Chapter 10: The Boy Who Saw Everything
Chapter 10: The Boy Who Saw Everything
The name on the report didn't make sense.
Mason Carter.
Detective James Morrison read it twice before looking up at Officer Daniel Ruiz.
"There has to be a mistake."
Ruiz shook his head.
"The lab confirmed it twice."
"The fingerprint belongs to Mason Carter."
Lauren's eight-year-old son.
I stared at Morrison.
"Mason has never even touched a gun."
"That's what we're going to find out," he replied.
An hour later, Detective Morrison and Officer Ruiz arrived at Lauren's house.
Lauren answered the door, her face tense.
The moment she saw the detectives, she knew something was wrong.
"Is Bridget okay?"
"She's stable," Morrison said. "May we come in?"
Lauren stepped aside.
Mason was sitting on the living room floor, building a model airplane.
He looked up and smiled.
"Hi, Detective."
Morrison smiled back.
"Hi, buddy."
He crouched to Mason's eye level.
"I need to ask you a couple of questions."
Lauren sat beside her son.
"If he doesn't want to answer—"
"He doesn't have to," Morrison assured her.
Turning back to Mason, he asked gently, "Have you ever seen this before?"
He showed the boy a photograph of the handgun.
Mason's smile disappeared.
His small shoulders stiffened.
"I... I don't like that."
"That's okay."
"Have you ever touched one?"
Mason hesitated.
Then he slowly nodded.
Lauren gasped.
"What?"
"Mason?"
The little boy looked down at the floor.
"I didn't mean to."
Morrison kept his voice calm.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Mason swallowed.
"Mr. Walker showed it to me."
The room went silent.
"Which Mr. Walker?" Morrison asked.
"The older one."
Harold.
Lauren covered her mouth.
"When was this?"
"The day before Grandma Evelyn's party."
"What happened?"
Mason spoke so quietly they had to lean in to hear him.
"Mr. Walker took me into his office."
"He opened a safe."
"He said real men know how to protect their families."
"Then he let me hold the gun."
"Did he tell you not to tell anyone?"
Mason nodded.
"He said it was our secret."
Lauren wrapped her arms around her son, tears filling her eyes.
"You should've told me."
"I was scared."
At St. Andrew's Medical Center, Sarah Chen helped me into a wheelchair for the first time.
"It'll only be for a few minutes," she said.
"We need to see how your body responds."
I looked down at my legs.
They still felt like they belonged to someone else.
Sarah locked the wheelchair in place.
"Ready?"
"No."
She smiled.
"Neither is anyone the first time."
With her help, I shifted into the chair.
The movement sent a sharp pain through my lower back.
I gritted my teeth.
"You okay?"
"I will be."
As Sarah wheeled me toward the rehabilitation gym, Dr. Emily Carter met us in the hallway.
"I have good news."
I searched her face.
"The latest MRI shows less swelling."
Hope flickered inside me.
"Is that enough?"
"It's a start."
She knelt beside the wheelchair.
"I want you to try something."
She gently touched my right foot.
"Focus."
I closed my eyes.
Focused with everything I had.
At first...
Nothing.
Then...
The faintest sensation.
Like a tiny spark.
My big toe twitched.
Just once.
Sarah's eyes widened.
"Did you see that?"
Dr. Carter smiled.
"I certainly did."
Tears streamed down my face.
It wasn't much.
But it was the first movement since the fall.
The first proof that my body hadn't given up.
Neither would I.
Later that evening, Detective Morrison returned to the station.
Officer Ruiz was waiting with another file.
"You need to hear this."
"What now?"
"We pulled Harold Walker's phone records."
Morrison opened the report.
For three weeks before Evelyn Walker's death, Harold had made repeated calls to one number.
The same number.
Over and over.
Registered to...
Miriam Ross.
"So they were working together," Morrison said.
Ruiz nodded.
"It gets worse."
He handed over a second report.
"We subpoenaed Miriam's financial records."
Morrison scanned the documents.
One transfer immediately caught his attention.
Five million dollars.
Sent from a Walker Group shell company.
Three days after Evelyn Walker died.
The payment description contained only two words:
Final Settlement.
Morrison looked up.
"Get a warrant."
"For Miriam Ross?"
"No."
"For both of them."
As Ruiz hurried toward the door, Morrison's phone rang.
It was a patrol officer assigned to watch Tyler's apartment.
"Morrison."
The officer sounded out of breath.
"Detective... Tyler just came back."
"Stay where you are. We're on our way."
"No..."
The officer interrupted.
"That's not the problem."
"What is?"
"He's not alone."
Morrison grabbed his keys.
"Who is with him?"
The officer hesitated.
Then answered.
"A woman matching Miriam Ross's description."
"And they're loading suitcases into a black SUV."
May you like
"They're trying to leave the country."
To Be Continued...
