Chapter 9 - Arrested in Her Wedding Dress

The first officer refused to say who had requested the warrant. Evelyn called Marcus from the hallway, kept her hands visible, and asked to see the judge's signature. The order named a stolen laptop from Whitmore Development.

"I've never touched a Whitmore laptop," she said.

"Then tell it to the detective."

They put cuffs on her while she was still wearing the ivory satin dress. Rosa began filming from the doorway. Vivian asked for badge numbers. Noah swore until Evelyn told him to stop.

"You can't fight this by giving them a reason to arrest you too."

At the station, the desk sergeant looked at the gown and winced. "Long night?"

"You could say that."

A detective named Leah Price entered the interview room. She was plainspoken, exhausted, and unimpressed by the expensive names on the paperwork.

"The complaint says you stole data to sabotage a merger. What's your side?"

Evelyn told her about the wedding, the video, the forged document, and the fire. She did not surrender the only drive. Noah had already given a duplicate to Marcus, with a receipt for the chain of custody.

Price listened without interrupting.

"I can investigate a false complaint," she said. "But you need to know someone called my supervisor before you arrived. They wanted you held overnight."

"Who?"

Price lowered her voice. "A city councilman named Richard Vale. He's chairing the waterfront rezoning vote next week."

Evelyn remembered Vale laughing beside Celeste at charity dinners.

A junior officer tapped on the glass. Price stepped outside. Through the door, Evelyn heard two words: toxic exposure.

The detective returned, her face tight.

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At the station, Evelyn asked the detective for water. She drank slowly and counted the scratches on the interview table, a trick she'd used as a teenager whenever her father was in the hospital. Price noticed. 'Are you okay?' she asked. 'No,' Evelyn answered. 'But I can answer your questions.' Price nodded once, and for the first time that night, Evelyn felt she was being treated as a person instead of a problem.

"Your warehouse fire," she said. "A firefighter collapsed while clearing the basement. The hazmat team just found something underneath the concrete."