Chapter 8 - The Storage Unit
The call lasted eleven seconds.
Long enough for Evan to say one thing.
“Bring the watch.”
Then the line died.
Detective Reed immediately requested a trace. The number bounced through an internet service and gave them nothing useful.
Mom looked sick.
“What does he want with the watch?” I asked.
She stared at the plastic evidence bag in Reed’s hand.
“I don’t know.”
That answer was a lie too.
I was getting tired of my family using fear as permission to lie.
“Mom.”
She rubbed both hands over her face.
“Your father modified it.”
Reed frowned. “Modified how?”
“He told me it contained a storage chip. Small. Hidden under the back plate.”
Brooke knew.
That explained the bleach, the frantic cleaning, her attempt to grab the bag.
Dad had hidden evidence inside the watch.
Reed called the lab.
An hour later, technicians opened the casing.
Inside was a microSD card.
On it were spreadsheets showing millions of dollars transferred from Bennett Medical Supply into shell companies. The transfers began fourteen months earlier.
The approval credentials belonged to Evan Ross.
But the final authorization signature belonged to Brooke Bennett.
My sister.
My stomach dropped.
“She was stealing too.”
Mom whispered, “She said she needed money.”
“For what?”
Mom would not look at me.
Then Reed opened another file.
A video.
Dad had recorded himself in a dim room.
“If you are watching this,” he said, “then Evan knows I found the accounts. Brooke helped him. I don’t know how far she is willing to go.”
Mom sobbed.
Dad leaned closer to the camera.
“And Claire, if you see this, I’m sorry. I trusted the wrong daughter.”
My eyes burned.
The video ended with an address.
Unit 416, Greenway Storage.
Police moved immediately.
I begged to go. Reed refused.
“You can barely stand.”
“That’s my father.”
“It’s also an active crime scene.”
He left with Officer Hale.
Twenty-three minutes later, Reed called Nurse Carter.
She put him on speaker.
“We found the unit,” he said.
“Dad?” I asked.
Silence.
Then Reed answered.
“No Daniel. But we found a chair bolted to the floor.”
May you like
He paused.
“And fresh blood.”
