Chapter 5 - The Digital Recorder
The small blinking red light on Dr. Sterling’s recorder felt like a laser sight trained directly on Julian’s chest. The elderly physician walked with a slight limp, leaning heavily on a polished wooden cane, but his eyes were sharp and unyielding as he came to a halt ten feet from the sweetheart table.
“Hello, Julian. Hello, Evelyn,” Dr. Sterling said, his voice carrying clearly across the silent ballroom. “It has been a long time. Not since the night you paid me fifty thousand dollars to alter the death certificate and sign off on a diagnosis of natural heart failure.”
Evelyn clutched her green blouse, her breath coming in ragged, audible gasps. “Arthur… you promised. You swore you would stay out of this. You took our money.”
“I took hush money to buy time, Evelyn,” Dr. Sterling corrected calmly, pressing play on the small device.
The tinny, unmistakable sound of Julian’s voice filled the massive hall, echoing off the crystal chandeliers. “Just sign the papers, Art. If the old man lives another week, the merger falls through and we are all bankrupt. I don't care how you do it, just make his heart stop.”
Chloe covered her ears with both hands, letting out a soft, shuddering sob as the recording continued to play, detailing the exact dosage of cardiac inhibitors mixed into the nightly tea service. The guests closest to the dais pulled their chairs back in sheer disgust, murmuring among themselves as the web of deceit unraveled piece by piece.
Julian lunged toward the table, grabbing a heavy silver champagne bucket and hurling it directly at the audio recorder. The heavy metal object missed Dr. Sterling by inches, smashing into a decorative floral arrangement and sending shattered glass and water cascading across the floor.
Detective Vance moved with lightning speed, tackling Julian to the marble floor before he could reach the heavy exit doors. The slick black tuxedo jacket tore at the shoulder as Julian thrashed violently, shouting curses that echoed off the high ceiling. “Get off me! You have no idea who you are dealing with! This company will crush you all!”
“The only thing getting crushed tonight, Mr. Vance, is their entire empire,” Isabella said coldly, stepping over the pool of spilled champagne and looking down at the man she had almost married.
Vance clicked the steel handcuffs onto Julian’s wrists with a definitive, metallic snap. “Julian Vance, you are under arrest for the premeditated murder of Arthur St. Clair Senior and the falsification of corporate documents.”
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Evelyn collapsed into the banquet chair behind her, her head dropping into her hands as her dark green blouse soaked up the cold sweat running down her neck. But before Vance could turn his attention toward her, the grand ballroom’s heavy mahogany doors swung open again, revealing a figure no one expected to see standing in the rain.
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