Chapter 10 — Blue Lights

By two minutes to midnight, state police cruisers had flooded Chestnut Hill. Upstairs, the guests were still counting down, still shouting Happy New Year, when the blue lights swept across the front of the house.

Just before the troopers forced the basement door, Delia came running into the hall waving a single sheet of paper.

“He agreed to everything!” she screamed at them. “My husband authorized me to manage his assets — this old man is trying to kidnap him!”

The paper was a private power-of-attorney form with a shaky, forced signature at the bottom.

Cyrus — who had driven straight to the scene — read it without touching it. “Even if that signature were genuine,” he said mildly, “it gives you no authority over the assets you’re claiming. Your husband doesn’t personally own this house, these cars, or Heartland Freight Systems.” He let that sit.

“As of twenty minutes ago, every corporate power, account, and card connected to this family has been revoked.”