Chapter 4 - Coming Home to an Empty Wall
I landed in Denver late Thursday and drove into the mountains before dawn.
Cedar Watch appeared around the final curve just as the sky began turning silver. The cabin still stood, but it looked wounded.
I parked at Walter’s house and walked across the creek.
The front door of Cedar Watch was unlocked. Inside, the rooms echoed.
I stood in the living room, facing the empty place above the mantel where my father’s folded flag and medals had been displayed.
For one dangerous second, I wanted to break something.
Instead, I photographed every room.
Walter entered carrying a cardboard box.
“I got what I could,” he said.
Inside were family photographs, my father’s leather work gloves, the blackened coffee pot we used on camping trips, and the small wooden bird I carved when I was eleven.
“The auction workers set these near the trash,” Walter said. “I told them I was authorized to take personal papers.”
“Did you find the flag?”
He shook his head.
“But I tracked the SUV. Curtis took several items to a military collectibles shop in town.”
We drove there as soon as the owner opened.
The shopkeeper, a woman named Grace Kim, recognized my father’s name from the engraving on his medal case. Curtis had claimed the items belonged to him.
Grace had not yet placed them for sale because the story felt wrong.
She brought the case from a locked cabinet.
I touched the glass, and my reflection appeared over my father’s ribbons.
“He served twenty-four years,” I said.
Grace’s expression hardened.
“The man who brought this in asked whether removing the nameplate would increase the value.”
She handed me the receipt and a copy of the security footage without hesitation.
By ten that morning, Simone had enough evidence for more than a property dispute. She met me at the county courthouse, where a judge reviewed the trust, the forged consent, Walter’s video, and Grace’s receipt.
The emergency order was signed at 10:47.
Demolition was prohibited. Escrow funds were frozen. All equipment had to remain outside the protected boundary. The sheriff’s office received permission to secure documents connected to the transaction.
Simone closed her folder.
“Now we let Curtis believe tomorrow is still his celebration.”
I looked at her.
May you like
“You want him to arrive at the property?”
“I want every major party in one place when the order is served. The developer, the broker, your mother, Curtis, and the cameras he invited.”
