“Has the victim’s family shown up yet?”
“Seriously? The guy’s been dead for three days and no one in his family even noticed?”
A few officers were chatting nearby. I walked up and gave them my father’s name. They glanced at me sideways, their frowns sharp with quiet judgment.
I handed over the phone number from the ransom call and the photo the kidnappers had sent. I also laid it all out—my father’s gambling, the debts, everything.
The police confirmed it was a murder but said the investigation was ongoing. They told me to go home and wait for updates.
“He’s one cold bastard… got the news and didn’t bother calling the cops or even trying to come up with the ransom…”
The whispers behind me were sharp, but I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore.
Since the case was still under investigation, they wouldn’t release the body for burial. I signed a stack of paperwork and by the time I walked out of the station, night had already fallen.
I took a cab to see my brother.
He’d ended up fully paralyzed after getting beaten over one of Dad’s gambling debts. Aside from being conscious and able to twitch his fingers a little, the rest of his body was useless.