Before Victoria could guide Daisy into the car, a sharp, gravelly voice echoed across the parking driveway. Martha marched forward, her heavy boots clicking against the pavement, her face twisted in a scowl as she waved a bony finger toward the luxury vehicle.
Martha: Hey! Keep your rich hands off my girl! What do you think you're doing with her?
Victoria: Step back right now, woman. You have no right to come near her!
Martha: No right? I raised that brat! I fed her, clothed her, and put a roof over her head for fifteen years!
Daisy: Martha, please... she showed me the picture in the locket.
Martha: Shut your mouth, Daisy! You don't talk to strangers! Get back over here and pick up your flower basket!
Victoria: She isn't picking up anything! You stole my child from the Sterling estate in 2011!
Martha: You're crazy! I found that kid abandoned in an alley! I saved her life!
Marcus: Ma'am, I have the police department on the line right now. The chief is reviewing the original kidnapping case file as we speak.
Martha: Police? You called the cops on me? After everything I sacrificed for this ungrateful girl?
Daisy: You made me sleep on a cot in the basement, Martha! You took every cent I made from selling roses!
Martha: Because food costs money! Rent costs money! You think you were living for free?
Victoria: You turned my daughter into a child laborer while hiding her true identity!
Martha: You think a fancy silver locket proves anything in a court of law? Anyone can buy a trinket like that at a pawn shop!
Victoria: That silver locket was custom made by my late husband! It has our family coat of arms engraved inside the hinge, along with her birthdate!
Martha: Lies! All lies! You rich people think you can just buy whatever you want, including other people's kids!
Marcus: Stand down, lady. Sirens are already three blocks away.
Martha's eyes darted frantically toward the main avenue, where red and blue lights were already reflecting off the tall glass windows of the country club. Panic flashed across her weathered face, her aggressive stance suddenly crumbling into fear.
Martha: Daisy... tell them I was good to you! Tell them I was your mother!
Daisy: You never held my hand, Martha. You never once told me you loved me. All you ever cared about was the money in my pocket.
Martha: You ungrateful little pest! After fifteen years, you side with some rich lady in a silk dress?
Victoria: Don't you dare speak to my daughter like that ever again!
Victoria stepped between Martha and Daisy, her posture regal and protective. Two police cruisers pulled up onto the gravel curb, their tires screeching as officers stepped out onto the driveway.
Police Officer: Hands where we can see them! Nobody move!
Victoria: Officer, this woman is Martha Vance. She is the primary suspect in the 2011 kidnapping of Clara Sterling.