An hour later, the pool area was secured with yellow crime scene tape. Animal control specialists and marine biologists were working carefully with nets and barriers to safely return the shark to its primary aquarium enclosure.
In the private lounge room upstairs, Jack sat on a plush sofa, holding a warm mug of tea while Lily rested her head on his lap, wrapped in a thick heated blanket.
Detective Vance walked into the room, holding a black leather tablet and a stack of financial documents.
Detective Vance: Mr. Sterling? I have the preliminary investigation results from our forensic team.
Jack: What did you find, Detective?
Detective Vance: We accessed your sister's private bank accounts and phone records under an emergency warrant. It turns out Clara was nearly two million dollars in debt to illegal offshore gambling syndicates.
Jack: Two million dollars?! How did she hide that from the family trust attorneys?
Detective Vance: She took out fraudulent loans using forged signatures from your father's estate trust fund. The lenders were threatening to foreclose on her properties by the end of this month.
Jack: So she needed the secondary life insurance policy on Lily...
Detective Vance: Exactly. We found a three-million-dollar child life insurance policy taken out under Lily's name four months ago, listing Clara as the sole primary beneficiary in the event of an accidental death.
Jack closed his eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath as he stroked his daughter's soft hair.
Jack: She planned this for months... she bought a policy on my daughter and waited for the right moment to open that tank door.
Detective Vance: It was a calculated, cold-blooded plan, Mr. Sterling. But thanks to your quick reaction and the witnesses at the pool, she didn't get away with it.
Lily: Daddy... is Auntie Clara coming back?
Jack: No, my sweet girl. Auntie Clara is going away for a very, very long time. Nobody is ever going to hurt you again.
Detective Vance: The District Attorney has already confirmed they will be filing full attempted capital murder charges without the possibility of bail. With the video footage from the club's security cameras and the remote key evidence, she is looking at a minimum thirty-year sentence.
Jack: Good. Make sure she serves every single day of it.