Chapter 2 - Shadows in the Garden Shed
The heavy brass lock clicked shut.
Evelyn slipped the key into her coat pocket.
“You two really shouldn’t meddle in adult business,” Evelyn said.
Her voice was calm and steady.
She pointed the bright beam of the flashlight into my eyes.
I raised my arm to block the blinding light.
“Give me the box, Martha,” Evelyn said to Mrs. Higgins.
Mrs. Higgins clutched the metal box to her chest.
“No,” the old woman said firmly.
“Mark is going to see this today.”
Evelyn took a step forward.
She did not look angry.
She looked amused.
“Mark will never believe you, Martha,” Evelyn said smoothly.
“He thinks you have dementia.”
“I told him last month that you were wandering into our yard at night.”
My heart sank.
Evelyn had already prepared my father for this.
She had poisoned his mind against our only ally.
“You’re a monster,” I said, stepping between Evelyn and Mrs. Higgins.
Evelyn looked at me with fake pity.
“I gave your father peace, Maya,” she said softly.
“Your mother was sick and miserable.”
“Your father was drowning in medical bills.”
“I saved this family.”
“You murdered my mother for money!” I shouted.
Evelyn’s smile instantly vanished.
Her face became cold and rigid.
“Your mother was going to report me to the medical board,” Evelyn hissed.
“She was going to ruin my life.”
“I did what I had to do.”
She raised the heavy metal flashlight.
“Now, hand over that box.”
Before Evelyn could move, the shed door shook violently.
Someone was banging on the outside.
“Maya!” a voice shouted.
It was my father.
“Maya, are you in there?!”
Evelyn’s eyes widened in temporary panic.
She quickly adjusted her face.
She pinched her own cheeks until they turned red.
She ruffled her hair.
Then she let out a piercing scream.
“Mark! Help me!” Evelyn shrieked.
“Martha has a sharp tool! She’s attacking us!”
I stood stunned by her sudden performance.
Evelyn threw herself against the wooden wall.
She knocked over a shelf of rusty garden tools.
Iron trowels and shears crashed onto the floor.
Father kicked the shed door open with his heavy work boot.
The wooden frame splintered.
Father burst inside, breathing heavily.
He saw Evelyn huddled on the floor, holding her wrist.
He saw Mrs. Higgins holding the metal box.
He saw me standing in the middle of the mess.
“What is happening here?!” Father roared.
“Mark, thank God!” Evelyn sobbed.
She scrambled to her feet and clung to Father’s arm.
“I saw Maya sneak out!” Evelyn cried.
“I followed her to protect her!”
“Then Martha cornered us with these old tools!”
Father’s eyes burned with confusion and anger.
He looked at Mrs. Higgins.
“Martha, have you lost your mind?” Father demanded.
“Get away from my family!”
“Mark, listen to me!” Mrs. Higgins pleaded.
“Look inside this box!”
“I don’t care about your trash, Martha!” Father yelled.
He grabbed my arm firmly.
“Maya, get back to the house right now!”
“Dad, no! Listen to her!” I begged.
“Evelyn is lying to you!”
“Enough!” Father shouted.
His voice echoed through the dark backyard.
He had never yelled at me like this before.
“Your brother is inside crying!” Father said.
“Your stepmother is terrified!”
“I am sick of the drama in this house!”
Father dragged me toward the back porch.
Evelyn followed close behind.
She looked back at Mrs. Higgins over her shoulder.
She offered the old woman a sinister, victorious wink.
Father pushed me into the living room.
He locked the back door behind us.
“You are grounded, Maya,” Father said coldly.
“No phone. No leaving your room.”
“Dad, please,” I wept. “Look at the box!”
“Go to your room!” he commanded.
I ran upstairs, crying hysterically.
I slammed my bedroom door shut.
I sat on the edge of my bed, gasping for air.
We had failed.
Evelyn was in total control.
My father was completely blind.
A small knock sounded on my bedroom door.
I wiped my eyes.
“Who is it?” I whispered.
The door creaked open slowly.
Toby stepped into the room.
He carried a small wooden toy train in his hands.
It was the train our mother had bought him before she died.
Toby walked over to my bed.
He sat down beside me.
He turned the toy train upside down.
Using his small fingernail, he pried open a tiny hidden compartment on the bottom.
A small silver USB drive fell onto my blanket.
I stared at it in disbelief.
“Where did you get this?” I whispered.
Toby looked into my eyes.
“Mommy’s coat,” he said clearly.
My breath caught in my throat.
“Mommy put it there?” I asked.
Toby nodded slowly.
“She said to hide it from the red-haired lady,” Toby whispered.
“I forgot where I put it until tonight.”
My hands shook as I picked up the small flash drive.
My mother was a careful woman.
She was an accountant at a hospital.
If she suspected Evelyn, she would have kept records.
I pulled my laptop out from under my mattress.
Father had taken my phone, but he forgot about my laptop.
I inserted the USB drive into the port.
A single folder appeared on the screen.
It was labeled: “Evelyn_Doyle_Pharmacy_Logs.pdf.”
I clicked open the document.
Page after page of stolen medication logs appeared.
Dates, patient names, and forged signatures filled the screen.
And at the very bottom was a recorded audio file.
My heart pounded against my chest.
I attached my headphones so no one downstairs could hear.
I clicked play.
My mother’s voice filled my ears.
It was faint, but clear.
“Evelyn, I know what you’re doing with the morphine shipments,” my mother’s voice said.
Then came Evelyn’s cold voice.
“You should mind your own business, Sarah.”
“I’m telling Mark tonight,” my mother replied.
“And I’m calling the police tomorrow morning.”
Then came the sound of a struggle.
A sudden gasp.
The sound of something heavy falling to the floor.
And then Evelyn’s voice, low and cruel:
“You won’t be telling anyone anything, Sarah.”
The audio recording cut to static.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
It was a audio confession of my mother’s murder.
It had been sitting inside Toby’s toy train for three long years.
I looked at Toby.
Toby had tears streaming down his small cheeks.
“She hurt Mommy,” Toby whispered.
“I know, buddy,” I said, hugging him tightly.
“I know.”
Suddenly, the knob on my bedroom door turned.
The door was locked.
Evelyn’s voice came through the wood.
“Maya? Who are you talking to in there?”
I froze.
I quickly shut the laptop lid.
“Nobody!” I called out, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Open this door right now, Maya,” Evelyn said.
Her voice had lost its gentle tone.
It was sharp and dangerous.
I heard the sound of keys jingling outside my door.
She had the master key.
“Toby, under the bed!” I whispered frantically.
Toby scrambled under the bed frame.
The lock clicked.
The door swung open.
Evelyn stood in the doorway holding a ring of spare keys.
Her eyes scanned my room.
They landed directly on the laptop sitting on my bed.
She noticed the small blue light glowing on the side.
“What do you have there?” Evelyn asked quietly.
May you like
She took a step into the room.
She locked the door behind her.
