Chapter 5 - The Dawn Arrests
By 7:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, the snow had stopped falling, leaving a brilliant, sparkling layer of white across the grounds of Mercer Ridge Resort.
I stood beside Prosecutor Sarah Sterling and two state troopers near the main entrance gates of the property. Local news vans were already lined up along the access road, their satellite dishes raised toward the sky, reporters shivering in thick jackets as they broadcast live updates to millions of homes across the state.
"We are live at Mercer Ridge Resort," a female reporter announced into her microphone, "where state police are currently executing search warrants following a bombshell investigative report published at midnight by the Sentinel..."
Two black unmarked police cruisers drove through the gates, pulling up directly in front of the resort’s grand entrance.
Five minutes later, the grand double oak doors opened.
Grant Mercer was led out first. He was wearing his expensive coat, but he was handcuffed in front of his waist. His head was down, his silver hair unkempt, his face pale and sunken. He refused to look at the news cameras flashing in his face.
Right behind him came Preston.
Unlike our father, Preston was fighting the officers holding his shoulders, screaming obscenities at the reporters gathered near the gate. "This is a political hit job! My sister is a liar! You hear me?! A bitter, lying tabloid trash reporter!"
As the troopers led Preston toward the back seat of the police cruiser, his eyes caught mine standing near the gate.
He stopped dead in his tracks. The fury in his face twisted into something desperate and ugly.
"Avery!" Preston screamed across the snow-covered lawn. "Tell them! Tell them it was a mistake! You're my sister! You're a Mercer! You can't do this to your own brother!"
I walked slowly toward the side of the police car. The troopers stepped back slightly, allowing me to stand two feet from him.
"You slapped me last night, Preston," I said, my voice steady, calm, and clear enough for the news microphones nearby to pick up every word. "You told me my place was in the kitchen. You thought you could physically abuse me into silence just like you emotionally abused me for twenty years."
"I was angry!" Preston begged, tears finally spilling over his eyelids. "I didn't mean it! Please, Avery, don't let them take me to prison! Call the paper! Retract the story!"
"The story is true, Preston," I said, looking at him with absolute detachment. "And your place is in a cell."
The trooper pushed Preston’s head down and slid him into the back seat of the cruiser, slamming the door shut.
Evelyn stood on the grand porch of the resort, wrapped in a fur coat, watching her husband and son driven away in police cars. She looked small, fragile, and utterly ruined against the massive backdrop of the luxury resort she had prized above her own daughter.
May you like
She looked down the driveway at me, her mouth trembling, holding out a hand as if begging me to come back up the steps.
I turned my back on her, stepped into Sarah’s car, and drove away from Mercer Ridge for the last time.
