I sat in the police station staring at those papers.
Then I noticed one date.
July 14.
Three years earlier.
I knew exactly where Ryan had been that day.
“This can’t be real.”
The detective looked at me.
“What?”
I pointed.
“Ryan was in intensive care on July fourteenth.”
The detective became completely still.
“He was in the ICU that entire month. He could barely hold a spoon. He didn’t leave that hospital.”
That date changed everything.
Once investigators examined the records closely, the entire paper trail began falling apart.
The signatures were almost right.
Not completely.
The dates conflicted with hospital records.
The transactions didn’t match the originals.
The documents were forged.
Planted evidence.
And suddenly, the plan became clear.
Derek wasn’t using Ethan to take something out of my house.
He was using him to put something in.
The investigation into Ryan’s old financial records exposed the truth.
Years earlier, Ryan had discovered that Derek was stealing money.
Not just from their jointly owned business.
From their mother too.
Their mother had trusted Derek to help manage her finances.
Ryan discovered what he was doing.
He confronted him.
And Ryan being Ryan, he made copies of everything.
