Chapter 11 - MARCUS TALKS
Marcus tried to save himself by dragging Sarah deeper.
He claimed she designed the plan.
She wanted David's money.
She wanted the house.
She wanted to be free before he returned.
Then Ortiz played him his own messages.
Find the tired one.
Get the orders.
Once he's officially missing, she'll sign anything.
Marcus stopped smiling.
The evidence did not excuse Sarah.
But it exposed his method.
He targeted her long before she understood the danger.
Then he made a different offer.
He knew where David's missing property was.
The passport.
The truck title.
The insurance documents.
The Ranger tab from David's father.
In exchange, he wanted prosecutors to recommend less prison time.
David said, "I don't care about the papers."
Ortiz knew he was lying about one item.
"The Ranger tab?"
David looked away.
His father had worn it in Vietnam and later given it to him when David graduated Ranger School.
Marcus had sold it.
The buyer was a military memorabilia dealer two states away.
Investigators recovered it within forty-eight hours.
When Ortiz returned the small display box, David sat alone in his truck for twenty minutes.
Maya climbed into the passenger seat afterward.
"Was that Grandpa's?"
"Yeah."
"Did Marcus steal it?"
David nodded.
She thought for a moment.
"He stole my birthday money too."
David turned sharply.
"What?"
"The money Grandma sent. I had thirty dollars. Marcus said kids don't need money."
It was a tiny theft compared with forty-eight thousand dollars.
But David's face hardened more over those thirty dollars than over any bank account.
Ortiz added it to the file.
Then Maya said one more thing.
"He kept Daddy's letters in the red box."
David stared at her.
"What letters?"
"The ones Mommy said you stopped sending."
May you like
There was no red box in the evidence inventory.
Which meant something was still hidden inside the house.
