Chapter 4

4: 4

A few minutes later, two officers came rushing onto the scene.

I went straight at them with my complaint.

"Officers, my sister-in-law's name is Stacy Dickerson."

"She works at that real-estate office on the corner!"

"Please, look into this. She brainwashed my whole family so she could make a sale!"

The lead officer frowned and got on his radio to verify with the station.

Glen had gone pale, and my in-laws were beside themselves, frantic as ants on a hot pan.

"Officer, my sister isn't running any scam!"

Glen argued, sweat pouring down his face.

"This is a family matter!"

A moment later the officer lowered his radio and looked at me with an odd expression.

"Ms. Cobb, we just checked."

"Stacy Dickerson left Prime Living Realty a month ago and moved out of state."

"She hasn't been in contact with the family this whole month."

The words hit me like a bolt out of a clear sky, and I stood there nailed to the spot.

Left her job a month ago?

Living out of state?

I was completely lost, my mind blank.

If it wasn't my sister-in-law behind this, then what was it?

While my thoughts were still a tangled mess, the door was shoved open.

A man in a suit came charging in, out of breath.

"Glen! I've got the buyer's contract!"

"Full payment, all at once, but they're driving the price way down. Hundreds of thousands under market!"

"You sure you want to sell? Sure you want to sign right now?"

"Sign it! I'll sign right now!"

Glen snatched the pen out of the agent's hand.

He didn't so much as glance at the contract, just flipped to the last page and moved to sign.

"You can't sign that!"

I lost it completely and threw myself at him, grabbing his wrist.

"Glen, are you insane!"

"You'd sell off my house for nothing, right in front of the officers!"

"Get off me!"

His eyes were bloodshot. He drove his elbow hard into my shoulder.

I cried out in pain, lost my balance, and hit the floor hard.

As it happened, I'd fallen right underneath the air conditioner.

I struggled to push myself up.

But the moment I lifted my head, my eyes landed, by chance, on the air conditioner's vent.

One look.

Every drop of blood in me froze.

In a flash, a hundred little details snapped together in my mind.

I finally understood.

Understood why they'd do anything to sell the house for a pittance.

Understood why they were so desperate to run for their lives!

I scrambled up off the floor and lurched forward.

I grabbed the lead officer's arm.

I leaned close to his ear and said one sentence, fast, in a voice only the two of us could hear.

The officer's body jerked.

His head snapped around, his sharp eyes locking onto that floor-standing air conditioner.

A few seconds later, his whole expression changed.

He lunged forward and shoved Glen away from the contract.

"Don't sign it!"

The next second, he drew the sidearm at his hip.

The black muzzle swung to cover the few people in the room.

His roar tore through the whole living room.

"Nobody move! Hands on your heads, down on the ground, now!"