Chapter 3 - The Names on the WallBy sunrise, the story had become bigger than Rebecca.
Much bigger.
Investigators found a hidden room beneath the basement.
There were children's clothes.
Old photographs.
Medical supplies.
Food containers.
And a wall covered with names.
Some had dates.
Some had question marks.
Some were crossed out.
Sarah sent me one photograph.
I stared at it.
There were seventeen names.
One of them was Ethan.
My brother.
I nearly dropped my phone.
“That can't be right.”
Sarah said nothing.
“What does Ethan's name mean?”
“We don't know.”
“But he's dead.”
“We know.”
I stared at the wall.
Then something else caught my attention.
A date beside Ethan's name.
It was three days before his death.
My heart pounded.
“Sarah.”
“I know.”
“You think Ethan was investigating Rebecca?”
“We're looking into it.”
I sat down.
My brother had died of a heart attack.
At thirty-five.
Sudden.
Massive.
Everyone had called it tragic.
Natural.
But now his name was on a wall beneath Rebecca's house.
Three days before he died.
Nothing about this was natural anymore.
That afternoon, Sarah came to the hospital.
She had a folder.
“Thomas, your brother's death certificate is being reexamined.”
“Why?”
“Because investigators found something in Rebecca's house.”
“What?”
“A prescription bottle.”
I stared at her.
“Whose?”
“Ethan's.”
My heart stopped.
“That's impossible.”
“It was hidden in a box.”
“What was inside?”
“Nothing.”
She paused.
“Except traces of a medication that Ethan was never prescribed.”
My hands went cold.
“What medication?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Something that can cause cardiac complications.”
I stood.
“You think Rebecca killed my brother?”
“We don't know.”
“But you're investigating it.”
“Yes.”
I looked toward Leo's room.
My nephew had lost his father.
Then been abused by the woman who replaced him.
And now there was evidence suggesting his father's death might not have been an accident.
I whispered,
“She took everything from them.”
May you like
Sarah nodded.
“And now we're going to find out why.”
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