“Martin is alive.”
I exhaled.
“Where?”
“In a hospital.”
“Was he attacked?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“We don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“He was struck from behind.”
“Is he conscious?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“Then how do we know anything?”
“We found something beside him.”
He placed a plastic evidence bag on the table.
Inside was a small silver key.
I recognized it.
It was the key to Sarah’s safety deposit box.
The same box Sarah had mentioned in the video.
My heart started pounding.
“He had the key?”
“Yes.”
“Then he knew about the evidence.”
“Apparently.”
I looked at Detective Reynolds.
“Maybe David sent someone.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe Jessica.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe Martin was trying to run with the evidence.”
“That’s possible too.”
He leaned forward.
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“We found security footage from a gas station near Martin’s house.”
He pulled out his phone.
A video began playing.
A black SUV pulled into the station.
A man got out.
Baseball cap.
Dark jacket.
Face partially hidden.
He walked toward Martin’s car.
Then the footage ended.
“Can you identify him?”
“No.”
“License plate?”
“Covered.”
I stared at the screen.
Then I noticed something.
The man walked with a slight limp.
I had seen that walk before.
My stomach tightened.
“Stop.”
Detective Reynolds paused the video.
“Go back.”
He did.
The man walked past the camera.
I stared.
“No.”
“What?”
“I know him.”
“Who?”
I swallowed.
“David’s brother.”
Detective Reynolds frowned.
“Thomas?”
I nodded.
“Thomas Mitchell.”
David’s younger brother.
The man who had been at the funeral.
The man who had cried.
The man who had hugged me and said, “Sarah was the best thing that ever happened to our family.”
I suddenly remembered something.
At the funeral, Thomas had disappeared for nearly an hour.
He said he had gone outside to make a phone call.
I had thought nothing of it.
Now I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Detective Reynolds stood.
“Where is Thomas?”
I reached for my phone.
“I’ll call him.”
“No.”
The detective shook his head.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if he is involved, we don’t want him to know we’re onto him.”
He took out his own phone.
“I’ll have someone locate him.”
Then Lily suddenly spoke from the couch.
“Grandma?”
I turned.
She was holding Sarah’s old stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy told me something else.”
My heart clenched.
“What did she tell you?”
“She said if Daddy gets angry…”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m supposed to go to the closet.”
I stood immediately.
“What closet?”
She pointed upstairs.
“The closet in Mommy’s room.”
Detective Reynolds looked at me.
We went upstairs.
Inside Sarah’s bedroom was a large walk-in closet.
Clothes still hung exactly as she had left them.
