Chapter 6 - The Great Escape
Panic surged through my chest as the smell of gas grew increasingly overwhelming.
I realized Ryan wanted a convenient accident to cover his tracks in case I ever made it back.
I had to get my children out before a single spark from the old furnace ignited the entire room.
I remembered an old coal chute hidden behind a stack of rotting cardboard boxes near the ceiling.
I quietly tore the heavy boxes away, desperate to reach the rusted iron hatch.
I climbed onto an old wooden table and pried the rusted iron latch open with bleeding fingers.
I pushed my son up the narrow, dirty chute, followed quickly by my terrified daughter.
I squeezed through the tight space just as the air in the basement became entirely unbreathable.
We collapsed onto the wet grass in the backyard, coughing and gasping for fresh oxygen.
I knew I needed to stop the bank transfer that was scheduled for first thing in the morning.
I could not go to the local police because the chief was actively participating in the fraud.
I pulled out my phone and called my late husband's best friend, a state detective named Marcus.
Marcus answered on the first ring, and I quickly explained the desperate situation.
He promised to meet me at a diner near the bank and run a background check on the buyer.
When we met, Marcus looked at me with a grim and terrifying expression.
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He handed me a classified police file with a photograph of Ryan's new girlfriend.
The buyer was not a wealthy investor, but a professional con artist wanted in three different states.
