The All Powerful Jeremiah Steel

CHAPTER FIVE

Hearing the voice, Jeremiah’s eyes widened.

He had been so enthralled in the chaos of what he was doing that the loud noise of the car’s engine had drowned the sound of the police cars driving towards and surrounding him.

They had turned off their sirens and headlights to make sure he didn’t see them coming, and now he had nowhere to go.

“The police? What are the police doing here?! I thought grandmother was handling the situation—” Jeremiah panicked but was interrupted.

“This is your final warning! Turn off the engine and come out with your hands up. Refuse and we’ll be forced to use deadly force”, Officer Prince warned.

Immediately, Jeremiah turned off the engine.

“Good. Now, come out with your hands up and do it slowly. Any strange movement and we might be forced to put you down—“

“Alright, I’ve heard you! I’m coming out!” Jeremiah yelled, then took his hands out of the car first.

“As you can see, my hands are empty and outside the car. I am coming out too, so please don’t shoot” he said, then slowly got out of the car.

Jeremiah stared at the two police cars in front of him and was squinting because the intense light from their headlights bombarded all over his body and face.

Officer Prince and his partner got out of their car.

“Now, put your hands on your head and turn around”

“Okay. I’m cooperating, so don’t shoot me, please” Jeremiah begged, then did as told.

Officer Prince and his partner approached the car and while the commanding officer of the investigation went to Jeremiah, his partner checked the car that was halfway sunk.

“It matches the description given by the eyewitness, Prince,” said Officer Campbell.

Officer Prince grunted angrily, then grabbed Jeremiah’s arms forcefully and cuffed him.

“Hey, hey, that’s too rough. Stop it. What do you think you’re—?“

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you…” Officer Prince read Jeremiah his Miranda rights as he dragged him to the car.

They put him in the backseat and drove back to the mansion.

“Officers, what’s going on? Why have I been arrested?” Jeremiah asked, but saw the angry look Officer Prince had in the rearview mirror.

“Does this have anything to do with the car? If it does, then I can—“

“Shut up, murderer!”

“What?” Jeremiah quickly looked at Officer Campbell, who just snapped at him.

“How dare you talk after what you’ve done?! Do you think your innocent act is going to fool anyone when we caught you red-handed trying to hide the evidence? You’re lucky we’re not allowed to be aggressive with you because that’s exactly what you deserve after what you’ve done!”

“Calm down, partner. Come on, let’s go address the family and get out of here”. Officer Prince said to his partner, then both of them got out of the car and met with the other members of the Prescott family.

From inside the car, Jeremiah grimaced, watching what was happening, and was confused as to why he was the one being arrested instead of Gwen.

He observed the situation outside a little and found something strange. Well, stranger than it was already.

He saw that his mother was looking at him with fearful eyes, while, at the same time, she was being held back by Victor and Austin.

“Mom? Is she acting so strangely because I was arrested?” Jeremiah asked himself, but then, his attention was taken to what Lady Elizabeth was saying and his eyes widened.

She was telling Officer Prince how he had acted strangely after returning from an outing and that they all went outside the mansion to find out why that was, only to see him drive the car to the lake.

She also thanked Officer Prince and Officer Campbell for arresting Jeremiah because he made them not feel safe.

In essence, all sorts of lies flew out her mouth and landed with ease on the two officers’ ears.

“Wait, what is she saying?” Jeremiah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Those are all lies, so why is she telling them to—”

He finally realized what was going on.

The woman had framed him.

“Hey, officers! Can you hear me?! I’m innocent! Don’t believe a word of what they’re saying about me! I’m innocent! The one who was in the accident was—“, Alexander said, but was cut off when William and Mirabel caught his attention.

They were mouthing something to him, so he tried reading their lips. It took some time to get it but when he did, his eyes widened.

He looked at his mother again, but this time, the way Austin and Victor held her took a completely different meaning.

They were using Michelle as a hostage and letting Jeremiah know that if he revealed the truth to the officers, they would implicate her as his accomplice and get both of them arrested.

This was the reason why Lady Elizabeth had chosen him to be the one to get rid of the evidence, because if he was successful then it was good for her. However, if he wasn’t, then she could just pin the blame on him.

The latter was exactly what was happening right now.

Jeremiah looked at his helpless mother while also being helpless himself and everything he was going to say vanished.

The officers glared at him, wondering what he was rambling about, but because he had suddenly gone quiet, they cussed at him and returned to what they were doing.

“Thank you for the help, Lady Elizabeth. We’ll take that scumbag to jail, then he’ll face the full extent of the law.”

“Thank you, Officer Prince,” Lady Elizabeth said with an appreciative smile.

“As for the car, thankfully the bastard wasn’t able to sink it so we’ll be back here tomorrow to pull it out and take it to the station.”

“I’ll be sure to have my people at the gate open the moment they see you officers. The Beethoven city police department will always have my full support and cooperation”, Lady Elizabeth said.

“Thank you”, Officers Prince and Campbell bowed their heads in respect, then went back into the car and started to leave.

Jeremiah had played into Lady Elizabeth’s hands and was now completely check-mated.

He could only watch the family who had framed him and also his powerless mother fade into the horizon as he was being taken away.

Jeremiah thought about how his life was now ruined, and he didn’t know when he started crying.

“You should have thought of the consequences before you did what you did. Now, stop crying, you murderer! Your voice is making my ears hurt”, Officer Campbell complained, then smacked his tongue.

Jeremiah was taken to a holding cell and because it was the beginning of the weekend, Friday, he would be transferred to prison in the morning.

For the crime he was being framed for committing, there was no option of bail. Not that he had anyone that would bail him out anyway.

While sitting in the holding cell, Jeremiah could only think about how messed up his life had become.

Why did everyone in the Prescott family hate him so much to frame him for something so despicable? He wondered, but never saw any justification for their actions.

Suddenly, Jeremiah heard crying that pulled him from his deep thoughts. He looked up, only to see a woman with puffy eyes, rushing to his cell and, when she got there, spat on his face.

“You murderer! Why did you have to take my precious husband in such a terrible way?!”

“Mam?” Jeremiah questioned, wondering what the crying woman was talking about.

“Couldn’t you have driven carefully? Now, because of you, I’ve become a widow at such a young age. I hope you die a very miserable death. I hope you rot in prison and never get to set your foot outside again”, she prayed, then spat at Jeremiah again.

“Mam, I’m sorry about what happened to your husband, but I swear to you that I wasn’t the one who killed him”, Jeremiah pleaded, but his attempt only deepened the woman’s disdain.

“How dare you try to lie to my face, you murderer? If you weren’t the one who took my husband from me, then who did, huh?!” She yelled.

“It was—“

Jeremiah wanted to say something, but he remembered that his mother was being held hostage and opening his mouth to reveal the truth would automatically give her the same fate as him.

He didn’t know what to do and, as a result, he ended up crying and apologizing to the woman.

He went to his knees and dropped his head on the floor.

“I'm really sorry madam. I don’t know if there’s anything I can say that would make you feel better but—“

“I don’t want your disgusting apology, so keep it! What I want is for someone to find you in whatever prison you’re going to and stab you to death, because that’s what you deserve. Murderer” she said, then spat at the back of Jeremiah’s head but missed.

Just then, a police officer came and carried the woman away.

Alexander felt extremely shameful about everything. He had cried so much that he didn’t think he could anymore.