Chapter 9
Matthew’s death had always been called an accident.
Ryan remembered almost nothing clearly.
He remembered adults crying.
He remembered yellow police tape near the backyard gate.
He remembered his aunt collapsing when someone told her.
And he remembered Linda saying the same thing over and over.
“He must have slipped.”
Matthew had been found in the pool shortly after sunrise.
Everyone assumed he wandered outside while adults slept.
No one was charged.
The death became family tragedy.
Then family silence.
But the photograph Anna had saved put Matthew in Linda’s basement the afternoon before he died.
And according to Ryan, Matthew was not supposed to be at Linda’s house that day.
“He was staying with Aunt Carol,” Ryan told Detective Alvarez.
We were back at the station.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Could Carol have brought him over?”
“Maybe.”
Detective Alvarez wrote something.
“What do you remember about that night?”
“Not much.”
“Anything unusual?”
Ryan stared at the table.
“I remember Mom arguing with someone.”
“Who?”
“I thought it was Dad.”
“Why?”
“They argued a lot.”
“What time?”
“Late.”
“Did you see Matthew?”
“No.”
“Did Emily?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Alvarez looked at me.
“Anna’s photos are being examined.”
“Did she send all of them?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
“What do they show?”
“Mostly pages from Linda’s notebook.”
“And Matthew?”
“Two images.”
Ryan looked up sharply.
“Two?”
The detective nodded.
“In the second, he’s near the basement door.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who is with him?”
“Linda.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“What is she doing?”
“Holding his wrist.”
My hands went cold.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
Then the detective continued.
“The old investigative file on Matthew’s death has been requested.”
“Will you reopen it?”
“That decision isn’t mine alone, but new evidence is being reviewed.”
Ryan stood.
“My mother killed him.”
“We don’t know that.”
“She hurt children around water.”
“We know she used water as punishment.”
“She held Lily underwater.”
“Lily reported that.”
“She threw Lily into a pool.”
“Yes.”
“And Matthew drowned in her pool.”
Detective Alvarez stayed calm.
“Those facts justify investigation. They do not yet prove homicide.”
Ryan looked ready to explode.
I touched his arm.
“She’s right.”
He turned toward me.
“Sarah—”
“If Linda did something, I want it proven.”
He slowly sat.
The detective nodded.
“That matters.”
Then the door opened.
Officer Daniels entered.
He handed Alvarez a document.
She read it.
Her expression changed.
“What?” I asked.
She looked at Ryan.
“We found the original report.”
“Matthew’s?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“One witness statement is missing from the archived copy.”
Ryan frowned.
“Whose?”
“Emily’s.”
His face went white.
“My sister gave a statement?”
“Apparently.”
“Why isn’t it there?”
“We don’t know.”
Ryan grabbed his phone.
He called Emily immediately.
She answered.
“Hey.”
“Did you talk to police when Matthew died?”
Silence.
Ryan stood.
“Emily?”
“Yes.”
His eyes closed.
“What did you tell them?”
She began breathing harder.
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s not true.”
“Ryan.”
“What did you see?”
“I said I don’t remember.”
He softened.
“Emily, please.”
She started crying.
“I saw Mom outside.”
Everyone in the room became still.
“When?”
“That night.”
“With Matthew?”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
Ryan’s face collapsed.
“What was she doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Emily.”
“She was angry.”
“At him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He broke something.”
“What?”
“The red box.”
My entire body went cold.
Ryan looked at Detective Alvarez.
The detective was already writing.
Emily continued.
“He found it.”
The red box.
The same box where Linda kept labeled belongings.
“What happened?” Ryan asked.
“I heard Mom yelling.”
“What did she say?”
“That he was a thief.”
Ryan covered his mouth.
“Then?”
“She took him outside.”
“Toward the pool?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Her voice broke.
“I hid.”
“Did you see her put him in the water?”
“No.”
The detective asked Ryan to put the phone on speaker.
“Emily, this is Detective Alvarez. I need you to tell me only what you remember, not what you think happened.”
Emily agreed.
“Did you see Matthew alive after Linda took him outside?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“Splashing.”
Ryan started crying.
“What else?”
“Mom yelling.”
“What words?”
Emily breathed unevenly.
“She said, ‘Give it back.’”
“Give what back?”
“I don’t know.”
“Anything else?”
Emily went silent.
Then,
“I heard Matthew call my name.”
Ryan bent forward like he had been punched.
I grabbed his shoulder.
Emily sobbed.
