police arrive, captured the entire event on high-definition video. The footage was broadcast on the six o'clock news, showing Kendra being led out of the front door in handcuffs, wearing sweatpants and a dark hoodie, her face pale, her eyes wild with terror.
My mother stood on the porch, screaming hysterically at the arresting officers, attempting to physically block the squad car’s door before a deputy gently but firmly forced her back onto the lawn.
I sat in Nathan’s living room, watching the broadcast in silence.
Nathan sat in an armchair across from me, while Caleb slept peacefully down the hall, exhausted from a long session with his child trauma specialist.
"She's going to fight this with everything she has," Nathan said, setting a fresh cup of tea on the table near me. "Marjorie is already liquidating her retirement account to hire Richard Sterling."
I raised an eyebrow. "Richard Sterling?"
"The defense attorney," Nathan explained, his expression grave. "He’s famous in Columbus for defending high-profile corporate criminals and reckless drivers. He specializes in tearing child witnesses apart on the stand."
"He won't tear Caleb apart," I said fiercely, my knuckles turning white around my teacup. "I won't let him."
"Nathan," I added, looking at him intently. "How is Caleb handling the news of her arrest?"
"He's relieved," Nathan admitted softly. "He told his therapist today that he was scared Kendra would come to his school and take him away. Knowing she's in jail... it's the first time in a week he's breathed normally."
My phone rang. The caller ID showed a number from the Franklin County Correction Center.
I answered it, putting it on speakerphone.
"You have a collect call from an inmate at the Franklin County Correction Center," an automated voice chimed. "Do you accept?"
"I accept," I said clearly.
A sharp, panicked voice burst through the line. "Marin! Marin, you have to help me!"
It was Kendra. Her voice was raspy, trembling, entirely stripped of her usual composed superiority.
"Why would I help you, Kendra?" I asked, my tone as cold and smooth as polished marble.
"They have me in a holding cell!" she sobbed into the receiver. "It's freezing! People are screaming! Marin, please! Tell the District Attorney you made a mistake! Tell them you were confused by the smoke! I'm your sister!"
"You were Laya's aunt," I reminded her, every word deliberate and heavy. "And you pushed her into the smoke to save yourself."
"I panicked!" Kendra wailed, abandoning her lie for the very first time. "I panicked, Marin! Caleb was pulling me, the smoke was burning my lungs, and I just... I acted without thinking! It was an instinct! You can't let me go to prison for an instinct!"
Nathan gasped quietly beside me, his eyes widening. She had just admitted it.
"An instinct," I repeated softly. "Your instinct was to kill my daughter so you could run faster. And then your instinct was to threaten your ten-year-old son to cover your tracks."
"Marin, please!" she begged, her voice rising to a shriek. "Mom is trying to get bail, but the judge set it at one million dollars! I can't stay in here! I'm your family!"
"My family died in that fire, Kendra," I said, leaning closer to the phone. "The sister I grew up with wouldn't have done what you did. You are a stranger to me. And you are going to face the justice you earned."
"Marin! Don't hang up! Don't—"
I pressed the red button, ending the call.
May you like
I set the phone down on the table. My heart was beating steadily, filled not with malice, but with an unshakeable sense of duty to the little girl sleeping under the quiet earth at Rose Hill Cemetery.
The heroic lie had completely died. Now, the battle for truth moved to the courtroom.
