Chapter 6 - The Wire
Despite losing their financial lifeline, Lydia and Derek were not prepared to go down without a fight. Cornered predators are the most dangerous, and by Saturday evening, Derek attempted a desperate play.
He sent Sarah a text message from a new burner phone:
Meet me at the diner on 4th Street alone. I have your mother’s original wedding ring and her personal journals. You give me fifty thousand dollars cash to leave town, or I burn them in the alley.
Sarah brought the phone straight to me in the library.
"He thinks he can still bully me," she said, her eyes flashing with anger. "My mother's wedding ring was the only thing she had left when she died. He knew how much it meant to me."
"It's an extortion trap," Garrison warned, looking up from his laptop. "He's desperate. He has no money, his mother is hiding out at a cheap motel, and he knows the law is closing in."
"I'm going," Sarah said firmly.
I looked at her, surprised. "Sarah, no. It's too dangerous."
"It's not dangerous if I'm prepared, Uncle Thomas," she insisted, leaning over the table. "He thinks I'm still the terrified girl he dumped on the frozen sidewalk. He thinks he can threaten me into giving him black-market cash. If I go there, I can get him to confess to the theft of my mother's insurance policy on tape."
Garrison smiled slowly. "She's right, Thomas. In this state, a recorded confession of felony extortion combined with the insurance fraud records will guarantee no judge ever grants him bail or visitation rights."
I looked at my niece for a long moment, seeing the fierce, protective flame of motherhood glowing within her. She was no longer a victim; she was a force of nature.
"All right," I agreed. "But you won't be alone. Dominic will be inside the diner disguised as a customer. Garrison and I will be in the surveillance van parked right outside."
Two hours later, Sarah walked into the dimly lit, greasy-spoon diner on 4th Street. She wore a heavy black coat, concealing a wire clipped neatly to her inner collar.
Outside, in the back of the surveillance van, Garrison and I adjusted our headphones as the audio signal came in crystal clear.
Derek sat in a corner booth, wearing a wrinkled hoodie, his eyes dark and bloodshot. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in days.
"You came," Derek spat as Sarah sat down across from him. "Did you bring the cash?"
"I brought what I could get on short notice," Sarah lied smoothly, placing a thick leather purse on the table. "Where is my mother’s ring, Derek?"
Derek pulled a small velvet box from his pocket and slammed it onto the table. "Right here. Now give me the money. Lydia and I need to get out of the state before your crazy uncle's lawyers finish filing those papers."
"Why did you do it, Derek?" Sarah asked, her voice calm and measured. "Why did you steal my mother's insurance money three years ago? Why did you forge the deed to the apartment my uncle bought for me?"
"Because you owe me!" Derek snarled, leaning across the table, his voice low and vicious. "I spent five years pretending to care about you! You were weak, pathetic, always crying about your dead parents! I deserved that money for dealing with you! And that apartment was supposed to be my payout!"
In the van, Garrison looked at me and nodded. "We got it. Full admission of intent and guilt."
"And the baby?" Sarah continued, her voice unnervingly steady. "You filed a fake report saying I abandoned Leo at the hospital."
"I had to!" Derek laughed bitterly. "If I took the baby, I knew you'd be too broken to contest the deed! I paid Dr. Miller ten grand to sign those papers! It was supposed to be easy! But your uncle ruined everything!"
He reached out grabbed Sarah's wrist, his fingers digging into her skin. "Now give me the bag, or I swear to God, Sarah—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the front door of the diner burst open.
Dominic stood up from his booth, grabbing Derek’s arm in a crushing grip and twisting it behind his back, forcing him face down onto the diner table.
"Get off me!" Derek screamed, thrashing wildly. "Police! Help!"
Two city detectives stepped into the diner, badges displayed, handcuffs drawn.
"Derek Vance," Detective Miller announced loudly. "You are under arrest for felony extortion, criminal fraud, and grand larceny."
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Sarah stood up smoothly, picking up the velvet box containing her mother's ring. She looked down at her husband, who was sobbing as his face was pressed against the sticky tabletop.
"You were right about one thing, Derek," Sarah said softly, placing the ring safely into her pocket. "My uncle did ruin everything. He ruined your plan to destroy my life."
