Chapter 10 - The Ten Missing MinutesDetective Grant treated Jaden’s new memory cautiously.
Children remembered things in fragments.
Fear could sharpen some details and distort others.
So she asked him to draw.
Not Caleb.
Not the screwdriver.
The house.
Jaden drew the driveway, garage, front entrance and side gate.
Then Grant asked him to show where everyone had been.
Jaden marked Sarah near the kitchen.
Marcus upstairs.
Himself by the dining-room window.
Then he drew Caleb beside the garage.
“When did you see him?” Grant asked.
“Before Mom went outside.”
“Was his truck there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see him enter the garage?”
“Yes.”
“Which door?”
Jaden pointed.
“The side one.”
“Did he have something when he went in?”
“No.”
“When he came out?”
“The tool.”
“A screwdriver?”
“I think.”
“Could it have been something else?”
“Yes.”
Grant nodded approvingly.
“Good answer.”
Marcus watched from across the room.
He wanted certainty.
Grant wanted truth.
Those were not always the same thing.
Fire investigator Harris returned to the house that afternoon.
The disconnected carbon monoxide detector showed tool marks around its mounting plate.
The garage ventilation control panel had also been opened.
“Could a screwdriver do that?” Marcus asked.
“Yes.”
“Does that prove Caleb did it?”
“No.”
Marcus hated that answer.
But Harris continued.
“We found a partial fingerprint.”
Marcus stared.
“Whose?”
“Testing takes time.”
Grant added, “We also obtained video from a neighbor.”
Marcus’s pulse jumped.
The footage showed Caleb’s truck entering the street at 10:48 p.m.
It left at 11:19.
Sarah confronted him around eleven.
The missing garage-camera footage began at 10:51.
Three minutes after Caleb arrived.
Marcus watched repeatedly.
Caleb exited his truck.
Walked toward Marcus’s side gate.
Disappeared.
Twenty-seven minutes later, he returned.
“What was he doing?” Marcus whispered.
Grant paused the video.
“We’ll ask him.”
“Can’t you arrest him?”
“For being near your house?”
“For tampering with the garage.”
“We need more.”
Marcus slammed his palm against the table.
“How much more?”
Sarah flinched.
Marcus immediately lowered his voice.
“Sorry.”
Grant remained calm.
“I understand your frustration.”
“No, you don’t.”
“My husband was shot during a robbery twelve years ago.”
Marcus stopped.
Grant continued.
“He survived.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I wanted the police to arrest the first person who looked suspicious.”
Marcus sat.
“What happened?”
“They arrested the right person six weeks later because investigators didn’t rush.”
Marcus nodded.
Message received.
Later that evening, Marcus called Peter Lang, the forensic accountant his father had planned to meet.
Peter remembered Walter immediately.
“He sounded frightened.”
“Of Caleb?”
“He never gave me a name.”
“What did he say?”
“That someone inside the company was creating false vendors and moving money.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Six years.
The scheme had existed for at least six years.
“Did my father send you anything?”
“Yes.”
Marcus sat upright.
“What?”
“A spreadsheet.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I archive everything.”
Marcus nearly dropped the phone.
Peter emailed the file.
Marcus opened it with Sarah beside him.
Walter had highlighted twelve suspicious vendors.
Four were still being paid today.
One was the same company whose funds had been deposited into Evelyn’s account.
Sarah whispered, “This proves the pattern began before your father died.”
Marcus nodded.
A note appeared in Walter’s spreadsheet.
C says cash flow. I say theft. M must never inherit this mess.
Marcus stared at the letter M.
Himself.
His father had known the company was in danger.
He had tried to protect Marcus.
Instead, Marcus inherited exactly what Walter feared.
A mess disguised as a legacy.
Jaden walked into the room.
This time he knocked first.
Marcus looked up.
“You never have to knock if someone’s hurt.”
Jaden hesitated.
“I know.”
Marcus’s throat tightened.
“What is it?”
“I remembered something else.”
Grant had warned them not to push him.
Marcus kept his voice gentle.
“What?”
“When Caleb came out of the garage…”
Jaden rubbed his hands together.
“He saw me.”
Marcus and Sarah exchanged a look.
“What happened?”
“He put his finger to his lips.”
Marcus felt cold.
“Like he wanted you quiet?”
Jaden nodded.
“Did he say anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
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Jaden looked directly at his father.
“He said, ‘Don’t wake your dad.’”
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