Evelyn: Detective Vance?! You set a trap for me?!
David: You set the trap for yourself, Evelyn, the moment you put my six-year-old daughter in a locked cellar to keep her from showing me that safe.
The heavy front double doors of the mansion pushed open, and four uniformed police officers marched onto the white marble floor of the kitchen, led by Detective Vance in a dark trench coat.
Detective Vance: Mr. Sterling! We received your emergency dispatch signal. Is the child safe?
David: Lily is downstairs with her mother and Nurse Clara. She's receiving oxygen treatment for a severe asthma attack brought on by illegal confinement.
Detective Vance: And the evidence?
David handed the sealed plastic bag containing the glass bottle and the forged estate addendum directly to Detective Vance.
David: Concentrated digitalis, a forged sixty-million-dollar estate addendum, and the original stolen ledgers belonging to my late mother.
Detective Vance read the chemical label on the bottle, his sharp eyes narrowing as he turned to face Evelyn.
Detective Vance: Evelyn Sterling, you are under arrest for attempted murder, felony child endangerment, grand corporate forgery, and possession of a controlled toxic substance.
Evelyn: Get your hands off me! Do you know who my family is? My father is on the state supreme court bench!
Detective Vance: Your father was arrested at his Miami estate an hour ago for federal tax fraud, ma'am. He won't be helping you tonight.
The two officers stepped forward, pulling Evelyn's arms behind her silk maroon dress. The cold steel handcuffs clicked firmly around her wrists, the metallic sound ringing sharply through the brightly lit kitchen.
Evelyn: Arthur! Tell them to stop! Tell them this is a domestic misunderstanding! We can fix this privately!
Arthur turned his back on her, walking over to the cellar stairs to help me bring little Lily up into the warm kitchen air.
Arthur: The only misunderstanding, Evelyn, was my believing you had a soul. Get her out of my sight.
Evelyn: David! You monster! You ruined my life!
David: You ruined your own life the second you decided money was worth more than a child's life.
The officers turned Evelyn around, guiding her across the light marble floor toward the front entrance. High-society house staff and estate security stood along the hallway walls, watching in complete silence as the former mistress of the house was dragged away in restraints.
Her maroon dress dragged along the clean tile floor, her manicured nails digging into the officer's sleeve as she thrashed against their grip.
Evelyn: Stop looking at me! All of you, stop looking at me!
The heavy front double doors opened into the cool night air, where news reporters tipped off by the police department swarmed the driveway, camera flashes exploding continuously against the darkness.
Reporter 1: Mrs. Sterling! Is it true you tried to poison Arthur Sterling for his sixty-million-dollar trust fund?
Reporter 2: Did you lock a six-year-old child in a wine cellar?
Evelyn pulled her handcuffed hands up, trying desperately to cover her face from the flashing lenses, but the photographers captured every second of her ruined, tear-stained face.
Officer Davis pushed her head down, guiding her into the back seat of the lead police cruiser. The heavy metal door slammed shut with a sharp thud, cutting off her shrill shouting instantly.