Chapter 3 - The Ghost of David Morgan
The police arrived four minutes later.
Two uniformed officers stepped into the room, followed immediately by a detective in a dark trench coat named Sarah Lin. Detective Lin took one look at Chloe’s face, my bruised arms, and the locked door before taking complete control of the space.
Edric was escorted out into the hallway in handcuffs, though he wasn't officially under arrest yet—only detained while the officers secured the scene and took initial statements.
Dr. Cooper delivered the specimen bag containing the phone and flash drives directly into Detective Lin’s hands.
“There are audio files on those drives,” I told Detective Lin from my hospital bed as a nurse adjusted an IV line in my left arm. “Three months of recordings. You’ll hear him. You’ll hear everything.”
Detective Lin looked down at the plastic bag, her face grim. “We’ll have our digital forensics unit pull the raw data immediately, Miss Morgan. But right now, I need you to tell me about your father.”
I blinked. “My dad? David Morgan?”
“Your stepfather’s attorney just arrived downstairs,” Detective Lin said, pulling a notepad from her coat. “He’s claiming that Edric Kaine is the court-appointed conservator of your father’s estate, and that any recordings made inside the residence without his knowledge are inadmissible due to a non-disclosure clause tied to your father’s firm.”
Brenda let out a small, strangled gasp from the corner armchair where a nurse had forced her to sit.
“That’s a lie!” Brenda cried out, her voice trembling with indignation. “David never gave Edric control of anything! Edric was just David’s junior partner at the accounting firm!”
“He wasn't just a partner, Mom,” Chloe’s voice came soft but clear from the adjacent bed.
We both turned to look at her.
Chloe was sitting up slightly, resting her back against the raised hospital mattress. Despite the dark purple bruising along her collarbone, her eyes were sharp, bright with an intensity I hadn't seen since our father died two years ago.
“What do you mean, Chloe?” I asked.
“Dad knew he was sick six months before he went into the hospital,” Chloe said quietly. “Remember how he used to stay up late in his study, working on those green leather ledgers? He didn't lock them in the office safe, Faye. He locked them in the floor safe beneath the garage workbench.”
Brenda stared at her daughter. “The garage?”
“Dad told me three days before he died,” Chloe continued, her voice growing stronger with every word. “He told me, ‘If Edric ever tries to take the house, look behind the circuit breaker box.’ He knew Edric was embezzling from the firm’s trust clients, Mom. That’s why Dad was killed.”
The room went deathly silent.
Detective Lin leaned forward, her notepad dropping slightly. “Killed? Miss Morgan, your father’s death was ruled a cardiac arrest secondary to natural causes.”
“Edric was the only person in the house when Dad died,” Chloe said, looking straight into the detective’s eyes. “And thirty minutes before Dad’s heart stopped, Edric brought him his evening prescription medication.”
I felt a sudden, terrifying surge of clarity hit me like a physical blow.
All those months after Dad died... Edric marrying our mother within ninety days... moving into our house... isolating us from our friends... checking the mail every single day for communications from the trust attorneys.
It wasn't just about controlling us.
It was about hiding a murder.
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Detective Lin didn't hesitate. She turned to the junior officer standing by the door.
“Call the precinct,” Lin ordered sharply. “I want a search warrant for the Kaine residence on Elm Street immediately. Tell them to secure the garage, the circuit breaker panel, and every document inside that home. Nobody goes in or out—not even the lawyers.”