“I didn’t go.”
“You were nine,” I whispered.
“I didn’t go.”
Detective Alvarez kept her voice gentle.
“What happened next?”
“Dad came upstairs.”
“Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He told me to go to bed.”
“Did you tell him Matthew called you?”
“Yes.”
“What did your father say?”
Emily’s next words made Ryan stop crying.
“He said Matthew had gone home.”
Nobody moved.
Detective Alvarez asked,
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
“What happened the next morning?”
“My aunt came screaming into the house.”
Ryan whispered,
“Carol.”
“Yes.”
“She said Matthew was missing.”
“And then?”
“Mom went outside.”
Emily’s voice became distant.
“Then she screamed.”
“What did she scream?”
“That he was in the pool.”
Detective Alvarez leaned forward.
“Emily, did you see who found Matthew?”
“My mother.”
The room went cold.
After the call, Ryan sat completely still.
“My father lied to Emily.”
Detective Alvarez nodded carefully.
“It appears he told her Matthew had gone home.”
“But Matthew hadn’t.”
“We don’t know where Matthew was during those hours.”
Ryan looked at her.
“You know what you think.”
“That isn’t the same as evidence.”
I asked,
“What happened to Emily’s statement?”
“We’re investigating.”
“Could Linda have gotten it removed?”
“Possibly.”
“Or Thomas?”
“Possibly.”
“Was someone on the police force connected to them?”
“We’re checking.”
The detective closed her folder.
Then she hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
There was always something else.
“What?” I asked.
“The coroner’s original notes.”
Ryan lifted his head.
“What about them?”
“They mention bruising on Matthew’s wrist.”
The same wrist Linda held in Anna’s photograph.
I felt sick.
“And there’s an additional notation.”
“What?”
“Water temperature.”
Ryan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“The report states Matthew’s body temperature was inconsistent with the estimated time he was believed to have entered the pool.”
I stared.
“Meaning?”
Detective Alvarez chose her words carefully.
“It raised a question about whether he had been in the water as long as initially believed.”
Ryan whispered,
“So he didn’t drown at night?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“But?”
“The original investigator wrote a note recommending follow-up.”
“What follow-up?”
“A second interview with Linda.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed.
“Did it happen?”
“No record of one.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
The detective looked furious now.
Not visibly.
But I could hear it beneath her controlled tone.
“Someone closed the case quickly.”
Ryan leaned back.
“My family.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at the wall.
“Carol.”
“Why Carol?”
“She worked for the mayor’s office back then.”
My stomach dropped.
Detective Alvarez stopped writing.
“What was her role?”
“Administrative assistant.”
“Did she have connections to police?”
“Everyone in town knew everyone.”
I remembered Carol’s phone call.
Resolve things privately.
Protect the family.
I suddenly understood.
“Call her.”
Ryan looked at me.
“Now.”
He dialed.
Carol answered quickly.
“Ryan, I told you—”
“Did you interfere with Matthew’s investigation?”
Silence.
“What?”
“Did you interfere?”
“That is an outrageous accusation.”
“Emily gave a statement.”
Carol stopped talking.
Ryan’s face hardened.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew she talked to police.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Mom was with Matthew that night.”
“Ryan—”
“Anna photographed her holding his wrist.”
Another silence.
Then Carol said something none of us expected.
“You need to leave the dead alone.”
Ryan stared at the phone.
Detective Alvarez motioned for him to keep talking.
“Why?”
“Because nothing good comes from digging this up.”
“My daughter was abused.”
“That has nothing to do with Matthew.”
“Doesn’t it?”
Carol’s breathing became audible.
“Your mother made mistakes.”
“Mistakes?”
“She had a temper.”
“Did she kill Matthew?”
“Stop.”
“Did she?”
“Stop asking questions.”
Ryan stood.
“Why?”
Then Carol whispered,
“Because your father already paid for what happened.”
Ryan froze.
“What does that mean?”
Carol realized she had said too much.
“I have to go.”
“Paid how?”
She hung up.
We stared at one another.
Ryan called again.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Detective Alvarez stood.
“I’m sending officers to speak with her.”
Ryan whispered,
“My father paid for what happened.”
I looked at him.
“What could that mean?”
Nobody answered.
Three hours later, we found out.
Carol had kept something for twenty-seven years.
A letter.
Written by Thomas.
Ryan’s father.
It was dated six months after Matthew died.
And the first line read:
May you like
Carol,
Linda didn’t mean for him to die.
