Chapter 5 - The Weight of Steel
Darren’s hand opened automatically. The iron crowbar dropped onto the gravel with a dull, heavy clatter.
"Officer, you don't understand," Melissa began to wail, climbing down from the ATV with her hands up. "This is our family home! She stole our money! We were just coming to fix the power!"
"Shut up, Melissa," Deputy Miller said without looking at her. He kept his eyes locked on Darren as he walked forward, grabbed Darren’s arm, and spun him around against the hood of the ATV. The metallic click of handcuffs locking into place was the most beautiful sound Megan had ever heard.
"Fix the power with a crowbar?" Miller muttered, searching Darren’s pockets and pulling out a pair of heavy, rubber-insulated wire cutters. "Funny looking screwdriver you got here. Megan, you alright?"
Megan stepped out of the shadows, lowering her weapon behind the porch railing so the officer wouldn't see it, though she suspected Miller knew exactly what she had been prepared to do. "I'm fine, Deputy. Thank you. How did you know?"
"You sent me those photos of the footprints this afternoon," Miller said, hoisting Darren up by his belt. "I decided to do an extra patrol up the ridge road tonight. Saw the power grid go dark on the county monitor for this sector and knew exactly what happened. Found this clown’s truck parked down by the old fire trail."
"She’s lying!" Darren shouted, his cheek pressed against the cold metal of the ATV hood. "She’s a thief! Aunt Ruth is going to sue this whole county! You can't arrest me for being on family land!"
"This isn't your land, boy," Miller said, pushing Darren toward the back of the police cruiser. "This is State of Colorado versus Darren Holloway for criminal trespass, destruction of utilities, and felony stalking. You’re going to be sitting in a cell until Monday morning at least, since the judge doesn't come in over the weekend."
Melissa was crying openly now, sitting on the gravel road. "Megan, please! Don't do this! If Darren goes to jail, he loses his probation! He’ll go to prison!"
Megan walked down the porch steps, the gravel crunching under her boots. She stood five feet away from her cousin Melissa—the same Melissa who had used Megan’s savings to pay for three different vacation trips while Megan slept on a stained mattress in the basement.
"Then he shouldn't have brought a crowbar to my home, Melissa," Megan said, her voice completely devoid of anger, replaced by a cold, absolute certainty. "Take the ATV and go back to your mother. Tell her that the next person who steps past that gate doesn't get a deputy. They get a trial."
Within twenty minutes, the police cruiser had gone, its red and blue lights painting the pine trees one last time before disappearing down the mountain. The utility company arrived an hour later, their heavy trucks humming as they repaired the severed line near the main pole.
By three o'clock in the morning, the power was restored. The cabin warmed up quickly, the furnace humming a sweet, steady tune that belonged entirely to Megan.
She sat at her kitchen table, watching the security cameras come back online one by one on her tablet screen. The gate was intact. The road was empty.
She picked up her phone, which now had full service again. There was a text message from a new number—Aunt Ruth, using what must have been a burner or Melissa’s phone.
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"You have destroyed this family. Darren is in jail. You will pay for his bail and you will drop these charges, or I swear to God, Megan, I will make sure everyone in your life knows what a monster you are."
Megan didn't reply. She forwarded the message directly to her lawyer’s email, closed her laptop, and went to bed. For the first time all weekend, she slept for eight hours straight without waking up once.
