Chapter 7 - The Handcuffs in the Foyer
"You crazy bitch!" Julianna shrieked, lunging toward the coffee table to grab the leather portfolio.
Before her fingers could touch the documents, the side French doors of the dining room were kicked open with concussive force.
"Police! Nobody move!"
Detective Raymond Vance, flanked by four armed tactical officers from the Fairfax County Sheriff's Department, flooded the living room with carbines raised.
Julianna was slammed face-down onto the Persian rug by two female officers, her arms twisted behind her back as heavy steel handcuffs clicked around her wrists with sharp, final snaps.
"Get your hands off me!" Julianna screamed, thrashing wildly against the floor. "I am a healthcare professional! You have no right to touch me!"
"Julianna Cross," Detective Vance announced, reading from the arrest warrant. "You are under arrest for Class Two Felony Elder Abuse with Malice, Aggravated Chemical Poisoning, Grand Real Estate Larceny, and Operating Under a Falsified Identity."
Richard stood paralyzed against the front door, his chest heaving, tears of pure terror streaming down his face as two deputies stepped up to his sides.
"Elena... please," Richard wept, his voice cracking into a pathetic, high-pitched whine. "I’m your brother! I have three children! My firm will destroy me! Tell them it was a misunderstanding! Tell them we can handle this within the family!"
Elena walked slowly across the living room, stopping two feet from her brother.
She looked into his eyes—the boy she had grown up with, the boy their father had worked sixty-hour weeks to send to college—and saw only the hollow, predatory rot of unearned greed.
"You tied your own mother to a bed for sixteen months, Richard," Elena whispered, her voice steady, cold, and clear enough for every officer in the room to hear. "You gave her poison so you could steal her home. You are not my brother. You are a criminal who preyed on the woman who gave you life."
Elena turned to Detective Vance.
May you like
"Take them out of my mother's house."
As the officers dragged Richard and Julianna down the front brick steps in chains, their frantic, echoing screams faded down the avenue until the heavy front oak door slammed shut with concussive finality.
