Chapter 10 - THE DRIVEWAY
"Why?" I asked.
"She says she wants to retrieve property she claims is inside. Do not open the door. Officers are heading your way."
James locked the deadbolt.
Mom stared at me. "What property?"
"Nothing of hers is here."
Headlights swept across the living room wall.
A car stopped hard at the curb.
Lauren got out before the engine was fully off.
She marched up the driveway in heels, no coat, hair blowing wild in the freezing wind.
"SARAH!"
Emma woke and began crying upstairs through the baby monitor.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
Lauren hammered on the door.
"Open up! Mom, I know you're in there!"
Mom took one step toward the hallway.
James blocked her gently. "Don't."
Lauren kept pounding.
"You stole Dad's files! You think you're going to send me to jail?"
I could see her through the side window. Her eyes were glassy. She had been drinking again.
"Go home, Lauren!" I called through the door.
"You always do this!" she screamed. "You always make me the bad one!"
I almost couldn't believe it.
"You hit my baby!"
"I barely touched her!"
Then she saw the camera mounted above our porch.
Her face changed.
She stepped back.
"You're recording me?"
James said, "Yes."
Lauren lunged toward the porch camera and grabbed for it.
The first police cruiser turned onto our street at that exact moment.
She froze.
Blue lights washed across the house.
Two officers got out.
Lauren backed off the porch, suddenly crying.
"My brother-in-law threatened me!" she shouted. "I'm scared for my life!"
One officer asked her to step away from the house.
She refused.
The second officer saw the wine bottle sitting upright in her car's cup holder.
"Ma'am, did you drive here after drinking?"
Lauren's face drained.
She looked toward her car.
Then toward us.
May you like
Then she did the stupidest thing she had done all night.
She ran.
