Chapter 9 - LINDA’S FIRST BETRAYAL
Linda had called 911 from a prepaid phone.
She reported Ryan during one of his worst attacks.
Then she panicked.
Instead of protecting me, she contacted Sergeant Mercer.
Mercer owed Ryan money from illegal sports betting.
He erased the call and warned them that another complaint could bring detectives to the apartment.
After that night, Linda became more careful.
She increased the sedatives.
She helped Ryan create the guardianship case.
She did not call because she cared about me.
She called because she feared Ryan had damaged the baby and destroyed their plan.
When confronted with the recording, Linda asked to speak with the prosecutor.
She offered a deal.
She would testify against Ryan in exchange for immunity.
Sarah refused.
Linda lowered her demand.
She asked for reduced charges.
The prosecutor agreed only to listen.
I watched the interview from another room through a video feed.
Linda wore a gray jail uniform.
Without expensive clothes and perfect makeup, she looked smaller.
But she did not look sorry.
“Ryan changed after the gambling started,” she said.
“He became desperate.”
Sarah sat across from her.
“You gave Emily unprescribed sedatives.”
“I was trying to calm her.”
“You falsified statements.”
“Ryan told me she was unstable.”
“You heard him assault her.”
“I tried to stop him.”
The prosecutor played the hallway recording.
Linda’s voice filled the room.
Stop making him angry.
She closed her eyes.
Sarah leaned forward.
“You did not try to stop him.”
“You trained Emily to accept it.”
Linda’s face hardened.
“You don’t understand what my son was facing.”
“Debt?”
“Men threatened him.”
“So you helped him threaten a pregnant woman.”
“She had money.”
The answer came too quickly.
Even Linda realized it.
Sarah remained silent.
Linda continued.
“Emily could have solved everything.”
“All she had to do was transfer the account.”
“It belonged to her.”
“She married Ryan.”
“That did not make him the owner of her body or her money.”
Linda looked toward the camera.
She knew I might be watching.
“Emily always thought she was better than us.”
I stepped closer to the screen.
That was the truth Linda had hidden beneath every excuse.
She hated me.
Not because I harmed her son.
Not because I was unstable.
She hated me because I could say no.
She hated my education.
She hated my father’s respect.
She hated the money my mother left me.
Most of all, she hated that Ryan could not control what belonged to me.
Sarah opened a folder.
“Did Ryan intend to kill Emily?”
Linda looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“Did Dr. Hale discuss an accident?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did you help purchase the insurance policy?”
“No.”
Sarah placed a bank record on the table.
The application fee had been paid from Linda’s account.
Linda’s composure cracked.
“Ryan said it was temporary.”
“Life insurance is not temporary when the insured person is murdered.”
“I never agreed to murder.”
“But you agreed to everything leading toward it.”
Linda began crying.
For months, she had mocked my tears.
Now she used her own as a weapon.
Sarah did not react.
Linda finally admitted that Ryan planned to move me from the hospital after delivery.
She claimed he never told her what would happen afterward.
She also revealed that Sergeant Mercer had promised to change police records and delay any investigation.
In exchange, Ryan would erase Mercer’s gambling debt after receiving the insurance money.
Mercer was arrested before sunset.
His arrest became public.
The news coverage changed immediately.
Reporters who had questioned my father now focused on police corruption.
Ryan’s attorney withdrew from the television interviews.
The court revoked any chance of bond.
For the first time, the case seemed impossible for him to escape.
Then Sarah received a message from the jail.
Ryan wanted to speak with me.
He claimed he would confess to everything.
But only if I came alone.
Dad refused before Sarah finished explaining.
“No.”
Sarah agreed.
“We would never allow a private meeting.”
Ryan sent a second message.
He said he knew something about my mother’s death.
Something my father had hidden from me for twenty years.
May you like
I looked at Dad.
The color disappeared from his face.
