Chapter 5 - The Legal War Begins
We moved into a short-term furnished rental apartment on the north side of town while the repairs on our home were expedited under a new contractor—one recommended directly by Deputy Vance, who turned out to be a decent man with three dogs of his own.
For the first four days, the silence in our new temporary home felt strange, almost unnerving, after the tense atmosphere of the Mercer house. But Max was back in his routine. He slept on his rug beside Emily’s bed, he waited by the front window when she was at school, and his presence acted as an anchor for all of us.
However, the storm was far from over.
On Wednesday afternoon, my attorney, Marcus Vance (no relation to the deputy, ironically), called me into his office in downtown Mount Vernon. Marcus was a sharp, fifty-something attorney with silver hair and a reputation for being entirely merciless in civil litigation.
“Take a seat, Sarah,” Marcus said, gesturing to the leather chairs across from his polished oak desk. “We’ve got the preliminary filings from Robert Mercer’s defense team.”
“Defense team?” I asked. “He hired a team?”
“He hired Richard Vance—no relation to the deputy—a high-priced criminal defense lawyer out of Columbus,” Marcus explained, sliding a paper across the desk. “They aren't just fighting the theft charges. They’re attacking your credibility.”
I picked up the paper. It was a formal motion claiming that the dog, Max, was ‘abandoned property’ brought into the Mercer residence without written lease agreements or pet deposits. It argued that Robert Mercer had exercised his legal right as property owner to abate a nuisance and cover damages caused by the animal.
Furthermore, they were claiming that the forty-five thousand dollar bank transfer was a ‘pre-arranged family loan’ intended to cover housing and utility expenses accrued during our stay.
I let out a harsh, dry laugh. “A loan? We were there for less than three weeks! And our kitchen repair was caused by a pipe Robert tampered with!”
“I know,” Marcus said calmly. “It’s a standard defense play: throw enough mud at the wall to make it look like a messy domestic civil dispute rather than a clean-cut criminal case. If they can convince the prosecutor that this is just a petty family squabble over money and pets, the prosecutor might downgrade the charges to simple misdemeanors with probation.”
“We can’t let that happen,” I said. “He stole from Emily. He broke her heart.”
“We aren't going to let it happen,” Marcus smiled thin and cold. “Because they made a huge mistake. They filed these motions before they saw the security footage from the gas station three miles down the road from the Mercer house.”
I tilted my head. “What gas station?”
“The Shell station on Route 36,” Marcus said, pulling up a video file on his computer monitor and turning it toward me. “On the afternoon Robert took Max, he didn't just meet the buyer at the house. The buyer met him in the parking lot of that Shell station at 3:15 p.m. to hand over the cash before driving to the house to pick up the dog.”
Marcus hit play.
The grainy video showed Robert’s black pickup truck parked beside a blue SUV. Robert got out, walked over to the driver’s window, and accepted a thick white envelope. He opened it, counted the bills right there under the security camera, and shook the man’s hand.
Then, he did something else.
He pulled a small bottle of clear liquid out of his jacket pocket and handed it to the buyer.
My stomach churned. “What is that?”
“We had the state police crime lab analyze the bottle that the buyer turned over when Deputy Vance recovered Max,” Marcus said quietly. “It was a mild veterinary sedative—acepromazine. Robert gave it to the buyer to make sure Max wouldn't bark or fight when he was put into the back of the SUV.”
Tears of fury pricked my eyes. He hadn't just sold our dog. He had drugged him to make the theft easier.
May you like
“That changes everything,” I whispered.
“Yes, it does,” Marcus said, leaning back in his chair. “That upgrades the charge from simple theft to grand larceny with intent, plus animal cruelty and illegal distribution of prescription pharmaceuticals. The prosecutor isn't going to offer a plea deal now. Robert Mercer is going to trial.”
