Detective Hart separated everyone immediately.<\/p>\n
Patricia was taken into the storage office with her lawyer.<\/p>\n
Melissa sat in the rear of an unmarked police car wrapped in a blanket someone had brought from an emergency kit. Brian stood alone beside the fence, looking through the chain links toward the highway.<\/p>\n
I remained near Daniel.<\/p>\n
"What did she mean by 'anymore'?"<\/p>\n
Daniel watched the officers moving evidence from the unit.<\/p>\n
"That's what Hart is going to find out."<\/p>\n
"She knew where Ethan was."<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
"She said she doesn't know anymore."<\/p>\n
"Which means at minimum she believed she knew before."<\/p>\n
I watched Patricia through the office window.<\/p>\n
Her lawyer leaned close while she spoke.<\/p>\n
Part of me wanted to go inside and demand answers myself.<\/p>\n
Another part was suddenly exhausted.<\/p>\n
For months I had been fighting to prove I didn't steal money.<\/p>\n
Now the money sat at the center of a family secret involving Richard Brooks, his hidden daughter, his brother Samuel, a missing child, and a storage unit filled with cash.<\/p>\n
My marriage seemed almost small beside it.<\/p>\n
Brian approached.<\/p>\n
"Angela."<\/p>\n
Daniel shifted beside me.<\/p>\n
I raised one hand.<\/p>\n
"It's fine."<\/p>\n
Brian stopped several feet away.<\/p>\n
"I need to tell you something."<\/p>\n
"I don't know if I can handle another surprise today."<\/p>\n
"It's about Samuel."<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
"When I saw him at Dad's funeral, Mom said he was an old business friend."<\/p>\n
"Why do you remember him?"<\/p>\n
"He stood away from everyone."<\/p>\n
Brian looked toward Patricia.<\/p>\n
"I thought it was strange. Dad's funeral was packed. Samuel didn't talk to anyone. He came to the cemetery, stayed maybe fifteen minutes, and left."<\/p>\n
"Did Patricia speak to him?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
He rubbed his hands together.<\/p>\n
"Afterward, Mom asked whether I'd talked to the gray-haired man."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"She said she didn't want strangers bothering us."<\/p>\n
That sounded exactly like Patricia: concern shaped like instruction.<\/p>\n
"Did Richard ever mention a brother?"<\/p>\n
"Never."<\/p>\n
"Not once?"<\/p>\n
Brian shook his head.<\/p>\n
"His parents died before I was born. I thought Dad was an only child."<\/p>\n
An officer called Hart away from the storage door.<\/p>\n
Moments later the detective approached us.<\/p>\n
"Brian, Angela, I need both of you to come inside."<\/p>\n
Daniel came too.<\/p>\n
The office smelled of burnt coffee and motor oil. Patricia sat at a folding table beside her attorney.<\/p>\n
Melissa had been brought in through another door.<\/p>\n
Her eyes were swollen.<\/p>\n
Hart remained standing.<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Brooks has agreed to provide limited information."<\/p>\n
Melissa laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
"Limited."<\/p>\n
Patricia looked at her.<\/p>\n
"I'm trying to help."<\/p>\n
"You've had six months."<\/p>\n
"Melissa\u2014"<\/p>\n
"Where is Ethan?"<\/p>\n
Hart intervened.<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Brooks, start with Samuel."<\/p>\n
Patricia clasped her hands.<\/p>\n
"Samuel was Richard's older brother."<\/p>\n
"Why was he kept secret?"<\/p>\n
"Because he was dangerous."<\/p>\n
Brian leaned forward.<\/p>\n
"Dangerous how?"<\/p>\n
Patricia hesitated.<\/p>\n
"When they were young, Richard and Samuel inherited property from their parents. Samuel gambled. Richard didn't. By the time they were thirty, most of Samuel's share was gone."<\/p>\n
"What does that have to do with us?"<\/p>\n
"Everything."<\/p>\n
