Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO DISAPPEARED
Thomas answered on the seventh ring.
“Ethan.”
No hello.
No surprise.
Just his name.
“Where are you?”
“Don’t do this on the phone.”
“Where are you?”
“Your mom got arrested, didn’t she?”
Ethan gripped the steering wheel.
Claire sat beside him.
Lily slept in the back seat.
“How do you know?”
Thomas exhaled.
“I knew something was coming.”
“What did she pay you for?”
Silence.
“Tom?”
“Meet me.”
“Where?”
“You remember Dad’s old repair shop?”
“It’s abandoned.”
“Exactly.”
Twenty minutes later, Ethan pulled into the weed-covered lot behind Mercer Automotive.
Thomas stood under the rusted awning.
He looked older.
Thinner.
Tired.
Ethan got out.
Claire stayed in the locked car with Lily.
Thomas glanced toward her.
“That your wife?”
“Don’t look at her. Look at me.”
Thomas raised his hands.
“Okay.”
“What did Mom pay you to do?”
Thomas gave a humorless laugh.
“Straight to it.”
“What did she pay you to do?”
“Install cameras.”
Ethan’s blood went cold.
“Where?”
“Around the house.”
“You were inside my house?”
“Three times.”
Ethan grabbed his jacket.
“You son of a—”
Thomas shoved him away.
“Listen to me!”
“You watched my wife?”
“I installed equipment. I didn’t sit around watching her!”
“You took money from Mom!”
“I needed money!”
“And that makes this okay?”
“No!”
Thomas’s voice cracked across the empty lot.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Ethan stood inches from him.
“Where are the cameras?”
Thomas looked toward Claire.
“Living room.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Kitchen.”
His stomach turned.
“Hallway.”
“Keep going.”
Thomas hesitated.
“Nursery.”
Ethan hit him.
One punch.
Thomas stumbled backward and nearly fell.
“Ethan!” Claire shouted from the car.
Thomas wiped blood from his lip.
“I deserved that.”
“You put a camera in my daughter’s room.”
“I didn’t know what she was planning.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“She said Claire was stealing from you. She said she needed proof.”
“And you believed her?”
“No.”
That answer stopped Ethan.
“Then why?”
Thomas looked at the ground.
“Because she had something on me.”
“What?”
Thomas laughed quietly.
“The same thing she always has.”
“What does that mean?”
“Shame.”
He looked up.
“I didn’t steal Dad’s money.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t.”
“Dad found the transfers.”
“Yeah.”
“In your account.”
“Because Mom moved the money there.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Why would she do that?”
“To hide where it really went.”
“Where did it go?”
Thomas took a long breath.
“Gambling. Loans. Credit cards. Stuff Dad didn’t know about.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Dad threw you out.”
“Because I let him.”
Ethan stepped back.
“What?”
“Mom told me if I exposed her, she’d make sure Dad learned something else.”
“What?”
Thomas’s eyes shifted toward Claire.
“I’m not telling you here.”
Ethan nearly lost his temper again.
Thomas reached into his pocket.
“Look, the cameras weren’t all obvious.”
He handed Ethan a tiny black screwdriver.
“The nursery camera wasn’t the baby monitor.”
Claire had gotten out of the car.
“What?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“Your mother wanted audio even when the monitor was off.”
Claire’s face drained of color.
“Where is it?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Inside the mobile above the crib.”
Three minutes later, Ethan was speeding home.
Police had already cleared the house.
He went directly upstairs.
Stars and little fabric moons turned slowly above the empty crib.
Ethan pulled the mobile down.
Unscrewed the plastic casing.
And there it was.
A camera no bigger than his thumbnail.
Beside it sat a microphone.
Claire covered her mouth.
But Ethan noticed something else.
A tiny green light.
Blinking.
He looked at Thomas.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas went pale.
May you like
“It means someone is watching us right now.”
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