Chapter 6 - The Break-In That Took One Thing.
Patricia sounded breathless when Mark answered.
"Someone was in my garage."
Mark put the call on speaker.
Emily sat upright on the couch with Sophie asleep beside her in the bassinet.
"Did you call the police?"
"Of course I called the police."
Patricia's voice shook.
"The side door was open, and the tool case is gone."
Mark looked at Emily.
"Anything else missing?"
"No."
"Not even cash?"
"There wasn't cash in there."
"Power tools?"
"Still there."
"Ryan's new screwdriver set?"
Patricia went quiet.
"That's what I just said."
Mark leaned against the counter.
"Interesting thief."
Patricia snapped.
"Do you think I did this?"
"I think whoever took that case knew exactly what they wanted."
"I am done being treated like a suspect."
Emily spoke for the first time.
"Then help us."
Patricia's tone changed instantly.
"Emily, honey, I am trying."
Emily hated the softness now.
It felt rehearsed.
"Who was in your garage after Ryan fixed the table?"
"I don't know."
"Who knew the tool case was there?"
"Anyone could have seen it."
"Who knew Dad found a broken screwdriver tip in the stroller?"
Patricia stopped speaking.
Emily felt the answer before she heard it.
"Ryan told me."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"Before or after the break-in?"
Another pause.
"Before."
Mark straightened.
"How long before?"
"Maybe an hour."
Emily looked at the clock.
Ryan had left Mark's house at 9:42.
Patricia discovered the open garage shortly after 11:00.
That left more than an hour during which both of them knew the tool kit mattered.
"Where is Ryan now?"
Patricia sounded offended.
"At home."
"With you?"
"No. His apartment."
Mark grabbed his keys.
Emily stood.
"Where are you going?"
"Nowhere near Ryan."
He held up the memory card from Nora's camera.
"I'm putting this somewhere safer."
He drove to his office and locked one copy of the footage in a filing cabinet while uploading another to cloud storage.
Emily stayed with Sophie and tried to sleep.
At 12:06 a.m., the unknown number texted again.
You are making this worse.
Emily did not answer.
At 12:08, another message arrived.
Ask Ryan why he needed the camera off.
Her fingers went numb.
She showed Mark when he returned.
He read the message twice.
"This sender wants you suspicious of Ryan."
"Maybe because Ryan did it."
"Maybe."
"Or maybe because someone wants him blamed."
Mark nodded.
"Exactly."
Emily hated that every answer created two new possibilities.
The next morning, Detective Lena Morales called about the garage break-in.
Patricia had told responding officers that she suspected the theft was connected to "family tension after an accident."
That wording pulled the earlier report into the same file.
Morales asked Emily and Mark to come in.
She listened carefully as they described the stroller, the broken tool tip, Nora's footage, the texts, and Ryan's receipt.
Then she asked a question neither of them had considered.
"Who benefits if this looks intentional?"
Emily frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, you have two competing stories."
Morales tapped her pen against the report.
"Story one is that somebody tampered with the stroller."
She held up a finger.
"Story two is that a normal accident happened, and somebody is planting just enough evidence afterward to make your family turn on itself."
Mark leaned forward.
"You think the screwdriver tip could have been planted?"
"I think evidence is only as useful as its chain of custody."
Emily's stomach sank.
"Dad found it in his garage."
"Which means anyone with access to the stroller before he inspected it could theoretically have put it there."
Mark's face hardened.
"The scratch is real."
"I believe you."
"And the camera was unplugged."
"Also real."
Morales looked at Emily.
"But the why is still missing."
Emily thought of Patricia.
Ryan.
The unknown texter.
The black SUV outside Nora's house.
"What do we do?"
"Nothing dramatic."
Morales slid a business card across the desk.
"Save everything."
"Don't confront anyone alone."
"And if the anonymous sender contacts you again, send it to me immediately."
Emily put the card in her pocket.
As they stood to leave, Morales spoke again.
"One more thing."
Emily turned.
"Your fiancé called this morning."
Her chest tightened.
"Ryan called you?"
Morales nodded.
"He asked whether a parent can request an emergency welfare evaluation of a newborn if he believes the other parent is emotionally unstable."
Emily stopped breathing.
Mark's chair scraped backward.
"He asked what?"
May you like
Morales did not soften it.
"He asked about your fitness as a mother."