Patricia said Richard began purchasing distressed properties through small holding companies. At first, Samuel helped. Later, Richard discovered Samuel had been taking money from tenants, forging signatures, and using company accounts to cover gambling debts.<\/p>\n
"They fought," Patricia said. "Richard removed him from the businesses."<\/p>\n
"What happened then?" Hart asked.<\/p>\n
"Samuel disappeared for years."<\/p>\n
"Disappear where?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
Brian stared at her.<\/p>\n
"You know more."<\/p>\n
Patricia's eyes hardened.<\/p>\n
"I know what Richard told me."<\/p>\n
Hart gestured for her to continue.<\/p>\n
"Samuel came back when Brian was young. He wanted money. Richard refused."<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"He threatened us."<\/p>\n
"What kind of threats?"<\/p>\n
Patricia looked at her son.<\/p>\n
"He said if Richard cared so much about his family, maybe he'd understand what it was like to lose one."<\/p>\n
Brian's expression changed.<\/p>\n
"You never told me that."<\/p>\n
"We protected you."<\/p>\n
"By lying about an uncle for my entire life?"<\/p>\n
"By keeping him away from you."<\/p>\n
Melissa leaned forward.<\/p>\n
"What about me?"<\/p>\n
Patricia didn't answer.<\/p>\n
Melissa's chair scraped the floor.<\/p>\n
"You kept Brian safe. What about me?"<\/p>\n
Patricia finally said, "Richard tried."<\/p>\n
Melissa stared.<\/p>\n
"Richard was your father," Patricia continued. "After Karen died, he gave your grandparents money to raise you."<\/p>\n
"My grandparents told me my father was unknown."<\/p>\n
"They promised him."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because of me."<\/p>\n
The admission hung between them.<\/p>\n
Patricia swallowed.<\/p>\n
"I couldn't have Richard's child in my life."<\/p>\n
Brian looked disgusted.<\/p>\n
"So Dad abandoned her because you told him to?"<\/p>\n
"He didn't abandon her."<\/p>\n
"Sounds like it."<\/p>\n
"He paid for everything."<\/p>\n
Melissa slammed one palm on the table.<\/p>\n
"I didn't need checks. I needed a father."<\/p>\n
Patricia's composure cracked.<\/p>\n
"Your mother slept with my husband."<\/p>\n
"My mother was twenty-two."<\/p>\n
"She knew he was married."<\/p>\n
"And I was the punishment?"<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
Hart brought the conversation back to Ethan.<\/p>\n
"When did Samuel contact you again?"<\/p>\n
"Last year."<\/p>\n
That surprised everyone.<\/p>\n
"Before Ethan disappeared?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"Phone."<\/p>\n
"What did he want?"<\/p>\n
"Richard's records."<\/p>\n
Brian frowned.<\/p>\n
"From the storage unit?"<\/p>\n
Patricia nodded.<\/p>\n
"Samuel believed Richard kept documents showing where money had been hidden."<\/p>\n
The envelopes of cash suddenly made more sense.<\/p>\n
"Was the money illegal?" Daniel asked.<\/p>\n
Patricia looked toward him.<\/p>\n
"Some of it."<\/p>\n
Hart's gaze sharpened.<\/p>\n
"From what?"<\/p>\n
"Properties. Businesses. Cash transactions. Richard kept reserves because he didn't trust banks after what happened with Samuel."<\/p>\n
"So Samuel wanted the cash?"<\/p>\n
"Not just cash. He wanted account numbers, ownership records, deeds. He claimed Richard had hidden assets that belonged to him."<\/p>\n
"And you refused?"<\/p>\n
"At first."<\/p>\n
Melissa closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
"I know this part."<\/p>\n
Hart looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Tell us."<\/p>\n
Melissa said Samuel discovered Ethan existed.<\/p>\n
"He approached me outside work."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"What did he say?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Melissa looked at me.<\/p>\n
"He said he was family."<\/p>\n
She had thought he was an elderly relative who wanted to reconnect after learning Richard had fathered her. Samuel knew details about Karen, Richard, Patricia, and Brian. He used those facts to earn her trust.<\/p>\n
