Chapter 4 - THE OTHER FAMILIES
By midnight, the Miller house looked like a crime scene.
Because it was one.
County investigators photographed everything.
Computers.
Documents.
Medication bottles.
Bank statements.
Kyle stopped talking completely.
Brenda talked too much.
She cried.
She contradicted herself.
She insisted she had only wanted to “protect” their parents.
Shawn sat beside Maria in the ambulance.
“You’re going to the hospital.”
“I hate hospitals.”
“I know.”
“They wake you every two hours and ask if you’re sleeping.”
He laughed despite himself.
There she was.
His mother.
Still inside that exhausted body.
Maria touched his face.
“You got older.”
“So did you.”
“I was always older.”
Shawn lowered his eyes.
“I should’ve come home.”
Maria’s expression softened.
“Not tonight.”
“What?”
“Don’t punish yourself tonight. There will be time for that tomorrow.”
He swallowed.
“How long were you locked down there?”
She looked toward the house.
“Six weeks.”
Shawn’s breath stopped.
“Six weeks?”
“It started after your father found the papers.”
“What papers?”
“The land sale.”
Don had discovered Brenda planned to sell the property.
He threatened to call Shawn.
That same night, Kyle took their phones.
The next morning, Brenda told them they were going to a doctor.
Instead, Kyle forced them into the basement.
“At first, Brenda said it was only until Dad calmed down,” Maria whispered.
“And then?”
“Then Kyle stopped pretending.”
Shawn closed his eyes.
Six weeks.
He had spent Thanksgiving in Miami with business partners.
While his parents were behind bars.
“I called.”
Maria squeezed his hand.
“Brenda answered Dad’s phone.”
“She told me you were asleep.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“We could hear her upstairs.”
That nearly broke him.
Maria looked away.
“Your sister did terrible things.”
“You don’t have to defend her.”
“I’m not.”
“Then why?”
“Because terrible people aren’t always born terrible.”
Shawn stared at her.
Maria continued.
“Brenda was desperate. Kyle saw that. Then he made her more desperate.”
At the hospital, Maria was diagnosed with dehydration, malnutrition, and complications from missed medication.
Don had bruised ribs from an old fall.
Shawn wanted Kyle charged with everything possible.
Sheriff Ruiz had bigger concerns.
The prescription bottles found in the hidden room belonged to seven other seniors in three counties.
Two were dead.
Three had sold property under suspicious circumstances.
One had disappeared.
Ruiz sat across from Shawn in the hospital cafeteria.
“We think Kyle’s been targeting vulnerable elderly property owners.”
“With Brenda?”
“We don’t know.”
“Who sent the message to the laptop?”
“We’re tracing it.”
Shawn rubbed his face.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
“Who is this?”
A distorted voice whispered:
“You should have stayed gone.”
The call ended.
Shawn stared at the screen.
Ruiz leaned forward.
“What happened?”
Before Shawn could answer, every light in the hospital hallway went dark.
A nurse screamed.
Emergency lights flickered on.
May you like
Then Shawn heard running footsteps.
Coming from his mother’s room.
