Chapter 4
Michael disappeared for six hours.
During those six hours, I learned how deep betrayal could cut.
Not because he had run.
Because every room he had touched in my house now felt dirty.
My office.
Lily’s backpack shelf.
Anna’s reading chair.
The guest room where I let him stay after he said his business failed.
He had cried at my kitchen table.
He had told me he felt useless.
I gave him a place to sleep.
A key.
Trust.
He gave Evelyn my daughter’s medication.
Detective Collins sent a forensics team to my house.
I stayed at the hospital with Lily.
A nurse moved us to a secured pediatric room.
Lily hated the new room at first.
“I don’t know this bed.”
“I know.”
“What if Grandma comes back?”
“She can’t.”
“What if Uncle Michael comes?”
“He can’t either.”
She looked at the door.
“Can we put a chair there?”
The nurse heard and brought a chair.
She placed it under the handle without making Lily feel silly.
I wanted to thank her forever.
At 9:14 p.m., Collins returned.
“We found something.”
My stomach turned.
“In Michael’s room?”
“Yes. Bank statements. Cash. Copies of Lily’s trust documents. And this.”
She held up a photo on her tablet.
Anna’s journal.
My late wife’s journal.
The one I thought had been lost after the funeral.
My voice went hollow.
“Where was it?”
“Hidden inside the vent.”
I gripped the railing beside Lily’s bed.
“Why would Michael have Anna’s journal?”
Collins looked at Lily.
Then back at me.
“Can we speak outside?”
Lily grabbed my sleeve.
“No.”
I looked at Collins.
“She has been lied to enough.”
Collins nodded.
Carefully.
“The journal mentions concerns about Michael.”
My heart stopped.
“What concerns?”
“Anna believed someone was stealing small amounts from the trust account before she died.”
The room tilted.
“Michael?”
“She suspected him.”
I sat down slowly.
Anna had known.
My wife had known my brother was dangerous.
And I had invited him into our home after she died.
Lily whispered, “Mommy knew?”
I covered my face.
Collins’s voice softened.
“There’s more.”
I looked up.
She held out a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a key.
May you like
The key to Anna’s locked desk.
“Michael had this too.”