"He met Ethan twice," Melissa said. "Bought him baseball cards. Took us to lunch."<\/p>\n
Brian cursed quietly.<\/p>\n
"Then one afternoon Ethan didn't come home from practice."<\/p>\n
Police investigated.<\/p>\n
There had been no clear kidnapping. A teammate had seen Ethan leave near the parking lot. Cameras captured a gray vehicle, but the plate was unreadable.<\/p>\n
That evening Melissa received a call.<\/p>\n
Samuel.<\/p>\n
"He said Ethan was safe."<\/p>\n
Her voice shook.<\/p>\n
"He told me not to call police again."<\/p>\n
"But you already had," Hart said.<\/p>\n
"I told them Ethan might have run away. I lied because Samuel sent me a picture of Ethan asleep."<\/p>\n
"Why didn't you tell investigators?"<\/p>\n
"Because he knew where my father lived. He knew where I worked. He knew everything."<\/p>\n
Patricia spoke.<\/p>\n
"That's when Melissa came to me."<\/p>\n
Melissa nodded reluctantly.<\/p>\n
"I knew Patricia hated my mother, but I didn't know who else could help."<\/p>\n
Patricia said Samuel demanded access to Richard's storage unit.<\/p>\n
She gave it.<\/p>\n
The lock was changed because the old key no longer worked.<\/p>\n
"What did Samuel take?" Hart asked.<\/p>\n
"Documents."<\/p>\n
"Which ones?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Cash?"<\/p>\n
"Some."<\/p>\n
"And why the bank theft?"<\/p>\n
Patricia looked toward me.<\/p>\n
For the first time since this nightmare began, she seemed ashamed.<\/p>\n
"Samuel demanded more."<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
"Richard had transferred assets before he died. Samuel believed I controlled them. I didn't."<\/p>\n
"So you stole from us."<\/p>\n
Patricia's voice dropped.<\/p>\n
"I needed cash quickly."<\/p>\n
"Why my account?"<\/p>\n
"Because Brian once told me how much you'd saved."<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
Brian closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
"He was proud of it," Patricia said. "He wasn't giving me access."<\/p>\n
"So you created access."<\/p>\n
"I thought I could repay it."<\/p>\n
That excuse sounded almost obscene.<\/p>\n
"How did Melissa become me?"<\/p>\n
Patricia answered in pieces.<\/p>\n
She had photographed my driver's license while helping Brian with insurance paperwork.<\/p>\n
She had found old checks containing my signature.<\/p>\n
She had taken my grandmother's ring because she remembered I wore it often in photographs online.<\/p>\n
Melissa dyed and cut her hair.<\/p>\n
She practiced.<\/p>\n
"What about the bank teller?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Patricia looked down.<\/p>\n
"We chose an older teller because we thought she'd rely more on the identification."<\/p>\n
Margaret Wilkes had been targeted because Patricia assumed age made her careless.<\/p>\n
Instead, the woman remembered almost everything.<\/p>\n
"Why four withdrawals?" Hart asked.<\/p>\n
"The bank wouldn't release the full amount at once without additional notice."<\/p>\n
"And Patricia drove you?" Daniel asked Melissa.<\/p>\n
"Sometimes."<\/p>\n
"Who was outside the other times?"<\/p>\n
Melissa's eyes moved toward Patricia.<\/p>\n
"Samuel."<\/p>\n
Brian leaned forward.<\/p>\n
"So Margaret saw Samuel."<\/p>\n
"Probably."<\/p>\n
"Then why did Samuel let you keep twenty-seven thousand?"<\/p>\n
Melissa shook her head.<\/p>\n
"He didn't."<\/p>\n
Patricia interrupted.<\/p>\n
"The last payment was never made."<\/p>\n
Hart looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Samuel stopped answering."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Three weeks ago."<\/p>\n
"And Ethan?"<\/p>\n
"No contact."<\/p>\n
Melissa broke.<\/p>\n
"I've been waiting three weeks while you pretended everything was fine?"<\/p>\n
"I was trying to find him."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
Patricia looked away.<\/p>\n
Hart asked another question.<\/p>\n
