Chapter 6 - The Woman Sarah Hadn’t Invited
Melissa Carter was Greg’s younger sister.
My sister too.
Thirty-three.
Smart.
Unpredictable.
And supposedly living four hundred miles away in Richmond.
Sarah hadn’t known she was in town.
Neither had I.
Lily said Melissa arrived late at night.
Greg let her inside through the garage.
The adults argued.
Then Greg left.
Melissa stayed.
“Did Aunt Melissa touch your boot?”
Lily nodded.
“She said Daddy did it wrong.”
Sarah covered her mouth.
“What did she do?”
“She took me to the bathroom.”
That was all Lily remembered clearly.
She was exhausted.
Scared.
Her foot already hurt.
Melissa told her to sit on the closed toilet lid while she “fixed” the boot.
The next morning, Melissa was gone.
Greg returned before Sarah woke.
That timeline could be checked.
Officer Ruiz started doing exactly that.
Greg eventually admitted Melissa had been there.
His explanation changed again.
He said Melissa owned the pouch.
Not Sarah.
That was lie number two collapsing.
According to Greg, Melissa had asked him to hold something for one night.
He agreed without knowing exactly what it was.
Then he became frightened when she said someone might come looking for it.
“Why Lily?”
I asked.
Greg couldn’t look at me.
“Melissa said nobody would search a child.”
I stepped away from him.
I needed distance.
“You both discussed this?”
“I thought it was for ten minutes.”
“You sealed a boot onto your daughter.”
“I know.”
“No. I don’t think you do.”
He began crying.
I felt nothing.
Not yet.
Then the evidence team opened the black pouch under controlled conditions.
It did not contain drugs.
It did not contain money.
Inside were three small encrypted storage devices.
Digital media.
No labels.
No explanation.
Whatever Greg and Melissa were protecting could fit in my palm.
Ruiz looked at me.
“Does your sister work with computers?”
I almost laughed.
Melissa had spent eight years doing cybersecurity contracting.
Including work for private defense companies.
And suddenly my military background, Greg’s panic, and Melissa’s unexpected arrival felt dangerously connected.
But we still didn’t know what was on those drives.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
Daniel, stay out of this. Greg already made one child pay for his mistake.
I showed Ruiz.
Before he could respond, another message appeared.
Next time, Rex won’t be the warning.
I stared at the screen.
“Who’s Rex?”
Ruiz asked.
I looked at him.
May you like
“My dog.”
And Rex was alone at my house.
