“This is all a mistake,” Simon insisted after the chief helped him back in his chair.
“Someone hit me,” Loyd whined. “I want to see my attorney! I want to press charges.” He started to stand up.
“Please sit down, Mr. Glandon,” the chief ordered, gently pushing him back in his chair.
“We’re going to leave now,” Chris announced, turning to the door.
“Wait! Chris!” Simon called out. “It’s all a misunderstanding. You can’t believe we’d try to hurt you.”
Chris didn’t turn around again, but walked out of the office with Walt and Danielle.
“This is all a mistake. I want to see our attorney,” Loyd insisted.
“I’m not sure why we’re being arrested,” Simon said. “You said attempted murder, but what proof do you have that we did anything to try to harm our nephew and Miss Boatman?”
“I want to see my attorney before you ask me another question!” Loyd blustered.
“They’re bringing in a phone so you can call your attorney before we take you down to lockup.”
“Lockup? Surely you don’t expect us to spend the night in jail? It’s Christmas Eve,” Loyd protested.
“This is outrageous,” Simon snapped.
“While we wait for them to bring us the phone, I’d like you to watch something.” The chief turned on the tablet. He arranged it so both men could watch. A video came on the screen.
“What are we looking at?” Simon asked.
“Chris put up a few cameras in his office—even in the kitchen area. This afternoon was captured for posterity—along with sound.” MacDonald started the video, and to the Glandon brothers’ horror, the afternoon at the foundation office replayed on the tablet. It proved to have excellent audio, capturing the chilling words Loyd had whispered to Chris.
“Well, this was an interesting Christmas Eve,” Joe said as he and Brian watched through the two-way mirror.
“You probably need to get home to get ready for your brother-in-law’s open house,” Brian said.
“Haha. He isn’t my brother-in-law.”
“Yet.”
Joe glanced over to Brian. “You think they’re still having it?”
“According to Danielle, they are. When they left, Danielle said she wouldn’t let Chris’s uncles ruin the rest of Christmas.”
Joe shook his head. “Does Lily even know what went on here?”
“If she doesn’t, I imagine Danielle will tell her when they get home.”
Joe glanced at his watch. “Let’s get those jokers the phone so we can take them off the chief’s hands and get them booked. I imagine he wants to get home to his boys.”
“I imagine you want to get home to Kelly.”
Joe let out a snort. “I’m not sure about that. She was pretty pissed at me when I had to come in today at the last minute.”
“I’m not sure you should have slugged them,” Danielle told Walt as he held open the passenger door of the Packard so she could get in. Chris had already gotten into the back seat. “After all, they are kind of old.”
“I’m glad he did it,” Chris grumbled. “I wish I’d done it myself.”
“Happy to oblige, Chris.” Walt closed the car door and then headed for the driver’s seat. When he got into the Packard, he added, “I would have happily killed them, but I didn’t want to risk their spirits sticking around.”
“No, I agree with you there,” Chris said, leaning forward, resting his arms on the back of the front seat. “I’ll just be satisfied that those two SOBs will be spending the rest of their miserable lives locked up behind bars. Eva was right, I shouldn’t have let them back into my life.”
“It might be better this way,” Danielle suggested.
“Better?” Walt choked out. “You could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t. And if they weren’t staying in our house where we could keep an eye on them, then who knows, it is entirely possible they might have tried something else and been successful.”
When they got home, Lily and Ian were waiting in the living room of Marlow House with Heather, Marie and Eva.
“We let ourselves in,” Lily announced when the three walked into the living room.
“I see.” Danielle tossed her purse on an empty chair.
“What happened today? I’m right in the middle of wrapping brie cheese in pastry when I get a call from Walt, telling me you and Chris are okay, but to stay home and don’t say anything to anyone until you can explain,” Lily asked.
Danielle perked up. “Oh, you’re having brie cheese in pastry tonight?”
Lily met the comment with a glare and then continued. “Heather tells me she was framed for your murder, but you are alive, and I have to wait until you get home to explain. And then the chief calls and says the uncles have been arrested and you guys are on your way home and will explain everything. What happened?”
Danielle let out a sigh and took a seat. She began by telling about Zara Bishop.