Chapter 4 - The Detective at the Door
Naomi stepped away from the peephole.
“Price has Claire.”
Chad’s face hardened.
Marcus reached for his phone.
“Calling police.”
“No,” Chad said.
Marcus glared at him.
“Why?”
“Because we don’t know who else is bought.”
Price knocked again.
“Mrs. Carter.”
His voice carried clearly through the door.
“We should talk.”
Naomi looked at Chad.
“What does he want?”
“The originals.”
“They’re gone.”
“He won’t believe that.”
Claire cried out.
Naomi flinched.
Price spoke again.
“Open the door, or your friend becomes a much shorter conversation.”
Chad whispered, “Back exit.”
Naomi shook her head.
“I’m not leaving Claire.”
Marcus looked toward the kitchen.
“I can get behind him through the side gate.”
“No.”
“Naomi—”
“No more people risking themselves without telling me.”
She turned toward Chad.
“That includes you.”
Then she opened the door.
Price smiled.
He looked exactly as Naomi remembered.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Calm eyes.
A respectable detective.
Except now he held a gun against Claire’s ribs.
“Mrs. Carter.”
Naomi stared at him.
“You burned my house.”
Price smiled slightly.
“Technically, that wasn’t me.”
“Who?”
“Victor employed many useful people.”
Chad stepped into view.
Price’s smile disappeared.
“You’re harder to kill than expected.”
Chad’s fists tightened.
“Let her go.”
“Bring me the originals.”
“They’re gone.”
Price pressed the gun harder against Claire.
“Wrong answer.”
Naomi studied Claire.
Her right hand hung beside her thigh.
Two fingers were extended.
Then one.
Counting.
Naomi understood.
She shifted her weight.
Three.
Two.
One.
Claire dropped.
Marcus burst from the side gate.
He slammed into Price.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered.
Chad tackled Price.
Naomi pulled Claire inside.
Marcus kicked the gun away.
Price fought viciously.
But three against one ended quickly.
Chad pinned him against the floor.
Marcus grabbed the weapon.
Naomi called federal authorities instead of local police.
Claire had memorized a number connected to a federal corruption task force.
Within forty minutes, agents arrived.
Price was arrested.
The lead agent introduced herself as Elena Ruiz.
She listened while Naomi explained everything.
Ruiz examined the documents.
“These copies are enough to open doors,” she said. “But originals would be stronger.”
“They were stolen,” Chad said.
Ruiz looked at him coldly.
“You’re Chad Carter?”
“Yes.”
“You’re also potentially facing charges.”
“I know.”
Naomi glanced at him.
Chad lowered his head.
Ruiz continued.
“If you cooperate fully, prosecutors will consider that.”
“I’ll cooperate.”
Claire sat with a blanket around her shoulders.
“Hale knows the originals exist.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Then he’ll keep searching.”
Naomi looked at the scorched beam.
“Someone already found them.”
That night, the federal agents placed guards outside Naomi’s house.
Marcus refused to leave anyway.
Chad remained downstairs.
Naomi went to her bedroom.
For the first time since his return, Chad followed.
He stopped at the doorway.
“I’ll sleep downstairs.”
Naomi said nothing.
He turned.
“Chad.”
He stopped.
“Did you ever plan to come back?”
His shoulders tightened.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When Hale believed I had disappeared.”
“And how long would that take?”
“I didn’t know.”
Naomi laughed bitterly.
“So you were going to let me think my husband abandoned me because I was scarred.”
“I thought anger would make you detach from me.”
“You deliberately wanted me to hate you?”
“Yes.”
“That might be the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”
“I know.”
She touched the edge of her bandage.
“You don’t get to decide what protects me.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
Chad looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Naomi’s eyes filled.
“I saved you because I loved you.”
“I love you.”
“That word means nothing right now.”
He nodded.
“I understand.”
“No. But maybe someday you will.”
Chad left.
The following morning, Naomi attended another surgical consultation.
She almost canceled.
Everything felt unimportant compared with murder, corruption, and missing evidence.
Then her surgeon, Dr. Patel, reminded her:
“Your life is still yours, Naomi. Don’t let someone else’s crimes steal your recovery.”