"The secret account containing deposits tied to Angela and Brian's money. Why did you put the stolen cash there before moving it?"<\/p>\n
"Samuel wanted clean records."<\/p>\n
Daniel almost laughed.<\/p>\n
"Depositing stolen cash into your own account doesn't clean anything."<\/p>\n
Patricia gave him an icy look.<\/p>\n
"Samuel wanted a trail showing the money came from me, not Angela."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
"Because he wanted Brian blamed if anything went wrong."<\/p>\n
Brian went still.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
Patricia looked toward him.<\/p>\n
"Samuel hates Richard."<\/p>\n
"I'm not Dad."<\/p>\n
"He doesn't care."<\/p>\n
Hart asked, "Why Brian?"<\/p>\n
"Because Brian inherited the properties Samuel believes belong to him."<\/p>\n
That was another revelation.<\/p>\n
Brian frowned.<\/p>\n
"What properties?"<\/p>\n
Patricia stared.<\/p>\n
"Your father left them to you through a trust."<\/p>\n
"I inherited the house and some investments."<\/p>\n
"Not those."<\/p>\n
Brian's voice rose.<\/p>\n
"What properties?"<\/p>\n
Patricia looked at Daniel as if hoping a lawyer might rescue her from the answer.<\/p>\n
Nobody did.<\/p>\n
"Thirty-two rental units. Two commercial buildings. Land outside Cedar County."<\/p>\n
Brian stared.<\/p>\n
"That's impossible."<\/p>\n
"They're held through companies."<\/p>\n
"Whose companies?"<\/p>\n
"Yours."<\/p>\n
He slowly sat back.<\/p>\n
"I don't own any companies."<\/p>\n
"You do."<\/p>\n
I looked at Brian.<\/p>\n
For nine years we had saved every spare dollar for a house while Patricia apparently knew her son controlled property worth far more than our account.<\/p>\n
"Why didn't he know?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Patricia answered without looking at me.<\/p>\n
"Richard instructed the trustee not to disclose the holdings until Brian turned forty."<\/p>\n
Brian whispered, "My birthday is next month."<\/p>\n
The timing hit all of us at once.<\/p>\n
Samuel hadn't chosen this year randomly.<\/p>\n
He knew the trust would soon become known.<\/p>\n
Hart pulled the photograph of Ethan and Samuel from an evidence sleeve.<\/p>\n
"Where was this taken?"<\/p>\n
Melissa stared at the store behind them.<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
Brian leaned closer.<\/p>\n
"I do."<\/p>\n
Everyone turned toward him.<\/p>\n
"That's Miller's Market."<\/p>\n
Hart asked, "Where?"<\/p>\n
Brian swallowed.<\/p>\n
"Near Lake Aaron."<\/p>\n
Patricia's face changed.<\/p>\n
Brian noticed.<\/p>\n
"So you know it too."<\/p>\n
She didn't answer.<\/p>\n
He stood.<\/p>\n
"Dad had a cabin near Lake Aaron when I was little."<\/p>\n
Melissa was already crying.<\/p>\n
Hart reached for his phone.<\/p>\n
"Address?"<\/p>\n
Brian gave him directions from memory.<\/p>\n
Patricia suddenly stood.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
Hart looked at her.<\/p>\n
"No what?"<\/p>\n
She appeared to realize she had exposed herself.<\/p>\n
Too late.<\/p>\n
"Samuel wouldn't take Ethan there."<\/p>\n
"How do you know?"<\/p>\n
She pressed her lips together.<\/p>\n
Hart stepped closer.<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Brooks, is the child at that cabin?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"You recognized the location."<\/p>\n
Patricia shook her head.<\/p>\n
Then Brian said, very quietly, "Mom, what happened at Lake Aaron?"<\/p>\n
Her eyes met his.<\/p>\n
For several seconds she seemed to consider lying again.<\/p>\n
Instead she whispered, "That's where your father almost killed Samuel."<\/p>\n
Detective Hart separated everyone immediately. Patricia was taken into the storage office with her lawyer. Melissa sat in the rear of an unmarked police car wrapped in a blanket someone … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9984,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9964\/revisions\/9984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}