“Your stepfather is dead.”
I stopped.
Everything around me went strange.
Not silent.
Just distant.
“What?”
“Richard died this afternoon.”
“How?”
“There’s still an investigation.”
I stared at the house.
Then I noticed another ambulance farther down the street.
Brandon was sitting on the curb.
His hands were cuffed behind him.
“Oh my God.”
I turned back to Officer Miller.
“What happened?”
He led me toward a patrol car away from the crowd.
“Your mother called us shortly before noon.”
“Why?”
“She told dispatch that she believed Richard was going to hurt someone.”
My mouth went dry.
“Who?”
Officer Miller looked at me.
“You.”
I sat down.
“What?”
The world seemed to tilt.
He continued carefully.
“Your mother said she’d found messages on Richard’s phone the night before.”
I couldn’t speak.
“What kind of messages?”
“He’d been communicating with Brandon.”
I looked toward my stepbrother.
“What about?”
Officer Miller hesitated.
