Chapter 5 - The Ambush at the Apartment
Back in Grand Rapids, Patrick and Joanne were spinning completely out of control.
Their legal counsel—a corporate attorney named Richard Sterling, who happened to be the senior partner at Sterling Real Estate—had just informed them over a scrambled phone line that a massive federal injunction had been slapped on Parcel 4B, freezing the entire four-million-dollar transaction.
“What do you mean it’s frozen?!” Patrick screamed into his phone from his home office. “You said the title was clean! You said the transfer was airtight!”
“It was airtight until someone filed a formal challenge with the state supreme court backed by original deeds and notarized counter-affidavits!” Sterling yelled back through the receiver, his voice tight with panic. “If federal investigators trace those land transfers back to our front company, we’re all looking at federal penitentiary time! Get those documents back, Patrick! Do whatever it takes, or you’re on your own!”
The line went dead with a harsh click.
Patrick threw the phone against the wall, shattering it into pieces. He turned to Joanne, who was pacing back and forth across the rug, wringing her hands so hard her knuckles were white.
“We have to go to Cincinnati,” Patrick said, his voice dropping into a desperate, dangerous register. “Right now. If we wait for the courts or the police, we lose everything—the house, the accounts, the business contracts. Everything.”
“What are we going to do when we get there?” Joanne asked, her eyes wide with hysteria. “Audrey hates us! She’s never going to give us the box voluntarily!”
“We aren't asking,” Patrick snarled, grabbing his car keys from the hook by the door. “We’re her parents. We’ll force her to hand it over, or we’ll drag the old woman back before she can sign anything else. Get your coat.”
By 4:00 PM that afternoon, Patrick’s black luxury SUV roared off the highway and pulled up outside the modest apartment building in Cincinnati where Audrey lived.
They didn't bother calling. They didn't knock politely.
Patrick marched straight up the exterior metal staircase to the third floor, pounding his fists furiously against Audrey’s apartment door while Joanne hovered behind him, nervously looking down the empty hallway.
“Audrey! Open this door right now!” Patrick bellowed, kicking the wooden frame with his heavy boot. “I know you’re in there! Open up before I break this door down!”
Inside the apartment, the sudden violent pounding made Rosalyn flinch, a soft gasp escaping her lips as she dropped her knitting needles onto the sofa.
Audrey stood up from the kitchen table where she had been reviewing legal filings with Elena Cole. She didn't look scared. She looked profoundly disappointed.
She walked steadily to the front door, unlocked the deadbolt, and pulled it open.
Patrick lunged forward, trying to push his way past her into the living room, but he stopped dead in his tracks.
Standing right beside Audrey in the entryway wasn't just a frightened young woman. It was Detective Miller of the Cincinnati Police Department, flanked by two uniformed officers, and Elena Cole holding a clipboard.
“Patrick Callahan?” Detective Miller asked smoothly, resting his hand casually on the leather holster of his service pistol.
Patrick froze, his foot still hovering over the threshold. “I’m here to see my daughter and my mother. This is a private family matter—”
“It was a family matter until you crossed state lines to harass, intimidate, and coerce a protected elder,” Detective Miller interrupted, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his tactical belt. “Patrick Callahan, you are under arrest for felony elder abuse, mail fraud, and financial extortion. You have the right to remain silent...”
Joanne let out a piercing shriek from the hallway, stumbling backward against the stucco wall as the second officer stepped forward to secure her wrists as well.
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“You can’t do this!” Joanne screamed, thrashing as the cuffs clicked into place. “We’re her parents! This is our family!”
“Your family business is officially closed,” Audrey said quietly, stepping out onto the landing and looking down at her mother with absolute, unshakeable calm.
