Chapter 6: After the Door
The street returned to ordinary quiet within minutes of the car leaving.
I locked the front door, reset the exterior alerts, and stood for a moment in the dark hallway listening to the house settle. There was no sense of triumph—only the clean, practical recognition that the most volatile variable had been removed from the immediate board.
I called the second hotel.
My mother answered on the first ring, voice tight with the particular tension of someone who had been waiting for bad news.
“It’s done,” I said. “He’s in custody. You’re safe to stay where you are tonight. We’ll adjust locations again in the morning if needed.”
A long breath moved across the line.
“Did he come to your house?”
“Yes. He brought a gun. He didn’t get the chance to use it.”
Silence stretched for several seconds.
“I keep thinking I should feel relieved,” she said finally. “Mostly I just feel tired.”
“That’s normal. Relief comes later. Right now you only have to rest.”
After the call I sent Ethan a concise confirmation and received a short reply: processing underway, formal interview scheduled for morning, weapons charge already clean on scene possession. I added the new timestamps to the case log, then forced myself to eat something and sleep in short, disciplined intervals.
May you like
The adrenaline would fade.
The paperwork would not.
