Chapter 6 - THE THIRD PERSON
The photograph showed my sister, Melissa.
My younger sister.
She had been in our house the afternoon before Nancy swallowed the magnets.
I stared at the image.
“No.”
The detective said nothing.
Melissa had always been the person I trusted most.
She had helped me after Nancy was born.
She had stayed beside me during difficult years.
She had told me Brandon was lucky to have me.
Now the photograph showed her standing beside Evelyn.
The detective explained that the image had been recovered from a security camera across the street.
Melissa had entered our house at 3:02 p.m.
She left forty-seven minutes later.
Nancy swallowed the first magnet at approximately 3:15.
I couldn't breathe.
“Did she know?”
“We don't know yet.”
The detective showed me another image.
Melissa leaving the house.
Her hand was holding a small bag.
The same type of bag that had contained the magnets.
I refused to believe it.
I called her.
She answered immediately.
“Sam?”
“Where were you yesterday?”
Silence.
Then:
“What do you mean?”
“Were you at my house?”
Another silence.
I knew.
She had lied.
The police questioned her that evening.
At first, she denied everything.
Then the detectives showed her the footage.
Her story changed.
She admitted she had been there.
But she claimed she had not given Nancy the magnets.
“Evelyn asked me to bring something,” she said.
“What?”
“A box.”
“What was inside?”
She began crying.
“I didn't know.”
The detectives didn't believe her.
Neither did I.
Melissa finally confessed that Brandon had been paying her.
Five thousand dollars.
She had helped him monitor me.
She had told him when I was home.
When I was away.
When Nancy was with me.
I felt betrayed in a way I couldn't explain.
“Why?”
Melissa wiped her eyes.
“He promised to help me pay off my debt.”
“So you sold my family?”
“I didn't know he wanted to hurt Nancy.”
“But you knew he was lying to me.”
She looked away.
That was enough.
The investigation uncovered another secret.
Brandon had been manipulating everyone.
Evelyn believed she would receive money.
Melissa believed she would receive money.
Claire believed she would become his wife.
Each person thought they were special.
Each person had been used.
But there was one question left.
Who had sent me the anonymous messages?
The detective traced the number.
It belonged to a prepaid phone.
But the phone had been activated using a false identity.
Then the police found security footage of the person purchasing it.
A man in a baseball cap.
The detective showed me the image.
I recognized him.
He had been a neighbor.
His name was Thomas Reed.
He worked at Brandon's company.
The next morning, Thomas came to the police station voluntarily.
He carried a folder.
“I should have come sooner,” he said.
Inside were emails.
Financial records.
And a recording.
Thomas had secretly recorded Brandon discussing the plan.
His voice was unmistakable.
“Once the girl is gone, Samantha will be destroyed.”
My hands clenched.
Then Brandon said something else.
Something that made the detective pause the recording.
“After the insurance money arrives, nobody will be able to touch me.”
Thomas looked at me.
“I was afraid.”
I believed him.
Because fear had kept me silent for years too.
But now, the truth was finally moving.
And Brandon's entire plan was collapsing.
Then the prosecutor called.
May you like
She had reviewed the evidence.
And she had decided to charge Brandon with something far more serious than financial fraud.
