Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO HAD A KEY
Ryan Collins was Eric's younger brother.
He was also the only person outside Heather and Eric who had an emergency key to the house.
When Eric called him, Ryan answered immediately.
"Everything okay?"
Eric put the call on speaker.
"No."
A pause.
"What happened?"
"Where were you three nights ago?"
Heather watched Eric's face.
Ryan laughed nervously.
"What?"
"Answer me."
"At home."
"Alone?"
"Mostly."
"What does mostly mean?"
"I met someone for drinks."
"Who?"
"Why are you interrogating me?"
Detective Price wrote on a pad.
Eric's jaw tightened.
"Did you come into my house three nights ago?"
Silence.
"Ryan?"
"No."
"Olivia heard your voice."
Another pause.
"Olivia's seven."
Heather recoiled.
Eric's voice became colder.
"Wrong answer."
"I'm saying kids confuse voices."
"Did you let Melissa into my house?"
"No."
"Do you still have the emergency key?"
"Yes."
"Show it to police."
Silence.
Price looked at Eric.
Ryan finally said, "I lost it."
"When?"
"I don't know. Few weeks ago."
"You didn't tell me?"
"I didn't think it mattered."
Eric laughed once.
"You lost the key to my house and didn't think it mattered?"
"Eric, I swear, I wasn't there."
Price leaned toward the phone.
"Mr. Collins, this is Detective Samuel Price. We need to speak with you in person."
Ryan's breathing changed.
"Am I under arrest?"
"No."
"Then I'll call you later."
The line disconnected.
Price looked up.
"That's concerning."
Eric was already grabbing his jacket.
"No."
Price stood.
"You are not going after him."
"He's my brother."
"And if he's involved, that makes him more dangerous, not less."
Heather stared at the shattered window.
The word family suddenly meant almost nothing.
They moved to the hotel before noon.
Police took Buddy to a secure boarding facility.
Avery remained with Daniel in a room next to Heather and Eric.
By late afternoon, Detective Price received the first extraction report from Melissa's hidden phone.
There were photographs.
Hundreds.
The Collins house.
Daniel's apartment.
Eric's office building.
Margaret Collins before her death.
Ryan entering a motel.
Melissa meeting a man in parking lots.
Bank statements.
License plates.
Screenshots.
Audio recordings.
And a folder labeled CROWN.
Price sat across from Heather and Eric in the hotel conference room.
"We haven't decrypted CROWN yet."
Eric stared at the tablet.
"What about the video?"
"We enhanced part of the audio."
"Ryan?"
Price hesitated.
"We believe it's him."
Heather closed her eyes.
Eric looked away.
"What were they talking about?"
"Most of it is muffled."
"Most?"
Price played eleven seconds.
Melissa's voice came first.
"You said the mother wouldn't be a problem."
A man's voice answered.
"I said she'd stopped asking questions."
Melissa said, "Then why is Heather looking through Margaret's things?"
The male voice replied.
"Because you panicked."
Melissa snapped, "I didn't kill her."
The recording ended.
Heather stared at the detective.
"What does that mean?"
Price did not answer.
Eric's face had turned gray.
"My mother."
"We don't know."
"She said she didn't kill her."
"That doesn't prove anyone did."
Eric stood.
"I want my mother's case reopened."
"We're already requesting the file."
Heather suddenly remembered something.
"Margaret's things."
Eric looked at her.
"What?"
"Melissa said I was looking through Margaret's things."
"I heard."
"But I haven't."
They stared at one another.
Heather continued.
"I haven't touched anything from your mother in years."
Price leaned forward.
"Where are her belongings?"
"Mostly in the attic."
Eric shook his head.
"No. We moved the boxes."
"When?"
"Last winter."
Heather frowned.
"Where?"
Eric looked confused.
"I thought you moved them."
"I didn't."
They sat in silence.
Price said, "Who had access to the house?"
Eric closed his eyes.
"Ryan."
That evening police searched Ryan's apartment.
He was gone.
His clothes remained.
His car remained.
His phone was on the kitchen counter.
But his passport was missing.
Inside his bedroom closet, investigators found something else.
A box containing photographs of the Collins family.
Some were normal family pictures.
Others had been taken from a distance.
Heather pushing Olivia on a swing.
Eric leaving work.
Margaret Collins at a pharmacy two weeks before her death.
And one photo that made Detective Price call Eric immediately.
The image showed Margaret standing beside a silver sedan.
Across from her stood Melissa.
On the back, someone had written a date.
Three days before Margaret died.
Eric stared at the photograph.
Price said, "There's more."
"What?"
"Your mother is handing Melissa an envelope."
Eric swallowed.
"What envelope?"
"We don't know."
Price turned the image over again.
Below the date was a handwritten sentence.
Eric recognized the handwriting.
May you like
It was Ryan's.
SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT CROWN.
