Chapter 2 - THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
“She is Deputy Attorney General Casey Peterson.”
The sentence landed like a dropped weapon.
Nobody in the lobby moved.
Officer Greene continued, visibly wishing he had entered any other room in America.
“She runs the Public Integrity and Police Misconduct Division.”
Dana stared.
Colton went pale.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Chief Enzo recovered first.
He straightened his shoulders.
“I know who she is.”
Casey looked at him.
“Yes. That’s the problem.”
Greene looked confused.
Casey did not explain yet.
She turned back to the desk officer.
“My mother needs medical evaluation now.”
Enzo said:
“She’s being booked.”
Casey faced him.
“On what probable cause?”
“Assault.”
“Based on two statements from parties with direct financial interests in the dispute?”
His eyes sharpened.
“What financial interests?”
Casey saw the mistake.
He should have known only what the complaint said.
Unless somebody had told him more.
She stepped closer.
“You tell me.”
Silence.
Then Margaret whispered:
“They wanted me to sign the house over.”
Casey turned.
“What?”
Dana snapped:
“She’s confused.”
Margaret flinched.
Casey saw it.
Not dementia.
Conditioning.
A woman who had been told repeatedly that her own memory was unreliable.
Casey knelt again.
“Mom. Look at me.”
Margaret did.
“What house?”
“My house.”
Their family home.
The two-story brick house on Larchwood Drive where Casey and Colton grew up.
Margaret had owned it outright since their father died nine years earlier.
No mortgage.
No trust.
No shared title.
Casey asked:
“What did they want you to sign?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“A deed.”
Colton stepped forward.
“It wasn’t like that.”
Casey looked at him.
“Then explain.”
“We were trying to protect the property.”
“From whom?”
“Mom.”
Margaret made a wounded sound.
Dana interrupted:
“She’s been making bad decisions.”
Casey stood.
“Such as?”
Dana hesitated.
“That’s private.”
“Then stop using privacy as evidence.”
Enzo stepped between them.
“This station is not the place for family arguments.”
Casey looked at him.
“No. This station is where you arrested the person who says she was forced to sign away her house.”
Enzo’s face tightened.
Casey turned to Lieutenant Greene.
“Was an elder-abuse screening completed?”
Greene hesitated.
“No, ma’am.”
“Was EMS called?”
“No.”
“Were photographs taken of my mother’s injuries before the cuffs?”
Greene looked toward Enzo.
Casey’s voice sharpened.
“Do not look at him. Answer.”
“No.”
“Was Dana medically examined?”
“Yes.”
Casey glanced at Dana.
“And?”
Greene swallowed.
“She declined transport. No visible injuries noted by EMS.”
The lobby changed.
Dana’s face hardened.
Colton looked down.
Casey said:
“So the alleged attacker is bruised, bleeding, and cuffed. The alleged victim has no visible injuries and went home long enough to change clothes before coming here.”
Dana’s eyes widened.
Casey had noticed.
Margaret whispered:
“She was wearing red before.”
Dana snapped:
“You hit your head!”
Casey turned so fast Dana stepped backward.
“Do not speak to her.”
Enzo raised his voice.
“That’s enough.”
Casey looked at him.
“No, Chief. We’re just beginning.”
She took out her phone.
Called the state police duty commander.
Then called an assistant attorney general from her own division.
Then a geriatric emergency physician at the regional hospital.
She did not order anyone arrested.
Did not claim special power over a local case.
She did something Enzo feared more.
She created witnesses.
Within forty minutes, Margaret was transported for evaluation.
Her cuffs came off.
The arrest was temporarily held pending supervisory review.
And Casey learned the first detail that turned a bad family case into something else.
The arresting officer’s body camera had been “offline.”
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So had the booking-room camera.
For exactly forty-seven minutes.
