Chapter 4 - The Midnight Strategy Meeting
Mark, Evelyn, and Diane walked into the study, switching on the overhead crystal chandelier.
Diane was wearing a silk dressing gown, a glass of scotch in her hand. Evelyn looked panicked, her mascara slightly smeared, pacing back and forth across the Persian rug while Mark slumped into an armchair.
"We have a problem," Evelyn said, her voice high-pitched and strained. "A massive problem. Sarah wasn't supposed to be back for another three weeks!"
"Calm down, Evelyn," Diane snapped, taking a slow sip of her drink. "She’s a tired soldier who just got off a military transport flight. She’s overwhelmed and emotional. She knows nothing."
"She looked at me funny at the hospital, Mom!" Mark blurted out, clutching his glass with both hands. "When I left her in Lily’s room, she sounded different. She looked at me like... like she was evaluating a target."
Evelyn stopped pacing, turning sharply toward Mark. "Did she see the bottle of supplements I left?"
"Yeah, I told her you brought them," Mark said.
"You idiot!" Evelyn yelled. "If she takes that bottle to an outside lab, we are completely ruined! Do you have any idea what’s in those drops?!"
"Lower your voice!" Diane barked, setting her glass down on the mahogany desk with a sharp thud. "No one is taking anything to a lab. Sarah trusts Evelyn. Evelyn is her sister. She has no reason to suspect anything other than a tragic medical condition."
"She’s not the same person she was before she deployed, Diane!" Evelyn argued, her hands shaking as she pulled a cigarette from her purse. "She’s an intelligence officer! If she starts digging into the insurance filings—"
"The insurance filings are protected under the LLC!" Diane interrupted coldly. "Mark signed the documents as the primary legal guardian while Sarah was declared on active covert status. Everything is legal on paper."
"What about the CPS report from yesterday?" Mark asked, rubbing his face nervously. "The attending trauma surgeon at San Diego General said he was required by law to file a formal abuse report because of the bruising patterns."
"I spoke to Dr. Mercer’s contact on the hospital board this evening," Diane said, a cruel, triumphant smile appearing on her face. "The CPS report will be routed directly to a private social worker who owes me a very large favor. By tomorrow afternoon, the official record will state that the injuries were caused by severe home negligence on Sarah’s part prior to her deployment, compounded by a progressive genetic disorder."
I stood behind the curtains, breathing so slowly my heart rate dropped to forty beats per minute.
They were going to frame me for the abuse.
"What about Lily?" Mark asked softly. "Is she going to be okay?"
Diane looked at her son with utter disgust. "Don't get soft now, Mark. You wanted the ten million dollar settlement from the military estate and the insurance payout to fix your failed real estate investments, didn't you? Once Lily is moved to the North County care facility, she will receive around-the-clock medical sedation. She won't feel a thing. And you will be a very wealthy single man."
Mark sat silent for a moment, looking at the floor. Then, he slowly nodded. "Okay. What do we do tomorrow morning?"
"We go to the hospital at 8:00 AM," Diane instructed, her voice dropping into a cold, transactional rhythm. "Evelyn will sign the transfer papers to move Lily to the private facility. Mark will present Sarah with the emergency custody modification papers drafted by our lawyers. If she resists, we call the military police and report her as mentally unstable."
"Understood," Evelyn whispered.
They finished their drinks and left the room, their footsteps fading up the grand staircase.
I stepped out from behind the curtain into the empty study.
May you like
I looked at the mahogany desk where Diane had set her glass. I pulled out my phone, took high-resolution photographs of the room, and sent a single text message to Miller:
Phase 1 complete. They’ve taken the bait. Initiate Operation Clean Sweep for 07:00 hours.