Those words stayed with her.
She returned home determined to reclaim something.
Anything.
She began sorting personal belongings saved from the fire.
Photographs.
Jewelry.
Documents.
Inside a damaged handbag, Naomi discovered her old tablet.
The screen was cracked.
But it still powered on.
A notification appeared.
Cloud backup recovered.
Naomi opened photographs.
Then videos.
A folder named SECURITY appeared.
Their old home cameras had uploaded footage automatically before the fire destroyed them.
Naomi stopped breathing.
2:01 a.m.
Kitchen camera.
She played the file.
Chad entered.
Claire followed.
They argued quietly.
Naomi increased volume.
Claire said, “We should take it to the FBI tonight.”
Chad replied, “Not until I know who Price reports to.”
2:05.
A shadow appeared outside the window.
2:06.
The glass broke.
Something burning flew inside.
Claire screamed.
Chad ran toward the kitchen.
Then another camera showed Price entering through the rear door.
Naomi watched Chad fight him.
Price struck Chad with a metal object.
Chad collapsed.
Claire dragged herself toward the exit.
Then Naomi appeared.
Barefoot.
Confused.
Calling Chad’s name.
She watched herself enter the smoke.
Watched herself drag him.
Watched flames catch her clothes.
She had to stop the video.
Tears streamed down her face.
For four months she had remembered fragments.
Now she had seen what she did.
Marcus sat beside her.
“You saved him.”
Naomi wiped her tears.
“Yes.”
The video proved Chad had been telling the truth about Price attacking him.
But one mystery remained.
Who took the original evidence?
Naomi reviewed earlier footage.
1:42 a.m.
Someone entered the house before Chad and Claire.
The person used a key.
Naomi leaned closer.
A man crossed the hallway.
Tall.
Older.
Wearing a baseball cap.
His face turned toward the camera.
Naomi gasped.
Marcus stared.
“No way.”
Naomi knew him.
Everyone in her family knew him.
Her father.
Robert Ellis.
He had possessed a spare key for years.
Marcus stood abruptly.
“Dad was here?”
Naomi’s hands trembled.
Her father had claimed he was home with her mother that night.
Why had he entered Naomi’s house thirty minutes before the fire?
They drove to their parents’ home.
Robert answered the door.
He smiled.
Then saw the tablet in Naomi’s hand.
His face changed.
Naomi held up a frozen image from the footage.
“Why were you inside my house?”
Robert said nothing.
“Dad.”
Her mother appeared behind him.
“What’s happening?”
Robert closed his eyes.
“I was hoping you would never find that.”
Naomi felt sick.
“Find what?”
“The truth about Chad.”
Chad arrived ten minutes later with federal Agent Ruiz.
Robert sat at the kitchen table.
For several minutes he refused to speak.
Then he finally said:
“Victor Hale contacted me six months before the fire.”
Naomi’s mouth went dry.
“Why?”
“He told me Chad was involved in something dangerous.”
“And you believed him?”
“I investigated.”
“You’re retired.”
Robert had spent twenty-eight years as an insurance fraud investigator.
He still had contacts everywhere.
“I found Chad’s secret consulting company,” he said.
Naomi glanced at Chad.
“I thought he was stealing money.”
“So you broke into our house?”
“I wanted proof.”
“What did you find?”
Robert looked down.
“A metal tube inside the scorched beam.”
Naomi’s heart stopped.
Marcus leaned forward.
“You took the originals?”
Robert nodded.
Everyone stared.
“Where are they?” Ruiz asked.
Robert looked at Naomi.
“I gave them to someone I trusted.”
“Who?”
Before he could answer, the front window exploded inward.
Robert fell backward.
Naomi screamed.
Ruiz drew her weapon.
Outside, a black SUV accelerated down the street.
Robert clutched his shoulder.
Blood spread through his shirt.
Naomi dropped beside him.
“Dad!”
Robert grabbed her hand.
“The files…”
“Where?”
His voice weakened.
“Your mother.”
Naomi looked up.
Her mother was gone.
May you like
The back door stood open.
And a single bloody footprint led outside.
