Chapter 5: The Arrest at St. Jude's
Chapter 5: The Arrest at St. Jude's
The sterile white hallways of St. Jude’s Memorial Hospital smelled of antiseptic and artificial lemon cleaner. The soft hum of fluorescent lights overhead felt like a physical pressure against my temples as I walked down the cardiac ICU wing, flanked by Special Agent David Vance and two federal marshals in dark tactical vests.
Nurse station personnel looked up, their eyes widening in shock as our small procession moved purposefully past the glass-walled nurses' desk.
We stopped outside Room 402. Through the large viewing window, I could see my father lying propped up in a motorized hospital bed. A nasal cannula delivered oxygen to his nose, and a series of monitors beeped rhythmically beside him, tracking his erratic heart rate. Victoria sat in a vinyl armchair beside the bed, holding his limp hand and dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
I gestured to the federal marshal, who pushed the heavy door open with a soft click.
Victoria snapped her head around, her eyes blazing with sudden, venomous fury. She jumped out of her chair, dropping the tissue, and lunged toward the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed, trying to block the entrance. "Get out! Can't you see he's recovering from a stroke? You're going to kill him!"
"Move, Victoria," I said coldly, not raising my voice an inch.
"Evelyn?"
A weak, raspy voice called out from the bed. Harrison turned his head slowly on the pillow. His eyes, clouded with medication and exhaustion, fixed on me as I stepped past my sister into the room.
"You... you brought marshals?" Harrison whispered, his chest rising and falling in shallow, rapid movements. The heart monitor beside him began to beep faster, its steady tone accelerating into a sharp, insistent warning chime.
"Harrison Vance," Special Agent David Vance stepped forward, pulling a document from his folder and holding it up. "You are under arrest pursuant to a federal warrant issued by the U.S. District Court. The charges include mail fraud, securities manipulation, interstate wire fraud, and criminal negligence resulting in the loss of life aboard the USS Leviathan."
Victoria let out a piercing shriek of absolute disbelief. "Criminal negligence? Are you insane? That was a naval accident! You can't pin a ship fire on a private contractor!"
"It wasn't an accident, Victoria," I said, stepping right up to the side of the bed and looking down at the man who had traded his own flesh and blood—and the lives of twelve sailors—for a bigger profit margin. "Dad bought out-of-spec steel from Apex Industrial Supply to build those bulkheads. He forged the inspection certificates. He knew the metal would fail under high heat."
Harrison closed his eyes, a tremor passing through his frail, aged body. He didn't deny it. The silence in the room was heavier than any confession.
"Why?" Victoria whispered, her voice cracking as she looked back and forth between us. "Dad... tell her she's lying. Tell her it's not true."
"It's true," Harrison rasped, a single tear escaping the corner of his eye and sinking into his wrinkled cheek. He looked up at me, his gaze hollow and defeated. "The... the government contracts were failing. We needed capital. I didn't think... I didn't think it would lead to a fire."
"You didn't think because you never cared about the people inside the machines," I said quietly. "You only cared about the balance sheet."
Special Agent David Vance stepped forward, gently placing a pair of steel handcuffs on the metal bedside table. "Mr. Vance, once you are medically cleared by your attending physician, you will be transferred to the federal holding facility. Until then, a federal guard detail will remain stationed outside your door twenty-four hours a day."
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Victoria collapsed back into the armchair, burying her face in her hands as silent, shaking sobs racked her body. The invincible Vance family empire had finally been reduced to a hospital bed, a pair of handcuffs, and absolute, irreparable ruin.
I turned away from the bed, my boots clicking rhythmically against the linoleum floor as I walked out of the room, leaving my past behind me once and for all.
