Chapter 13 - The Fall of Potomac
Two weeks after the federal raid, the Bennett estate on the Potomac River had become an empty shell.
Moving trucks lined the curb, loading the imported furniture, the oil paintings, and the crystal chandeliers that had been inventoried by court-appointed trustees.
Diane sat on a wooden crate on the front lawn, clutching a small leather suitcase containing her remaining clothes.
Her hair, normally styled weekly at a boutique salon in Bethesda, was pinned back with a cheap plastic clip.
She wore a simple beige sweater and jeans she had bought at a department store clearance rack.
Caroline stood beside her, holding a cardboard box filled with high-heeled shoes and designer purses that the marshals had allowed her to keep as personal effects.
Every ten minutes, a car would slow down along the private lane.
Neighbors she had known for fifteen years rolled their windows down just enough to peer at the fallen family.
Mrs. Kensington, who had co-hosted the annual spring gala with Diane, did not stop.
She merely turned her head away as her chauffeur drove past the gates.
The social world that Diane had dedicated her entire life to maintaining had severed ties with surgical speed.
Nobody called.
Nobody sent flowers.
The country club had sent a formal letter by certified mail revoking their membership on the grounds of conduct detrimental to the organization’s standing.
“Where are we going, Mom?” Caroline asked, her voice flat and exhausted.
“The motel near Rockville,” Diane answered, staring at the empty house.
“The one by the highway.”
“The room is seventy-five dollars a night.”
Caroline looked down at her hands.
The skin around her fingernails was dry and peeling; she hadn't had a manicure in two weeks.
Her engagement ring was gone, returned to Nathan by registered mail after his attorney threatened legal action to recover the Reed family heirloom.
She had no car; her leased convertible had been repossessed three days after Robert’s arrest.
She had thirty-two dollars in checking account that had escaped the general asset freeze.
A battered yellow cab pulled up to the driveway, its engine rattling in the quiet afternoon air.
The driver leaned out the window.
“Pickup for Bennett?”
Diane stood up slowly, her joints stiff from sitting on the wooden box.
She picked up her small suitcase and walked to the trunk.
Caroline followed her, loading her single cardboard box into the back.
As Caroline slid into the rear vinyl seat of the taxi, her eyes caught sight of a framed photograph lying on the lawn beside the trash pile.
It was a picture taken eight years ago on the terrace of their Martha’s Vineyard summer home.
Caroline was in the center, smiling in a white sundress, with Robert and Diane flanking her proudly.
In the far background, half-cut out of the frame, stood Evelyn.
She had been wearing an old grey hoodie, reading a thick textbook on oceanography while the rest of the family toasted the sunset with champagne.
They had cropped that picture when they posted it online.
They had cut Evelyn out so she wouldn't ruin the symmetry of their perfection.
Caroline leaned her head against the dirty taxi window as the cab pulled away from the gates.
May you like
She had spent her whole life believing she was the prize.
Now, the gates closed behind them for the last time, locked with a heavy federal chain.
