Chapter 5 - Plan BJames felt every eye in the room turn toward Emily.
He walked to her immediately.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”
Emily nodded.
“I want to.”
Linda stepped forward.
“She is confused.”
James put one hand up.
“Stay where you are.”
The officer reinforced it.
“Ma’am, give the child space.”
Emily looked at the floor.
“Aunt Linda and Uncle Roy talked about what they’d say if you came home mad.”
James’s mouth went dry.
“What would they say?”
“That you were different.”
Linda scoffed.
“Every family talks about reintegration.”
Emily continued.
“That you had bad dreams.”
James went still.
He did sometimes have bad dreams.
He had mentioned them once to Linda during a late-night call.
Nothing severe.
Nothing that had ever made him dangerous.
Emily swallowed.
“They said people would believe them because you were a soldier.”
Roy muttered something.
The officer looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Emily’s voice grew smaller.
“They said if you yelled, they’d call the police.”
James stared at Linda.
She had prepared for this.
Not for his safety.
For leverage.
“How long have you been planning to portray me as unstable?”
Linda’s face hardened.
“This is ridiculous.”
James held up the note.
“You literally wrote ‘Plan B.’”
“That could mean anything.”
“Then explain it.”
She did not.
The paramedic recommended taking Emily to the hospital for evaluation.
James agreed immediately.
Linda objected.
James ignored her.
Before leaving, he photographed everything in the filing cabinet.
The officer documented the basement, kennel, chain, hose, and living conditions.
Roy and Caleb were told to remain available for further questioning.
Linda followed James to the front hall.
“Do you realize what you’re doing?”
James turned.
“Yes.”
“You are destroying this family.”
“No.”
James looked back toward the basement.
“You did that.”
Linda lowered her voice.
“We took care of Emily when nobody else would.”
“I would.”
“You were overseas.”
“I was serving.”
“And who fed her? Who took her to school? Who stayed here while you were gone?”
James’s expression hardened.
“Apparently the same people who put her in a cage.”
Linda’s face twitched.
“That happened once.”
Behind James, Emily whispered:
“No, it didn’t.”
Silence.
James turned slowly.
Linda froze.
Emily stood near the front door with Rex beside her.
James crouched.
“How many times?”
Emily looked at Linda.
“Emily,” James said gently, “look at me.”
She did.
“How many times were you put inside that kennel?”
Her eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
James felt something tear open inside him.
“A lot?”
She nodded.
“When?”
“When they had people over.”
James stared at her.
“Why?”
“So I wouldn’t embarrass them.”
Linda tried to interrupt.
The officer stopped her.
Emily continued.
“Sometimes Aunt Linda said I looked too much like Mom.”
James’s heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Emily shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
But Linda knew.
James could see it.
Sarah had died three years earlier after a sudden illness.
Linda had never liked her.
She had tolerated Sarah because James loved her.
At least, that was what James had believed.
Now he remembered comments he had dismissed.
Sarah controls you.
Sarah thinks she’s better than us.
Sarah is turning you against your family.
James looked at Linda differently.
“What did you say to Emily about her mother?”
Linda’s eyes shifted.
“Nothing inappropriate.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“James, this is not the time.”
Emily whispered, “She said Mom stole the house.”
James looked at her.
“What?”
“Aunt Linda said the house should have belonged to her.”
Linda snapped.
“That is completely out of context.”
James stood.
“What context makes that acceptable?”
Linda finally lost control.
“Your mother promised me this property!”
The room fell silent.
James stared at her.
There it was.
Not discipline.
Not inconvenience.
Resentment.
The house.
“My mother died before I bought this house.”
Linda realized her mistake.
James stepped closer.
“So what exactly did she promise you?”
Linda said nothing.
James remembered the property envelope in his bag.
The deed.
The trust paperwork.
Documents Sarah had insisted they keep secure.
His mother had contributed money toward his first down payment years earlier, but the property had always belonged legally to James and Sarah.
Unless Linda believed something else.
Or wanted everyone else to believe it.
James picked up his bag.
“We’re leaving.”
As he opened the front door, the mail carrier approached.
He handed James a stack of letters.
“Mr. Carter?”
James nodded.
“Welcome back.”
Then the man hesitated.
“There’s something strange you might want to know.”
James looked at him.
“What?”
The carrier glanced at Linda.
“For months, someone here has been returning anything with your name on it.”
James’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Bank notices. Certified letters. Government mail.”
Linda suddenly moved forward.
“That’s enough.”
The carrier stepped back.
James looked at the stack in his hand.
One envelope was marked FINAL NOTICE.
Another came from a bank.
A third from the county recorder’s office.
James ripped it open.
Inside was a notice regarding an attempted property filing.
A filing submitted three weeks earlier.
May you like
Someone had tried to transfer an interest in his house.
And Linda’s name was on the application.
Related Stories
