Chapter 6 - The Sidewalk of Shame
By eleven-forty-five that morning, the quiet, prestigious enclave of Highland Crest was buzzing with neighborhood spectators.
Behind manicured boxwood hedges and lace-curtained bay windows, the wealthy residents of Riverdale stood watching the spectacle of the year.
A massive flatbed tow truck had backed into the driveway, its hydraulic winch whining loudly as it hoisted Daniel’s leased luxury sedan onto the steel ramp.
On the front lawn, four professional movers in blue jumpsuits were methodically carrying out Patricia’s designer luggage, three garment racks of fur coats, and dozens of shoe boxes, neatly stacking them on the curb beside the municipal fire hydrant.
Patricia sat on an overturned plastic storage tub on the sidewalk, weeping hysterically into an embroidered handkerchief, while her high-society neighbors whispered and pointed from their porches.
"Daniel, where are we supposed to go?!" Patricia wailed, her voice echoing down the street. "All my friends live in this neighborhood! Look at the Henderson sisters watching from across the street! I am completely humiliated!"
Daniel stood beside her, his suit jacket wrinkled, his hands jammed deep into his pockets, staring at the ground in utter, soul-crushing defeat.
He had called three of his golfing buddies to ask if they could stay in their guest cottages. Two had sent his calls straight to voicemail; the third had politely told him that his wife didn't feel comfortable harboring someone under active corporate fraud investigation.
The locksmith completed his work with a loud, metallic click that resonated through the morning mist like a gunshot.
Marcus Sterling walked down the stone walkway, holding a set of four shiny new brass keys. He turned to the lead deputy, signed the certificate of vacant possession, and slipped the keys into his overcoat pocket.
He stopped three feet from Daniel, looking down at the man who had traded his marriage for a steak dinner.
"Evelyn left a message for you, Daniel," Marcus said quietly.
Daniel’s head snapped up, a spark of desperate, pathetic hope flickering behind his bloodshot eyes. "What did she say? Does she want to meet?"
May you like
"She said to remind you," Marcus recited with icy precision, "that peace without the parasite is remarkably affordable. She hopes you enjoy your heaven."
Marcus turned on his heel, climbed into the back of his waiting town car, and pulled away from the curb, leaving Daniel and his mother stranded on the cold sidewalk amidst the ruins of their manufactured grandeur.
