Chapter 2 - Family Ties and Twisted Alibis
Captain Marcus Vance stared at me as if I were a ghost risen from a cold grave. At thirty-eight, Marcus had climbed the promotional ladder through a mix of sharp political maneuvering and the residual respect carried by the Vance family name in law enforcement. But right now, standing in the middle of a high-end department store surrounded by shell-shocked officers, he looked like a kid caught stealing from the evidence locker.
“Marcus,” I acknowledged coolly, folding my arms across my chest. “Your boys have been quite busy this afternoon.”
Marcus snapped his head toward Thorne and Caleb, his face darkening with a rage that looked half-genuine and half-panicked. “What did you idiots do?”
“Captain, it’s not what you think,” Thorne stammered, stepping between Marcus and the store counter. “Loss prevention called in a 10-41—grand larceny in progress. We responded to the active call. We didn't know—she didn't identify herself as active command!”
“She tried to,” Caleb chimed in quietly, his voice heavy with guilt. “I found her badge. They didn't want to listen.”
Isabelle Corbo pushed past them, her heels clicking aggressively against the floor as she sidled up to Marcus, flashing a practiced, ingratiating smile that had clearly worked on men with badges a hundred times before.
“Captain Vance, thank goodness,” Isabelle purred, leaning in close. “This woman caused a complete disruption, interfered with store security, and when my staff attempted to detain her for aggressive behavior, she brandished a fraudulent metallic emblem impersonating law enforcement. We want to press immediate trespassing and harassment charges.”
Marcus blinked, looking from Isabelle to me, his brain clearly trying to calculate how to sweep a massive departmental disaster under the rug before it hit the evening news.
“Isabelle,” Marcus said tightly, lowering his voice. “Shut up.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said, shut up,” Marcus snapped, before turning back to me with a strained, diplomatic smile. “Aunt Elena. Let’s step into the manager’s office. We can sort this misunderstanding out privately. No need to make a spectacle of—amicable department relations.”
“There is no misunderstanding, Marcus,” I said, not moving an inch. “A woman named Selena Dubois walked out of this store ten minutes ago with a fifteen-thousand-dollar diamond bracelet. Your loss prevention director here watched her do it, pointed the finger at me instead, and had your officers assault and detain an active police chief to protect a corporate client.”
Marcus’s smile vanished. He shot a murderous glare at Isabelle, who suddenly looked like she wanted the marble floor to swallow her whole.
“Is that true?” Marcus growled at Isabelle.
“She has no proof!” Isabelle insisted, though her voice shook. “The cameras record what we want them to record! The system overwrites automatically!”
“Does it?” I pulled my phone from my pocket, tapping the screen to bring up a live cloud-synced video file. “Because while your officers were busy slamming me into a glass showcase, my secure dashcam across the street captured Selena Dubois getting into a black Lincoln Navigator with plates registered directly to the Vance Commercial Leasing Group—the exact same entity that owns this entire shopping center.”
Marcus went completely gray.
Before he could speak, my phone buzzed in my hand with an incoming text notification from an unknown number.
I glanced down at the screen.
May you like
“Drop the investigation into the store theft, Elena. Or the next thing leaking to the press won’t be a shoplifting report—it’ll be the internal audit of the Brook Haven pension fund.”
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