The night before the grand funeral service, the house was dead silent. Arthur had gone out late to meet with his corporate divorce lawyer and real estate brokers to finalize the transfer of the family land. Tyler knew this was his only chance to find out what had really happened to Sarah. He quietly slipped out of his bedroom, creeping down the carpeted hallway toward Arthur's private study locked at the back of the house.
Using a small hairpin he had picked up from his sister's room, Tyler picked the simple desk lock. The room smelled heavily of cigars and expensive cologne. Tyler searched through the mahogany desk drawers, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. Beneath a stack of property deeds and fraudulent life insurance payout applications, he found a small USB drive and a handwritten note tucked inside an envelope marked with the emblem of a local private security firm.
The note was a receipt for a specialized medical sedative and a high-security transport van. As Tyler read the terrifying words on the paper, he realized Arthur had never sent Sarah to a hospital at all. Arthur had planned to fake her death, clear out the multi-million dollar trust fund, and move her far away out of the country before anyone could file a formal police report or challenge his control over the estate. Tyler gasped, dropping the papers onto the desk as he heard a garage door open outside.
Tyler scrambled out of the study, slipping back into his bedroom just seconds before Arthur walked up the stairs. Tyler hugged his knees in the dark, tears burning his eyes. He knew that calling the local police right then would do no good because Arthur had paid off the local sheriff years ago. Tyler had to expose Arthur publicly, in front of the dozens of high-profile witnesses and city officials who would be attending the memorial service the following day.
Before dawn, Tyler went out to the back shed behind the garage. He reached into the dusty toolbox and pulled out a heavy steel crowbar wrapped in a dark towel. He stuffed it deep inside his oversized backpack, hiding it beneath his red and black hooded sweatshirt. He stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, wiping away his tears, settling his mind on a single goal: he was going to save his sister, no matter what it took.