Chapter 7 - The Arrest
At 2:15 AM, Michael’s phone vibrated on the mahogany table.
He picked it up immediately. “Talk to me, Francis.”
“We got him,” Commissioner O’Malley’s voice came through the speaker, crisp and professional. “Found Marcus Lin at an off-track betting parlor in South Boston. He had three hundred dollars of your waitress’s rent money in his pocket and a unregistered .38 revolver in his waistband.”
Michael’s jaw tightened. A gun. If Sarah had been home when Marcus broke into that apartment...
“Is he in custody?” Michael asked, his voice deathly quiet.
“Locked in a cell at District 4,” O’Malley said. “Given the illegal firearm, the forced entry, and his prior domestic records, the magistrate set bail at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He’s not getting out, Michael.”
“Keep him there,” Michael said. “My lead family law partner, Arthur Vance, will be at the courthouse at eight o’clock tomorrow morning to file the formal paperwork.”
“Consider it done. And Michael?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re a good man. Caroline would be proud of you.”
Michael closed his eyes, holding the phone against his ear for a long moment after the call disconnected. Caroline. He could almost feel her hand resting on his shoulder, her soft voice whispering in his ear: Don't let them go, Michael.
He stood up from the table and walked quietly down the carpeted hallway toward the master bedroom.
The door was slightly ajar. Michael pushed it open an inch.
Inside, the nightlight from the bathroom cast a soft, warm glow across the king-sized bed. Maya was asleep, her cheek pressed against a fluffy white pillow. Sarah was curled up on top of the covers beside her, one arm draped protectively over her daughter’s waist, both of them breathing in slow, synchronized rhythms.
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For the first time in six months, Michael Thornton didn't feel the suffocating weight of an empty house pressing against his ribs.
He quietly pulled the door shut, walked back to the living room, and sat down in an armchair by the window, watching the rain wash over Boston until the sun began to rise.
