The Texas heat bounced off the limestone patio behind the mansion, making the air shimmer against the wooden fence.
David Sterling gripped his mother’s wrist, pulling her back from the locked metal storage shed at the back corner of the yard.
Evelyn clawed at his charcoal suit jacket, her burgundy velvet gown twisting around her heels as she kicked the gravel.
Evelyn: Let me go! You don't know what you are interfering with, David!
David: Where is Claire, Mother? Where did you put my wife?!
Evelyn: She went to the grocery store! She is running errands!
David: Her car is parked right in the front circle with her purse sitting on the front seat!
Officer Miller marched past the patio furniture carrying heavy yellow bolt cutters from the back of his squad car.
He clamped the steel jaws down over the rusted padlock, his jaw tight as he drove the handles together.
A loud metallic snap broke the silence, and the severed iron shackle dropped into the dirt.
The heavy grey metal doors creaked open wide, revealing the dark, windowless interior.
Sitting on a thin wool blanket on the concrete floor was eight-months pregnant Claire, her pastel blue maternity dress stained with dust.
She clutched her swollen belly with both shaking hands, tears streaming down her pale cheeks as she gasped for breath.
Claire: Don't you ever dare touch my family again!
David: Claire! Sweetheart, I'm right here!
Evelyn thrashed wildly in David's grip, trying to shove past him toward the patio gate.
Evelyn: She is an ungrateful trespasser! She has no legal right to be on my property!
David: Stop moving, Mother! Stay right where you are!
Officer Miller clicked on his heavy tactical flashlight, sweeping the bright white beam across the concrete floor.
The light illuminated a heavy kitchen knife, a wide roll of gray duct tape, and a prepaid burner phone lying by the door.
David scooped Claire into his arms, feeling the violent tremors running through her body as he looked back at the officer.
David: Officer, arrest her for attempted murder right now!
Officer Miller twisted Evelyn’s arms behind her burgundy gown, snapping the cold steel handcuffs shut around her wrists.
Evelyn: David, you fool! You are destroying your own bloodline for an orphan nobody!
David stepped out of the shed, his vision turning completely red with uncontrollable rage.
He swung his open hand, delivering a fierce, explosive slap across Evelyn's cheek that threw her head back with a sharp crack.
David: YOU PSYCHO MONSTER!
Evelyn: Ah!
Evelyn stumbled against the wooden fence beneath the American flag, unaware that the files in David's briefcase had already sealed her fate.