Chapter 7: The Brother Who Came Back From the Dead
The message on my phone changed everything.
Thomas is the one who wants the house.
For several seconds, I couldn't move. The kitchen seemed to shrink around me, the bright sunlight suddenly harsh against the evidence scattered across the counter.
My late wife's brother had been gone from my life for years.
Now his name was appearing on forged property documents, hidden letters, and messages from a man who had just fled my house.
And somehow, my ten-year-old daughter had been caught in the middle of their plan.
Officer Harris took a photograph of the messages before asking me to put the phone down.
"Marcus, I need you to tell me everything you know about Thomas Reed.""
I looked toward Nia.
She was sitting beside Danielle, holding her stuffed rabbit against her chest.
"Not in front of her," I said.
Harris nodded and led me into the dining room.
I shut the door halfway.
"Thomas blamed me for my wife's death," I began.
"She died from complications after an emergency surgery. There was nothing the doctors could have done differently, but Thomas needed someone to blame.""
"What happened afterward?""
"He accused me of rushing through her estate. He thought I was keeping money from her family. I showed him the paperwork, but he refused to believe me.""
"Did you ever threaten him?""
"No.""
"Did he ever threaten you?""
I remembered the last phone call we'd shared.
Thomas had been drinking. His voice was thick with anger.
He'd told me that my wife deserved better than the life I'd given her.
Then he'd said something I hadn't understood at the time.
One day, Marcus, you'll learn what it feels like to lose everything.
I told Officer Harris.
He wrote it down.
"Did he know about your life insurance policy?""
"Possibly. He knew my wife had helped me set it up.""
"And your property?""
"He knew the house was in my name.""
Harris studied me.
"That gives us a possible motive, but we still need evidence connecting him to the forged documents and the mistreatment of your daughter.""
"I understand.""
I did understand.
I also understood that evidence didn't make my daughter's fear any less real.
When we returned to the kitchen, Danielle was helping Nia drink some water.
My daughter looked up immediately.
"Did you find him?""
"Not yet, sweetheart.""
Nia lowered her eyes.
"He'll come back.""
I crouched in front of her.
"Why do you think that?""
"Because Vanessa said he always comes back when he wants something.""
Danielle stopped moving.
I took Nia's hands.
"Did Thomas ever hurt you?""
She shook her head.
"Did he ever ask you to do anything?""
"Sometimes he asked me questions.""
"What kind of questions?""
Nia looked toward the hallway.
"He asked if you talked about changing the house. He asked if you were going to get married again if Vanessa left.""
My chest tightened.
"What did you tell him?""
"That I didn't know.""
She paused.
"Then he asked if I would want to live with Aunt Danielle if something happened to you.""
I stared at her.
"What did you say?""
"I said I wanted to live with you.""
Her lip trembled.
"He told me that wasn't always my choice.""
I pulled her into my arms.
"You are my daughter. Nobody gets to use you to win an argument over money or a house.""
Nia buried her face against my shoulder.
Danielle sat beside us.
"Marcus, we need to get her somewhere safe.""
Harris agreed that we should arrange a safe place for Nia while the investigation continued. Danielle offered to take her to her home once the necessary arrangements were made.
But before we could leave, the younger officer returned with an update.
They had located the registered owner of the sedan Derrick had been driving. The vehicle was connected to a business that had received several payments from an account associated with Vanessa.
It wasn't enough to establish what Derrick had done, but it gave the investigators another lead.
Harris asked whether I had any business records at home.
"Everything important is in my office," I said.
"Can you identify anything missing?""
I thought about the documents in the storage room.
"Not until I check.""
Harris warned me not to disturb the office until investigators had photographed it. I agreed.
Then Danielle's phone rang.
She glanced at the screen and frowned.
"It's an unknown number.""
"Don't answer it," I said.
The call stopped.
A voicemail notification appeared seconds later.
Danielle played it on speaker.
A man's voice filled the kitchen.
"Danielle, it's Thomas. I know you're with Marcus. I need you to tell him that whatever he found in that storage room isn't what he thinks.""
My blood ran cold.
The recording continued.
"Vanessa made some mistakes. Derrick made things worse. But I can explain the paperwork.""
There was a pause.
Then Thomas said something that made Danielle cover her mouth.
"Tell Marcus the original agreement was signed before his wife died.""
The voicemail ended.
I stared at the phone.
"Before my wife died?""
Danielle nodded slowly.
Harris immediately asked her to preserve the recording.
I looked toward the living room, where Nia was sitting quietly with her rabbit.
If Thomas was telling the truth, then the plan to take my house might have started before Vanessa ever became my wife.
But the part I couldn't understand was why my daughter had been forced to carry bricks.
What did a ten-year-old child have to do with forged signatures and property documents?
I walked toward the living room.
"Nia, do you remember anything about a paper Vanessa wanted you to sign?""
She went still.
Then she nodded.
"She said it was for school.""
My heart began pounding.
"What paper, sweetheart?""
"A paper saying I wanted to live somewhere else.""
Danielle stood abruptly.
"What?""
Nia began twisting the rabbit's ear between her fingers.
"Vanessa said if I signed it, Daddy wouldn't have to worry about me anymore.""
I knelt in front of her.
"Did you sign it?""
She shook her head.
"I wrote my name, but then I saw your name already printed on it. So I stopped.""
Harris immediately asked her not to explain further until a trained interviewer could speak with her.
Nia nodded.
Then she reached into the front pocket of her school uniform.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"I kept it," she whispered.
The officer photographed it before carefully opening the fold.
It was a photocopy of a document with a space for Nia's signature.
The heading referred to a proposed change in guardianship.
At the bottom was a date.
Three days before my wife died.
And beneath the date was a signature that looked almost exactly like mine.
Almost.
I stared at it, recognizing the small mistake in the final letter.
Someone had copied my signature from an old document.
Someone had been preparing to change my daughter's living arrangements before Vanessa ever moved into our home.
Harris looked at me.
"Marcus, we need to establish who prepared this document and why.""
I could barely hear him.
Nia reached for my hand.
"Daddy?""
I turned toward her.
"Yes, baby?""
"Vanessa said if I told you about the paper, you'd find out what happened to Mommy.""
The room went silent.
I looked at the document again.
Then at the date.
May you like
My wife had died three days after this paper was prepared.
And for the first time, I wondered whether the people trying to take my house had been planning something much worse than a fraudulent property transfer.
