Chapter 16 - The Empty Wall
We reached the house twenty-five minutes later.
The back door frame was splintered.
Drawers had been pulled out. Papers littered the floor. George's desk stood open.
But the television was still there.
My jewelry was still upstairs.
Cash in an emergency envelope remained untouched.
This was not burglary for money.
Someone wanted a document.
The basement was worse.
Boxes had been opened and dumped. George's file cabinet had been pried apart.
On the wall above his old workbench, one rectangle of dust showed where a framed fishing photograph had hung for years.
The picture was gone.
I stared at the empty space.
Then I remembered.
George used to joke that his fishing picture was “the safest bank in Illinois.”
I had assumed he meant the frame was ugly enough no thief would steal it.
Matthew looked at me. “Mom?”
“The frame.”
We found it thirty feet from the house in the wet grass near the back fence, broken open.
Taped inside the backing was a small envelope.
Empty.
Matthew swore under his breath.
“What was in it?” Dana asked.
“I don't know.”
But I knew George.
If he hid something in a frame, he had hidden it because he wanted it found only when someone knew where to look.
The security company recovered a side-yard recording from a backup unit the intruder had missed.
At 12:18 p.m., a woman in a baseball cap entered through the rear gate.
Jessica.
She left nine minutes later holding something flat beneath her jacket.
The detective issued a request to locate her.
That evening, while police processed the house, I sat in George's chair.
For the first time since returning from my trip, I let myself cry.
Not because of the broken door.
Because my home had become evidence.
Every room had a camera, a photograph, a statement, a lie attached to it.
Matthew sat across from me.
“I'll pay for everything.”
“With what?” I asked.
He looked down.
“Exactly.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
Jessica's voice came through.
“You want George's letter?”
I stood.
“What did you take from the frame?”
She laughed softly.
“Not a letter.”
“What, then?”
“Something your husband never told you about your son.”
May you like
The line went dead.
They Moved Into My House While I Was Away - Then I Found Their Plan for Me
