Chapter 2 - THE CHRISTMAS RAID
The pounding came again.
“Sheriff’s Department.”
“Open the door immediately.”
David remained frozen.
Sylvia grabbed his arm.
“Don’t let them in.”
One of David’s coworkers moved toward the foyer.
“You need to open that door.”
Sylvia turned on him.
“This is a private family matter.”
The man stared at me on the kitchen floor.
“No.”
“It stopped being private when a pregnant woman started bleeding.”
David finally walked toward the door.
Before he reached it, the lock turned from outside.
The front door opened.
Four deputies entered with a paramedic team behind them.
Sheriff Thomas Reed came in last.
David had bragged about playing golf with him.
The sheriff did not smile.
He did not shake David’s hand.
He looked directly toward the kitchen.
“Where is Mrs. Whitmore?”
A paramedic rushed past David and knelt beside me.
“Ma’am, can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“How far along are you?”
“Twenty-nine weeks.”
Another cramp cut through me.
I gripped the paramedic’s sleeve.
“My baby.”
“We’re taking care of both of you.”
The second paramedic placed an oxygen mask over my face.
Sheriff Reed turned toward David.
“What happened?”
David straightened his shoulders.
“My wife slipped.”
I removed the mask.
“She pushed me.”
Everyone looked at Sylvia.
Her face tightened.
“She is lying.”
One of the dinner guests spoke from the dining room.
“She did push her.”
Sylvia turned sharply.
The woman holding the cranberry spoon was David’s legal assistant, Melissa Grant.
She looked terrified, but she kept speaking.
“I saw Mrs. Whitmore follow Anna into the kitchen.”
“I heard Anna ask to sit down.”
“Then I heard the impact.”
Another guest stepped forward.
“I saw David take her phone.”
David’s voice became hard.
“Be careful what you say.”
Sheriff Reed faced him.
“Do not threaten witnesses.”
“I’m not threatening anyone.”
“You just did.”
The paramedics lifted me onto a stretcher.
As they carried me through the dining room, I saw the table I had spent fourteen hours preparing.
The turkey was still steaming.
Candles were burning.
David’s colleagues stood against the walls with their coats still draped over chairs.
Nobody looked at Sylvia.
Nobody looked at David.
They looked at me.
For once, they could not pretend they had not seen.
Outside, an ambulance waited beneath falling snow.
Two black SUVs were parked behind it.
A man in a dark overcoat stepped out of the first vehicle.
My father crossed the driveway with six federal security officers around him.
He did not look at David.
He came directly to me.
He took my hand.
Then his eyes moved to the blood on my dress.
The Chief Justice disappeared from his face.
May you like
Only my father remained.
“Who did this to you?”
