Chapter 6 - The Unraveling
By midnight, the quiet hospital floor of St. Jude’s Memorial was filled with uniformed police officers and plainclothes detectives.
Detective Robert Vance—a thick-set, sharp-eyed investigator with the State Police Financial and Homicide Division—sat in a small private conference room across from Ethan. The thumb drive was plugged into a police laptop on the table between them, the audio files playing through a set of external speakers.
Detective Vance leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face with both hands, a low whistle escaping his lips.
"In twenty-five years on the force, Mr. Marlowe," Vance said quietly, "I have seen some vicious crimes. But a mother doing this to her own son... to her daughter-in-law... this is sickening."
"I want her arrested tonight," Ethan said, his voice flat, dead, and stripped of all emotion. "I want the mechanic arrested. I want every doctor who wrote those fake prescriptions put in handcuffs."
"We’re already moving on it," Vance assured him, picking up his phone. "I’ve got three units heading to the estate right now with an arrest warrant for felony attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, poisoning, and grand extortion. The district attorney is already signing off on the asset seizure orders for her personal accounts."
Just then, the conference room door opened, and a junior officer hurried inside, holding a cell phone.
"Detective," the officer said breathlessly. "The units just arrived at the Marlowe estate. The house is empty."
Ethan stood up abruptly. "What?"
"She slipped out through the service gates twenty minutes ago," the officer reported. "Her primary vehicle was left in the garage, but her private security driver took her in an unregistered black SUV. We traced her cell phone tower ping—she’s heading east toward the private airfield in Bedford."
"She has a Gulfstream jet parked at Bedford," Ethan said, his eyes widening with urgency. "She has offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands and a villa in a non-extradition country in South America. If she gets on that plane, you'll never bring her back!"
Detective Vance snapped into action, grabbing his radio and coat. "Issue an immediate border stop and air-traffic hold on all private flights leaving Bedford Airfield! Send state troopers to secure the runways!"
Vance turned to Ethan. "Stay here with your wife, Mr. Marlowe. Let us handle this."
"No," Ethan said, pulling his coat on with trembling hands. "I’m coming with you."
"Ethan, it’s dangerous—"
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"She destroyed my wife’s life!" Ethan shouted, his eyes blazing with absolute fury. "She made me an accomplice to her cruelty for eighteen months! I am going to be there when she gets put in chains!"
Detective Vance looked at Ethan’s desperate, furious face for two seconds, then nodded once. "Get in my car."
