Chapter 8 - The Confrontation at the Estate
The Morgan family estate sat on a hill overlooking the river—a sprawling, limestone manor surrounded by manicured boxwood hedges and iron gates.
By nine-thirty that evening, the party after-glow was in full swing inside the formal drawing room. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, we could see Marlene, Kendra, and Garrett lounging on the velvet sofas, laughing loudly with five other complicit relatives, holding crystal glasses of Grandma's rare reserve scotch.
Outside in the circular driveway, four unmarked police cruisers sat in blackout mode behind the towering oak trees.
I was cleared to travel with a cervical collar, my head wrapped in clean white bandages, my face bruised and sutured. Beside me stood Detective Hayes, two plainclothes officers, Arthur Vance, and Grandma Evelyn.
"Are you ready, Mr. Morgan?" Hayes asked me.
"More than ready," I replied.
Grandma didn't bother using her key. She gestured to the two burly officers, who shoved the heavy double oak doors open with a thunderous crash that echoed through the entire mansion.
The laughter in the drawing room stopped instantly.
Aunt Marlene stepped into the grand foyer, holding her glass, annoyance plastered across her face. "Mother? What on earth is all this noise? Where have you been? We were worried sick about you running off with—"
Her words died in her throat.
Her eyes drifted past Grandma and locked onto me.
Behind her, Kendra and Garrett walked out, their smug smiles freezing into masks of sheer disbelief. I was supposed to be in a hospital bed, incapacitated, unable to string a coherent sentence together. Instead, I was standing upright, flanked by estate attorneys and law enforcement.
"Lee?" Kendra squeaked, her voice trembling. "What... what are you doing here? You should be resting! You had a terrible drunken fall!"
"Shut up, Kendra," Grandma said.
The tone was so quiet, so deadly, that the entire room seemed to drop ten degrees.
"Mother, please," Marlene stammered, stepping forward with her arms outstretched in mock maternal concern. "You are completely exhausted. The stress of the party was too much for you. You aren't thinking clearly. Let Garrett help you to your room—"
"If Garrett takes one step toward my client," Arthur Vance interrupted, stepping forward and brandishing a thick court document, "he will be placed under immediate citizen's arrest for armed assault."
Garrett scoffed, though sweat was suddenly beading across his forehead. "Armed assault? Are you crazy? The guy tripped into a birthday cake! The whole family saw it!"
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"Did they?" Detective Hayes stepped out from the shadows of the foyer, unbuttoning her jacket to reveal her badge and service weapon. "Because Toby’s 4K telephoto lens saw something entirely different, Mr. Miller."
***
