Chapter 8 - The Gift Under the Tree)
Shawn reached the house before police finished searching it.
Detective Brooks was furious.
"You were told to wait."
"It's my parents' house."
"It's an active crime scene."
"Then arrest me later."
The Christmas tree still stood in the living room.
Investigators searched the branches, ornaments, presents, tree stand, fireplace, and surrounding furniture.
Nothing.
Then Shawn noticed one package he did not recognize.
Small.
Silver paper.
No tag.
It sat deep beneath the tree near the trunk.
Brooks stopped him from touching it.
Bomb technicians examined it.
No explosive.
Inside was a red velvet jewelry box.
Inside the box was Maria's wedding ring.
Shawn went cold.
His mother had not been wearing it at the hospital.
He had assumed nurses removed it.
Garrett had taken it.
Beneath the ring was a memory card.
The card contained a video.
Garrett sat in a dark room.
Behind him was a concrete wall.
He looked directly at the camera.
"Shawn, if you're watching this, you're still pretending you're in control."
Shawn's jaw tightened.
Garrett continued.
"The Easton sale happens Monday at nine. Your lawyers can file whatever they want. I have a valid order, valid documents, and a buyer who will close."
Brooks murmured, "He's bluffing."
Garrett smiled on screen.
"But Easton isn't what matters anymore."
Shawn leaned closer.
"The real value was never the land."
Garrett held up a folder.
"Your father kept records."
Don, watching from Shawn's phone on a secure video call, whispered, "No."
Garrett continued.
"Thirty years of records."
Shawn looked at his father.
"What records?"
Don did not answer.
Garrett on screen said, "Your father wasn't just a contractor. For fifteen years, Don Miller quietly invested in properties with three partners."
Don closed his eyes.
"Those properties are now worth more than Easton."
Shawn stared at him.
"Dad?"
Don whispered, "I was going to explain."
Garrett continued.
"The partnership agreement says that when the last original partner dies, control passes according to a sealed schedule Don holds."
Shawn turned toward his father.
"How much?"
Don said, "I don't know exactly."
"Estimate."
Maria answered.
"Maybe thirty million."
Brenda sat down.
Even Brooks looked surprised.
Garrett's recording continued.
"Don hid the schedule somewhere in the house. I searched for three years."
Shawn suddenly understood why Garrett never sold the house.
Why he kept Don and Maria inside.
Why he maintained control instead of moving them immediately.
He was hunting.
Garrett held Maria's ring close to the camera.
"Your mother once told me the family always hides its most important things at Christmas."
Maria's eyes widened.
Shawn looked toward the tree.
"What does that mean?"
Maria whispered, "The star."
At the top of the Christmas tree was an old wooden star.
Ugly.
Hand painted.
Shawn remembered making it with Don when he was nine.
Every year Maria insisted on placing it above expensive ornaments.
Police removed it carefully.
The back contained a narrow wooden panel.
Empty.
Maria stared.
"It was there."
Garrett had found it.
Shawn looked at the video.
Garrett said, "I have the partnership schedule."
Brenda whispered, "Oh God."
But Don started laughing.
Everyone looked at him.
The laugh turned into a cough.
Maria helped him sit.
Shawn asked, "What's funny?"
Don shook his head.
"Garrett never learned."
"What?"
"The star wasn't the hiding place."
Maria stared at her husband.
Don smiled.
"It was the clue."
Shawn looked at the wooden star.
On its back were four small carved numbers.
12 24 78.
Shawn recognized the date.
Christmas Eve, 1978.
The night Don proposed to Maria.
Maria covered her mouth.
"The church."
Don nodded.
"Second pew."
Father Thomas was called again.
At Saint Matthew's Church, behind the second pew on the left, investigators found a brass plate installed decades ago.
Beneath it was a sealed envelope.
Inside was the real partnership schedule.
Garrett had stolen a copy.
Not the original.
More importantly, a handwritten amendment required two family witnesses for transfer authority.
Garrett could not take control through guardianship alone.
Shawn felt relief for the first time.
Then Father Thomas noticed another envelope.
It was newer.
Addressed to Don.
Inside was a letter written by one of the original partners six months earlier.
Don read it slowly.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He handed it to Shawn.
The letter stated that Garrett Vale had contacted two surviving partners and offered to purchase their interests.
Garrett had been planning to control the entire partnership.
And one partner had already agreed.
Shawn read the final paragraph.
There was an address.
A cabin in northern New Hampshire.
The partner wrote that he had met Garrett there twice.
Daniel Reeves looked at the address.
"I know this place."
Brooks turned.
"Whose is it?"
"Garrett's retired judge client."
The man Daniel had mentioned.
Judge Malcolm Avery.
May you like
By sunset, police were moving north.
And Shawn finally knew where Garrett had been hiding.
