Chapter 4 - The Handcuffs
The next twenty minutes felt like a surreal dream sequence, except every detail was razor-sharp.
Officer Chen's partner, a younger officer named Miller, separated Dad and Mom into the living room while Officer Chen questioned me in the hallway. I didn't exaggerate. I didn't embellish. I provided a clinical, chronological account of the evening: the discussion about the deed, the demand for ownership, the refusal to leave, and the strike.
"Do you own this property, Miss Bennett?" Officer Chen asked, taking notes on a digital tablet.
"Sole owner," I answered, pulling my driver’s license and a digital copy of the deed on my phone. "My parents and sister were permitted to stay here temporarily. Tonight, they were served a thirty-day notice to vacate."
"And the suspect lives here currently?"
"She has been staying in the upstairs guest room without a lease and without paying rent."
Officer Chen nodded, her face impassive. She walked into the dining room where Erin was sitting on the edge of a chair, visibly trembling with a mixture of rage and terror.
"Miss Erin Bennett," Officer Chen said. "Stand up, please."
"I am not standing up," Erin sneered, her voice cracking. "Do you know who I am? I am the founder and CEO of PulsePoint Technologies! My attorney will have your badge if you touch me!"
"Stand up, or you will be placed under arrest for resisting a lawful order," Officer Chen replied, her tone completely level.
"Erin, just do what she says!" Mom wailed from the sofa, wringing her hands. "Officer, please, she’s sensitive! She’s under an enormous amount of stress!"
Erin stood, her chin jutting out defiantly. "This is absurd. Claire is doing this out of jealousy. Look at her lip—it’s barely a scratch! People get scratches all the time!"
"You admitted to striking her?" Officer Chen asked.
"I pushed her away from me because she was violating my personal space!" Erin lied smoothly.
"That’s a lie," I said from the hallway. "And fortunately, Grandpa Thomas installed high-resolution security cameras in the entryway and dining room after a neighborhood break-in five years ago. I upgraded the system last month to cloud storage."
Erin’s face lost every single drop of color. She looked up at the subtle black dome nestled in the crown molding of the dining room ceiling. A tiny blue LED blinked steadily.
"You... you wired the house?" Erin whispered.
"I protected my asset," I replied.
Officer Chen took a step forward. "Erin Bennett, turn around and place your hands behind your back."
"No! Dad! Dad, do something!" Erin screamed as Officer Chen took hold of her wrist.
Dad surged forward from the living room. "Get your hands off my daughter!"
"Sir, back up!" Officer Miller commanded, immediately stepping into Dad’s path, his hand firmly pressing against Dad’s chest, pushing him back onto the sofa. "Interfering with an arrest will land you in the back of the second car. Sit down and stay there!"
*Click.*
The metallic sound of handcuffs locking into place cut through the room like a gunshot.
Erin let out a high-pitched, humiliating sob as Officer Chen secured her wrists behind her back. "Claire! Tell them to stop! Claire, please! I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry! Don't let them take me to jail!"
I stood by the doorway, my coat buttoned, my handbag over my arm. I looked at my sister—the golden child who had taken my college fund, who had wrecked three cars without paying a dime of insurance deductibles, who had lived rent-free while treating me like dirt.
"You wanted to know what ownership means, Erin," I said quietly. "It means you don't get to hit the landlord."
Officer Chen guided the sobbing, squirming founder of PulsePoint down the front hallway and out into the Seattle rain.
Mom collapsed against Dad, weeping hysterically, while Dad stared at me with an expression of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"You're dead to us," Dad spat through clenched teeth. "Do you hear me, Claire? Dead."
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"Then you shouldn't have any trouble packing your bags and leaving my house," I replied, and walked out the door into the night.
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