Chapter 4 - THE BLACK CASE
The black case opened on the kitchen table.
Inside were prepaid phones, copies of David's driver's license, his Social Security card, old military travel orders, and a stack of blank checks.
There was also a small notebook.
Agent Ortiz turned through it slowly.
Dates.
Account numbers.
Passwords.
Questions Marcus had apparently been trying to answer.
Where David banked.
When his military pay arrived.
Who held the mortgage.
What benefits Sarah could access if David were declared dead.
David's voice went flat.
"You were planning for me not to come home."
Marcus shook his head. "That's not mine."
The case had been found beneath a workbench covered in Marcus's tools.
He still denied it.
Sarah whispered, "Marcus told me he was helping organize paperwork."
"Did organizing paperwork require forging my signature?" David asked.
She said nothing.
I watched Maya from the hallway. She sat wrapped in a paramedic's blanket, clutching a stuffed rabbit someone had given her. Every time Marcus raised his voice, her shoulders jumped.
That was all I needed to see.
I stepped into the kitchen.
"Maya called me yesterday."
Sarah turned. "What?"
"From Mrs. Dalton's phone next door. She said she was hungry. She said she had to take care of Eli because you slept all day."
"Emily, you don't understand."
"I understand what I saw."
Sarah stared at me with betrayal in her face.
She wanted me to be her sister before I was Maya's aunt.
I couldn't.
Marcus was handcuffed on suspicion of assault and fraud while investigators sorted the evidence.
As he was led outside, he twisted toward Sarah.
"Don't tell them anything."
David heard him.
So did Ortiz.
Sarah's face crumpled.
Then Maya spoke from the hallway.
"Mommy already told him where Daddy keeps the box."
David turned slowly.
"What box?"
Maya pointed upstairs.
"The one Daddy said nobody touches."
David went completely still.
His fireproof document safe was hidden in the master bedroom closet.
Only two people knew the combination.
May you like
David.
And Sarah.
