Chapter 11 - Where Garrett Went)
"He'll go back to the beginning," Don said.
They were gathered in Shawn's apartment Monday morning.
Brooks looked at him.
"What beginning?"
Don answered, "Brenda's house."
Brenda shook her head.
"Police already searched it."
"Not your current house."
Don looked at her.
"The first one."
Brenda went still.
Before Garrett's success, before the mansion and investment firm, Brenda and Garrett had lived in a small house in Worcester.
They sold it twelve years earlier.
Or Brenda thought they had.
Property records showed something strange.
The buyer was a trust.
The trust was controlled by Vale Strategic Holdings.
Garrett had effectively sold the house to himself.
"Why keep it?" Shawn asked.
Brenda whispered, "His father."
"What?"
"Garrett grew up there."
Brooks dispatched officers.
The old house appeared abandoned from outside.
But a neighbor reported seeing lights occasionally.
Police surrounded it.
Inside they found computers.
Cash.
Fake identification.
Clothing.
And Garrett.
He was sitting at the old kitchen table.
He did not run.
He did not resist.
When Brooks entered, he smiled.
"You're late."
She arrested him.
Shawn expected relief.
Instead, when he received the call, he felt empty.
Garrett was in custody.
The gate was gone.
His parents were safe.
The money trail was documented.
Still, nothing restored three years.
Nothing erased the basement.
Nothing repaired Brenda's choices.
Justice began, but healing had not.
Federal prosecutors charged Garrett with wire fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, elder exploitation, unlawful imprisonment, witness intimidation, and conspiracy.
Additional charges followed.
Dr. Crane pleaded guilty to fraud related offenses and testified.
Judge Avery negotiated a reduced sentence in exchange for cooperation.
Celia Ward admitted notarizing documents without Don present.
Garrett refused every deal.
He insisted he had legally managed the Miller estate.
He claimed Brenda designed the financial transfers.
He claimed Don's mental state made his testimony unreliable.
Then his attorneys introduced something unexpected.
A video.
Don shouting incoherently in the living room.
He pushed over a lamp.
He accused Garrett of stealing.
He failed to remember the date.
Another clip showed him wandering outside at two in the morning.
Another showed Maria crying and saying she could not manage him.
Garrett had collected hours of footage.
The defense argued that the basement arrangement had been crude but necessary.
Shawn watched the videos with his father.
Don's face darkened.
"I don't remember that."
Maria did.
"The pills."
Dr. Crane's medication records confirmed Don had been prescribed unusually high sedative doses during the period of the recordings.
But proving the videos were manipulated through medication would take experts.
Garrett's lawyers also attacked Brenda.
Her signatures appeared on transfers.
Her credit cards benefited.
She had lied to Shawn.
She had helped keep her parents isolated.
All true.
Shawn accompanied her to meet prosecutors.
They offered a cooperation agreement.
Brenda would plead guilty to conspiracy and financial exploitation.
In exchange for complete testimony, prosecutors would recommend a substantially reduced sentence.
She looked at Shawn.
He did not tell her what to do.
For once, the choice had to be hers.
She signed.
That night she told Don and Maria.
"I'm going to plead guilty."
Maria cried.
Don looked out the window.
Brenda continued.
"I don't know how long I'll be away."
Don asked, "Did you tell them everything?"
"Yes."
"Even what makes you look bad?"
"Especially that."
He turned.
"Good."
Brenda flinched.
Then he added, "Truth is the first useful thing you've given us in three years."
She nodded.
"I know."
Don walked toward her.
For a moment Shawn thought he might hug her.
He didn't.
He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I love you."
Brenda began sobbing.
"And I'm angry with you," Don said.
She nodded.
"Both can be true."
Maria reached for her daughter.
This time the embrace lasted longer.
The trial was set for spring.
Meanwhile the Miller house remained empty.
Shawn hired workers to remove the iron gate.
Then he stopped them before they began.
He called his parents.
"What do you want done with the basement?"
Maria answered immediately.
"Everything out."
"The gate?"
"Especially the gate."
Don added, "Keep one bar."
Shawn frowned.
"Why?"
"So I remember."
Maria said, "No."
Don looked at her.
She shook her head.
"We remember enough."
Don considered that.
Then nodded.
"Take it all."
The gate was cut apart and removed.
The wall hiding Garrett's safe came down.
The basement was stripped to concrete.
Shawn expected his parents to sell the house.
Instead Maria had another idea.
"I want windows."
Shawn smiled.
"It's a basement."
"Then make bigger ones."
"What are you going to do down there?"
May you like
She looked at him as though the answer were obvious.
"Something alive."
