Chapter 9 - Linda’s Version of the DeadJames did not let Linda inside.
He stepped into the hallway only after hotel security arrived.
Emily remained in the room with Rex.
Caleb stood several feet behind his mother, looking irritated rather than afraid.
Linda hugged Sarah’s blue binder against her chest.
“Tell security to leave.”
“No.”
“This is family business.”
James stared at her.
“You lost the right to use that sentence.”
Linda’s jaw tightened.
“Sarah turned you against everyone.”
“Sarah has been dead three years.”
“And you still worship her.”
James’s expression changed.
“Careful.”
Linda looked away first.
Then she held out the binder.
“Your wife planned to cut your entire family out.”
James took it.
“Good.”
Linda’s eyes flashed.
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
He opened the binder.
Several sections were missing.
“Where are the rest of the documents?”
“That’s what I’m trying to explain.”
“Where?”
Caleb interrupted.
“We don’t have them.”
James looked at him.
Mrs. Brooks’s footage showed otherwise.
“You moved boxes into storage.”
Caleb froze.
Linda turned sharply toward him.
James saw the panic.
“Which storage facility?”
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
James took out his phone.
“I have video.”
Caleb’s confidence disappeared.
Linda closed her eyes.
“Caleb.”
“What?”
“You idiot.”
James almost smiled.
“Finally, something we agree on.”
Linda’s façade cracked.
“You want the truth? Fine.”
She pointed at the binder.
“Sarah believed that house belonged to Emily.”
“Part of it does.”
Linda’s face twisted.
“And why?”
“Because Sarah protected her daughter.”
“Because Sarah was selfish.”
James stared at her.
Linda leaned closer.
“Your mother helped you when you bought your first place. Our family supported you for years. Then Sarah came along and suddenly everything became hers.”
“That is not what happened.”
“You stopped helping people.”
“I stopped paying everyone’s bills.”
Caleb scoffed.
James looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Linda’s eyes burned.
“You had opportunities none of us had.”
“I worked for them.”
“And Sarah made sure her child got everything.”
“Emily is my child too.”
“That’s not the point.”
James’s voice lowered.
“That is exactly the point.”
Linda stopped.
There it was again.
The bitterness.
Not toward James.
Toward Emily.
“She reminded you of Sarah,” James said.
Linda’s expression shifted.
“You hated looking at her.”
Linda laughed bitterly.
“You have no idea what Sarah said about us.”
“I’m starting to think she was right.”
Linda stepped closer.
“She called us parasites.”
James said nothing.
“She told me if anything happened to her, I would never touch a dollar meant for Emily.”
“And then you spent ninety-one thousand dollars from Emily’s savings.”
Linda’s face went still.
Caleb looked at her.
“You know already?”
James studied that reaction.
Caleb had known there was money.
Maybe not how much.
“Police will know soon too.”
Linda shook her head.
“You gave me access.”
“I gave you access to a household expense account.”
“You said take care of the house.”
“You bought a luxury SUV.”
“I needed transportation.”
“You already had a car.”
“It broke.”
James laughed once.
“You remodeled my kitchen.”
“The old one was outdated.”
“You opened credit cards in my name.”
Linda’s mouth tightened.
“We intended to repay everything.”
“With what?”
Silence.
Then James understood.
“The house.”
Linda looked away.
“You were going to borrow against the house.”
No answer.
“You needed ownership.”
Caleb muttered, “Mom.”
Linda snapped, “Be quiet.”
James stepped closer.
“That’s why you forged the property filing.”
“I did what I had to do.”
“For what?”
Linda’s eyes filled—not with guilt, but rage.
“For this family.”
James shook his head.
“You keep saying family when you mean yourself.”
Linda’s composure shattered.
“You left us with a child, bills, responsibilities—”
“I paid every household expense.”
“Not enough!”
The words echoed down the hallway.
A hotel guest opened a door.
Security moved closer.
Linda lowered her voice.
“You don’t understand what it cost.”
James stared at her.
“Then explain the kennel.”
She stopped.
“Explain the chain.”
Nothing.
“Explain why Emily was hungry.”
Linda looked away.
“You can’t.”
James handed the binder to hotel security temporarily while he checked one last pocket.
Something was tucked behind the back cover.
A sealed envelope.
James’s name was written across it.
Sarah’s handwriting.
His heart stopped.
Linda saw it.
Her face changed.
“No.”
James pulled it free.
Linda reached for it.
Security stepped between them.
“Give me that!” Linda shouted.
James stared at her.
“You said Sarah lied to me.”
Linda’s breathing became shallow.
“What are you afraid she wrote?”
“James, don’t.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a three-page letter.
The first line made his knees weak.
James,
If you are reading this because Linda has tried to take control of Emily’s life, then I need you to understand something I was too scared to tell you while I was alive.
James stopped reading.
Linda whispered:
“She was sick. She was paranoid.”
James looked at her.
Then returned to the letter.
May you like
And the next sentence changed everything.
Linda once offered me money to leave you and give up custody of Emily.
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