Chapter 4 - The House on Maple Street
Two weeks later, I stood inside the kitchen on Maple Street.
The police had finished their forensic sweep, and the hazardous materials team had thoroughly decontaminated every inch of the house. The shattered glass was gone. The spilled soup had been cleaned. The padlocked pantry door had been unhinged and replaced with fresh, polished oak.
Yet, walking into the kitchen still sent a cold shiver down my spine.
The doorbell rang.
I walked through the foyer and pulled the heavy front door open. Standing on the porch was Detective Marcus, holding a heavy cardboard evidence box containing personal items recovered from my mother’s apartment during the execution of the search warrants.
“Morning, Mr. Ward,” Detective Marcus said, nodding respectfully. “We wrapped up the primary sweep of your mother’s temporary residence. You might want to look through these files. It turns out your brother Daniel was deeply entangled in some high-risk underground investments. The eighty-four thousand dollars he stole from your account wasn't just pocket money—it was a desperate attempt to cover margin calls on speculative crypto trades before his creditors broke his legs.”
I took the box, looking down at the tangled mess of financial statements, burner phones, and legal drafts.
“Will they be granted bail?” I asked quietly.
Detective Marcus let out a short, dry laugh. “Not a chance. The DA is pushing for consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Between the attempted murder charges, the chemical weapons violations, and the interstate wire fraud, your family members are looking at spending the rest of their natural lives behind very thick, very cold concrete walls.”
“Good,” I said simply.
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“By the way,” Marcus added, turning back toward his squad car. “Your daughter’s doll is resting in the evidence locker, but the tech lab finished pulling the final diagnostic logs. That little voice box saved two lives, Mr. Ward. Make sure you fix its stitching.”
“I already have,” I replied.
