Chapter 2 - The Folder
Mom grabbed my wrist before I could finish speaking to the dispatcher.
I looked down at her hand.
Then back at her face.
“Take your hand off me.”
“Connor, you are embarrassing this family.”
“My son has a fever.”
“He has a cold.”
“My wife’s car keys were taken from her.”
“She was trying to ruin the party.”
“You entered my office.”
Mom’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
That was enough.
I pointed toward the side yard.
“And Mason has something from my safe.”
Her grip disappeared.
For the first time since I walked through the door, my mother looked scared.
Not guilty.
Scared.
There’s a difference.
A guilty person worries about being caught.
A scared person worries about what you’re about to discover.
The dispatcher asked me to stay outside if I felt threatened.
I told Amy to grab Frederick’s diaper bag.
Mom stepped in front of her.
“You’re not taking him anywhere.”
Amy froze.
I moved between them.
“Try that again.”
Mom stared at me.
I had never spoken to her that way before.
Not once.
She knew it.
So did I.
“Connor.”
Her voice softened.
“You’re upset.”
“No.”
I opened the door for Amy.
“I’m finally paying attention.”
Police arrived within minutes.
Two patrol cars rolled up in front of the house.
Conversation died in the backyard.
Aunt Betsy actually put her wineglass behind her back like a teenager getting caught at a school dance.
Officer Daniels, a broad-shouldered man in his forties, came around the side of the house with another officer.
Mason had almost reached his Charger.
“Sir, stop.”
Mason kept walking.
That was his mistake.
The second officer caught him near the driveway.
The brown folder fell.
Papers spilled across the grass.
My mother screamed.
“Don’t touch those!”
Officer Daniels looked at her.
“Ma’am, step back.”
“That belongs to me!”
I stared at her.
“It belongs to you?”
She realized what she’d said.
Too late.
One of the documents lay face-up on the grass.
I recognized my name immediately.
CONNOR JAMES BRADLEY.
Below it was the legal description of the property.
Our house.
The home Amy and I had bought four years earlier.
Officer Daniels picked up the document carefully.
“Is this yours, sir?”
“Yes.”
Mason shook his head.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
I almost laughed.
“What does stealing my house deed look like from your angle?”
“I wasn’t stealing anything.”
“Then why were you running?”
“I was taking it to Teresa.”
My mother lunged toward him.
“Mason, shut your mouth.”
Officer Daniels stepped between them.
“Ma’am, back up.”
She shoved his arm.
Everything changed instantly.
The second officer grabbed her.
“Hands behind your back.”
“You can’t arrest me!”
“Stop resisting.”
“This is my son’s property!”
“No.”
I said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
“This is my property.”
Mom twisted toward me.
“You ungrateful little bastard.”
Amy flinched behind me.
That was when Officer Daniels noticed Frederick.
His expression tightened.
“How old is the baby?”
“One.”
“His temperature?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Amy whispered, “It was 102.7 earlier.”
I turned around.
“What?”
Mom yelled from beside the patrol car.
“He was fine!”
Amy started crying.
“I asked her to let me take him to urgent care.”
Officer Daniels looked at me.
“Get your child checked now.”
I nodded.
As we headed toward my truck, Mason shouted.
“Connor!”
I turned.
He was sitting on the curb with another officer beside him.
His face had gone gray.
“I didn’t open the safe.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“I didn’t know the code.”
My stomach tightened.
Then Mason looked straight at my mother.
“She gave it to me.”
I stared at Teresa.
Only three people knew the combination to that safe.
Me.
Amy.
And my mother.
Because three months earlier, I had foolishly given it to her in case something happened to us while we were traveling.
But Mason wasn’t finished.
“There’s more.”
Mom screamed his name.
Mason ignored her.
“She didn’t just want the deed.”
He swallowed.
May you like
“She already has copies.”
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