“He said he’d see me Monday.”
Officer Patel leaned forward.
“Why Monday?”
“To talk again.”
Then Ethan added,
“He said the key belonged to Dad.”
I could barely breathe.
“He said you might throw Dad’s stuff away.”
That sentence broke something in me.
I dropped to my knees in front of him.
“Ethan, look at me.”
He did.
“I would never throw away your father’s things. Ever. Do you understand?”
He nodded.
“I kept everything.”
But the uncertainty in his face told me the damage had already been done.
For two weeks, somebody had been teaching my son to doubt me.
Then Officer Patel asked,
“What did the man tell you to call him?”
Ethan answered,
“Uncle Derek.”
The kitchen became completely silent.
Derek.
Ryan’s older brother.
Ethan had met Derek when he was very young.
He wouldn’t have recognized him now.
And Derek clearly had not introduced himself honestly at first.
