Chapter 9 - The Maid in Handcuffs
Sarah was arrested before noon.
Leo screamed when the officers placed handcuffs around her wrists.
Julian held him back.
“Do something!”
Leo cried.
Julian’s face twisted.
“I am.”
“Make them stop!”
Sarah forced herself not to cry.
“Leo, look at me.”
Her son struggled in Julian’s arms.
“Mommy!”
“I am coming home.”
She did not know if that was true.
But Leo needed to believe it.
At the precinct, Victoria’s attorneys presented photographs, security footage, and witness statements.
The evidence looked overwhelming.
Sarah’s lawyer, Rebecca Cole, arrived within an hour.
“This was staged.”
Sarah said.
“I believe you.”
Rebecca opened her laptop.
“But belief is not evidence.”
Julian stormed into the interview room.
“I found something.”
The original hallway footage had been edited.
Rebecca examined the timestamps.
There was a fourteen-second gap.
“That helps.”
She said.
“But we need the original server file.”
Julian called the hotel.
The server had suffered a “technical failure” shortly after Sarah’s arrest.
All original footage had supposedly been corrupted.
Sarah leaned back.
“Conrad.”
Julian nodded.
Then his phone rang.
It was Leo.
Julian answered immediately.
“Hey, buddy.”
Leo’s voice sounded small.
“Dad, I saw the lady.”
Julian straightened.
“What lady?”
“The lady who put the shiny thing in Mommy’s bag.”
Everyone went silent.
Leo explained that before entering the ballroom, he had been searching for Sarah.
He passed the employee corridor.
A woman wearing a maid uniform was standing beside Sarah’s locker.
“She took off her hat.”
Leo said.
“I saw her hair.”
Sarah leaned toward the phone.
“What color?”
“Red.”
Julian looked at Rebecca.
Victoria was blonde.
Sarah knew only one red-haired woman closely connected to the Sterling family.
Victoria’s personal assistant.
Natalie Crane.
Police brought Natalie in that evening.
She denied everything.
Then detectives showed her the photograph Leo had chosen from a lineup.
Her confidence cracked.
By midnight, she asked for a lawyer.
At 1:17 a.m., Natalie offered a deal.
She would explain the bracelet.
She would explain the fake video.
And she would explain what Conrad had ordered eight years earlier.
But she demanded immunity.
Rebecca smiled for the first time all day.
Sarah was released before sunrise.
Outside the precinct, Leo ran into her arms.
Julian watched them quietly.
Then Rebecca emerged behind Sarah.
Her expression was no longer happy.
“Do not celebrate yet.”
Sarah turned.
“Why?”
“Natalie gave us Victoria.”
“That’s good.”
May you like
Rebecca shook her head.
“She also gave them Julian.”
