Chapter 6 - The Mother-in-Law’s Retreat
The Alexandria police department was quiet on Tuesday morning when the telephone rang in the administrative office.
Diane Carter, Rachel’s mother-in-law, sat in the wooden chair of the precinct lobby, her designer handbag clutched tightly in her lap. She had spent the last twenty-four hours trying to contact Brad, but his phone had been disconnected after his arrest by federal marshals.
The heavy door of the inner offices opened, and Rachel walked out, accompanied by Colonel Whitaker.
Diane instantly stood up, her face a mask of anxious fury. "Rachel! Thank God. You have to stop this. You have to tell the police that this was all a misunderstanding. Brad is a good boy. He was just... he was confused by that Holt woman!"
Rachel stopped five feet from her mother-in-law. She looked at the woman who had stood in her kitchen three days postpartum, telling her she had embarrassed the family, telling her to take her babies and get out into a blizzard.
"There was no confusion, Diane," Rachel said, her voice perfectly calm, devoid of any anger. "Brad made a calculated business decision. He decided that his wife and newborn sons were worth less than a luxury apartment in Arlington and a corporate partnership."
"But his career!" Diane wailed, her voice echoing in the quiet lobby. "His reputation! He won't survive in prison, Rachel! You have to drop the charges!"
"I didn't file the charges, Diane. The United States Government did," Rachel said. "And as for you..."
She stepped closer, her eyes locked on Diane's trembling face.
"I have filed for a permanent restraining order. You are not to come within five hundred feet of me, my children, or any military installation where we are housed. If you show your face near my boys again, I will have the military police detain you for trespassing on federal property."
Diane gasped, her mouth opening to speak, but the sheer, unyielding coldness in Rachel’s eyes silenced her. For the first time in her life, Diane Carter realized that the "military martyr" she had dismissed was actually a warrior who could crush her without breaking a sweat.
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"Come on, Rachel," Colonel Whitaker said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "The boys are waiting for their lunch."
They walked out of the precinct, leaving Diane alone in the empty lobby, her fragile world of social status and suburban arrogance shattered into a thousand pieces.
