Chapter 7 - PLAN B
Linda made it three steps.
“Let go of me!”
“Ma’am, stop resisting.”
“You don’t understand!”
“No,” Sarah said from across the room. “I think I finally do.”
Jason sat handcuffed on a dining chair.
Deputy Harris placed the bottle in an evidence bag.
“Whose prescription is this?”
Sarah pointed at the label.
“My name. Not my doctor.”
The pharmacy listed was in Marietta, forty miles away.
“You were going to drug her?”
Jason shook his head.
“No.”
“The recording says pills.”
“I didn’t know Mom actually got them.”
Linda screamed from the doorway, “Don’t you dare put this on me!”
Jason looked at her.
Sarah saw it happen.
Harris read Jason his rights.
Linda’s lawyer arrived twenty minutes later.
The same name on the forged deed.
He stepped inside in a tan suit and stopped when he saw the deputies.
“What happened?”
Sarah held up the phone.
“You tell me, Ray.”
His eyes went to the hidden envelope on the table.
“So you know these documents?”
Ray adjusted his tie.
“I represent the family.”
“Which family member?”
“Mr. Mitchell.”
Linda snapped, “Ray, say nothing.”
“That sounded like advice to yourself.”
Ray’s face tightened.
Sarah felt something click into place.
The protective order.
The forged deed.
This wasn’t a desperate husband and an overbearing mother improvising.
Someone knew exactly how quickly Sarah could be removed from the house.
Sarah looked at Jason.
“How long?”
“How long have you been planning this?”
“Three months.”
Miles had his head against her arm.
While Jason kissed her goodnight.
While he helped choose Miles’s preschool.
While he complained about mortgage rates on a house he did not own.
Deputy Harris asked everyone to remain available for statements.
Then Sarah’s phone buzzed.
One text.
YOU FOUND THE WRONG ENVELOPE.
A second message appeared.
CHECK THE GARAGE BEFORE THEY TAKE HIM AWAY.
May you like
Sarah looked toward the door leading to the garage.
And Jason whispered, “Don’t.”
