Chapter 6 - The Trap at the Precinct
By 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, Linda and Ashley were still being held in the police precinct’s secondary interview rooms. They believed they were merely being questioned as “witnesses” to a tragic family medical emergency. They had no idea the camera footage had been reviewed, nor did they know the state prosecutor was already preparing felony indictments.
Detective Reed walked into the holding area where Linda was sitting, sipping a cup of styrofoam-contained coffee provided by an officer.
“Mrs. Miller,” Reed said smoothly, opening the door. “Your son, Ethan, is outside in the hallway. He’s asked to speak with you before we finalize our reports.”
Linda instantly sat up straight, smoothing her hair and dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
“Oh, thank heaven!” Linda exclaimed, her voice dripping with maternal performance. “My poor boy! He must be so overwhelmed by all this! I knew he’d realize his mother is the only one who truly cares about him!”
She walked out into the corridor with her head held high, expecting to find Ethan broken, crying, and begging for her guidance.
Instead, she walked into a soundproof glass interrogation room where I sat at the head of a stainless-steel table.
Two uniformed officers stood behind my chair. Prosecutor Jenkins sat in the corner with a recorder running.
Linda walked in, spreading her arms wide. “Ethan! Oh, my sweet boy—”
“Sit down, Linda,” I said.
She froze. The word Linda hit her like a physical slapped face. I had never called her by her first name in my entire life.
“Ethan!” she gasped, her hands hovering in the air. “How dare you speak to your mother like that! After everything I did for you this week?!”
“Sit down,” I repeated, not raising my voice by a single decibel.
Linda’s eyes narrowed, her pleasant motherly façade fracturing into sharp, jagged lines. She pulled out a chair and sat down across from me, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.
“You’re acting completely hysterical,” Linda sneered. “That doctor at the hospital put nonsense into your head. Emily is weak! She was always weak! She couldn't handle a simple childbirth, so she lay in bed while Ashley and I worked ourselves to the bone trying to clean your disgusting house!”
I reached down into my coat pocket, pulled out my tablet, and laid it flat on the metal table between us.
I tapped the screen.
The video played—the recording of Linda sitting on my sofa, drinking iced tea, while Emily begged for water on the hallway floor.
“Let her scream. She thinks because she had his kid she’s the queen of this family now...”
Linda’s voice echoed through the interrogation room speakers with absolute, unshakeable clarity.
Linda’s face went entirely white. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Her eyes darted wildly across the glass room, suddenly realizing that the small clock on my mantle had been watching every second of her malice.
“You thought I was blind, didn't you?” I asked, leaning forward across the table. “You thought if you sent me away on a fake work emergency, you could break Emily, starve my son, drain my savings, and then act like the savior when I came home.”
“Ethan…” Linda stammered, her voice high and desperate now. “Ethan, listen to me! I did it for you! She was taking you away from me! Ever since you married her, you stopped calling me every day! You stopped giving Ashley money! She’s an outsider, Ethan! She doesn't love you like I do!”
“You drugged my seven-day-old son with Benadryl,” I said, every word dripping with cold disgust. “You stole seventeen thousand dollars from my family’s account. You left my wife to bleed on a rug.”
I stood up from the chair.
“You’re not my mother,” I said quietly. “You’re just a predator who got caught.”
Detective Reed stepped into the room, pulling out a pair of heavy steel handcuffs.
“Linda Miller,” Reed declared, his voice booming in the quiet room. “You are under arrest for attempted aggravated murder, felony child endangerment, grand theft, and computer fraud. You have the right to remain silent.”
As the steel cuffs clicked tightly over Linda’s wrists, she began to scream—a loud, screeching, unhinged sound that echoed down the precinct corridors.
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“ETHAN! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I’M YOUR MOTHER! YOU WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT ME! ETHAN!”
I turned my back on her screams and walked out the door without looking back once.
