Victoria: Guards, seal the chapel doors! Nobody leaves this room with that baby!
Guard One: Mrs. Sterling, there's a living child in that box! We aren't locking anyone in here!
Guard Two: I'm calling for an ambulance right now. That baby needs a medical checkup.
Victoria: I pay your salaries! You do what I tell you to do!
Clara: Their salaries won't cover a federal kidnapping charge, Victoria. They know better than you do.
Clara carefully unbuttoned the top of her red flannel shirt, tucking the swaddled baby inside the warm fabric against her skin. The newborn let out a tiny, soft whimpering sound, burying its face against Clara's neck.
Victoria: You think you're so smart, don't you? You think you can just walk in here with a crowbar and ruin a multi-million-dollar estate transfer?
Clara: I came here because my sister's nurse called me from the hospital emergency room two hours ago!
Victoria: That nurse signed a non-disclosure agreement! She had no business talking to you!
Clara: She told me my sister didn't give birth to a stillborn baby! She told me you paid off the attending doctor to forge a death certificate!
Victoria: That doctor was a medical professional! His word holds up in any probate court in the state!
Clara: Then why did you have a private transport vehicle waiting behind the chapel with a temperature-controlled crate?
Victoria froze, her bloodstained handkerchief slipping slightly from her forehead. Her eyes darted toward the side exit of the sanctuary where a black van was idling outside the glass doors.
Victoria: That transport was for the official burial arrangements!
Clara: Burials don't require an illegal private adoption broker from overseas, Victoria!
Victoria: You don't know what you're talking about! You're making wild accusations because you're bitter about your father's will!
Clara: I know my father left sixty percent of his corporate stock to my sister's firstborn child!
Victoria: Your sister was unfit to inherit a single dime!
Clara: My sister died in childbirth yesterday because your corrupt doctor delayed her emergency surgery!
Tears spilled over Clara's cheeks, but her voice remained firm and steady as she held the newborn tighter.
Victoria: Her death was a tragic medical complication! The hospital records prove it!
Clara: The hospital records prove you signed the medical authorization form as her legal guardian while she was unconscious!
Victoria: I was trying to save the family business from total bankruptcy!
Clara: You were trying to steal the estate trust fund before the court audited the offshore accounts!
The distant sound of police sirens echoed from the highway outside, growing louder as three patrol cars turned into the chapel drive.
Victoria: You called the police?
Clara: I called the state prosecutors, the district attorney, and the child protective services task force.
Victoria: You fool... You just destroyed the Sterling family legacy!
Clara: You destroyed it the moment you traded a human life for a corporate bank account.
The chapel doors swung open, and four uniformed police officers stepped inside, led by a tall detective wearing a dark trench coat.
Detective Vance: Police! Put your hands where we can see them!
Victoria: Detective! Thank God you're here! Arrest that girl! She assaulted me with an iron crowbar and stole a baby from the altar!
Clara: Detective Vance, look inside that shattered wooden box on the altar platform.
Detective Vance walked up the marble steps, his eyes scanning the smashed white wood, the scattered lilies, and the heavy iron crowbar lying on the floor.
Detective Vance: What was inside this casket, Mrs. Sterling?
Victoria: It was an official ceremonial memorial casket for my late stepdaughter's child!
Detective Vance: Then why is there a baby blanket covered in fresh flower pollen in the bottom of the box?
Victoria swallowed hard, stepping back as the two officers moved in behind her.