Mason: Who the hell are you?! Why did you just hit me?![cite: 1]
Officer Brenda: I am Detective Brenda Vance, Texas State Police[cite: 1]. And you need to stay on that floor before I put hand restraints on you myself[cite: 1].
Victoria: Detective Vance? Thank goodness you arrived[cite: 1]. My son was just assaulting me in front of his invalid wife[cite: 1].
Officer Brenda: Shut your mouth, Victoria[cite: 1]. I am not here to help you[cite: 1].
Mason slowly pushed himself up from the cold hospital floor, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his lip[cite: 1]. He glared at the blonde detective, his jaw aching from the strike[cite: 1].
Mason: I was trying to protect my wife! Did you see what my mother did to her leg?![cite: 1]
Officer Brenda: I saw you charging at a witness in an active federal investigation, Mason[cite: 1]. You're lucky I didn't pull my service weapon[cite: 1].
Victoria: Witness? What nonsense are you talking about, Detective?[cite: 1] I am the primary trustee of the Sterling Estate[cite: 1]. My son's wife suffered a tragic fall down the estate stairs three days ago[cite: 1].
Officer Brenda: A fall? Is that what you told the doctors at the emergency room?[cite: 1]
Victoria: That is precisely what happened[cite: 1]. Clara was clumsy, lost her balance on the marble steps, and broke her femur[cite: 1]. I brought her here out of the goodness of my heart[cite: 1].
Mason: She's lying! Look at those dark bruises, Brenda! Those aren't from a fall[cite: 1]! Those look like grip marks[cite: 1]!
Officer Brenda: Get back against the wall, Mason[cite: 1]. Right now[cite: 1].
Mason backed up against the clean white wall, his breathing ragged as he kept his eyes on Clara, who lay motionless on the bed, her heart rate monitor beeping steadily in the background[cite: 1].
Victoria: You see, Detective? My son has been emotionally unstable ever since we altered the family inheritance parameters[cite: 1]. He is looking for anyone to blame[cite: 1].
Officer Brenda: We pulled the security footage from the West Wing hallway of your Dallas mansion an hour ago, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria's smug expression wavered for a fraction of a second, her pearl necklace catching the bright light as her throat tightened[cite: 1].
Victoria: The hallway cameras were offline for scheduled maintenance three days ago[cite: 1]. My head of security verified it[cite: 1].
Officer Brenda: Your head of security is currently sitting in the back of a state trooper cruiser in the parking lot below[cite: 1].
Mason: What? What did Arthur say?![cite: 1]
Officer Brenda: He gave us the backup cloud server password the second we showed him the federal search warrant[cite: 1]. We watched the whole thing on high-definition video[cite: 1].
Victoria: That tape is private property! It is inadmissible without a judge's direct authorization![cite: 1]
Officer Brenda: The judge signed it twenty minutes ago, Victoria[cite: 1]. And what we saw on that tape wasn't a clumsy fall[cite: 1].
Mason: What was on the tape, Brenda?! Tell me![cite: 1]
Officer Brenda: We watched your mother and two private guards hold Clara down at the top of the marble staircase while Victoria repeatedly struck her leg with an iron fireplace poker[cite: 1].
Mason gasped, his knees buckling slightly as he stared at his mother in absolute terror[cite: 1].
Mason: You... you beat her with an iron poker?![cite: 1]
Victoria: She was going to steal forty million dollars from our family trust, Mason![cite: 1] She had the divorce papers hidden in her bedside table![cite: 1]
Officer Brenda: She was leaving you because she found out your family was laundering cartel money through the estate's charity foundation[cite: 1]!