Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

S hane glanced across the interrogation room where Missy Ann Colburn sat, her shoulders slumped, hands resting limply on the table. It was two days after Christmas, and the dark circles under her eyes told him everything he needed to know about the toll this nightmare had taken on her. He approached the table slowly, with the gentleness of a man who understood he was about to ask her to relive a horror she would give anything to forget.

He took a seat, folding his hands together. “Missy Ann,” he started, his voice soft but firm, “I know this is hard, and I’m sorry to bring you in so soon after … everything. But I need your help to make sense of what happened. Is that okay?”

Missy Ann nodded; her gaze fixed on a spot on the table as though she couldn’t bear to look up. “I’ll help however I can,” she whispered.

Shane cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. “We appreciate that. First, during the preliminary investigation, my deputy found your father’s wallet and your mom’s purse. They didn’t look disturbed, and you said you didn’t see anything missing from the home, so it doesn’t appear to be a robbery.”

“I agree. And I’m the one who set my parents up to pay their bills online, and I have their passwords. I checked their accounts this morning and there was nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Okay, good job,” Shane said, taking a note before looking up again. “Let’s talk about your brother, Seth. I know he was a family man, good with the kids. But I also know work can sometimes bring out a different side. Did he have any enemies, anyone who might hold a grudge?”

Missy Ann shook her head slowly. “None that I can think of,” she murmured, eyes still downcast. “Seth … he was a good man, you know? Worked hard. Did everything for his family.”

She hesitated, as if struggling with a memory, then looked up, her expression weary. “He’s great at what he does—home renovations, custom work. People loved his skill, but … sometimes you can’t please everyone.” She took a deep breath, the weight of her words settling in the air. “He’s had a few disputes here and there. Mostly about money. Some went as far as small claims court, but nothing big. Nothing that I thought could ever … lead to this.”

“Do you think you could make a list for me?” Shane asked gently. “Anyone you know of who had issues with Seth? Just for us to look into, even if it seems minor.”

Missy Ann nodded, biting her lip. “Yeah. I can try.”

“Great. Now let’s talk about your sister, Raya, and her boyfriend, Ronnie. What can you tell me about them that you think I should know?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. In my opinion, my parents have babied Raya too much, and it’s why she hasn’t found her lane yet.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Her career. Something she’s passionate about. She’s had a lot of jobs, and, when she got in trouble with her finances, they set that trailer up on the land and basically gave it to her. I told Mom that was just making her more dependent on them. I guess, because she’s the baby, they feel that they have to make sure she’s alright.”

“Sounds like a bit of resentment there,” Shane prodded.

She shook her head. “Nope. Not anymore. I’ll admit, I wish I lived close and had as much free time as Raya so I could do more with Mom. They’re always going shopping or something and sometimes I feel left out.”

Shane wondered just how jealous Missy Ann was of Raya. And maybe even Erin. They were closer geographically to the Colburns, and probably did get a lot of one-on-one time that Missy Ann didn’t get. Could it be a motive for her?

“When they go, does Erin join them?”

“Not usually. She’s too busy with the kids.”

“What about the boyfriend?

“Ronnie? To be honest, I barely know him. He’s come to some dinners and things at Mom and Dad’s, but he doesn’t talk much. He’s a gamer, so he’s always on his phone. But Raya is head over heels for him. They’ve been together about a year or so now, and that’s a record for her, so I guess he’s a decent guy.”

“Did he get along with your parents? Maybe your dad wasn’t happy about him moving in with your sister?”

“If he wasn’t, he didn’t say so. I think Mom was relieved, because it took some pressure off her to make sure Raya was doing okay and was happy. When Ronnie moved in, Mom had a lot more time to herself on the weekends. More time for the kids, too. Oh my God—I just can’t believe she’s gone,” Missy Ann said, sobbing again as a new rush of tears sprinted from her eyes.

Shane pushed the box of tissues closer and gave her a soft smile, hoping it would ease some of the tension. “Thank you, Missy Ann. I know this isn’t easy to think about.” He paused, to let her collect herself, then leaned forward, speaking even more gently. “Can you tell me about your mom? I’ve heard from others that she was … well, a really loved person.”

Missy Ann’s face softened, and a glimmer of warmth flickered in her gaze, though it was tinged with grief. “Everyone loved her,” she said, her voice a little stronger. “She worked at the post office, you know? People looked forward to her mail routes; they’d come out just to chat with her. Sometimes they’d even leave her little notes or cookies, just because they knew she’d brighten their day.”

“She sounds amazing,” Shane said.

She smiled through a fresh wave of tears. “She truly was. She knew everyone by name, remembered their birthdays, their kids’ names. She’d always say that people deserved to feel noticed, to feel like they mattered. And she made them feel that way, especially the ones who lived alone.” Missy Ann let out a soft, broken laugh. “She and I talked every day, sometimes twice. I called her about everything. Mom was my sounding board and has talked me off the ledge more times than I can count. And the kids … I can’t stop thinking about them. They’ve lost so much. Not only Seth and Erin, but my parents were the best grandparents. Always there for them, every birthday, every school play, every little thing. My dad, he … he’d take them fishing, build them little toys in his workshop. They were everything to him.”

Missy Ann’s composure finally shattered, and she covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. Shane sat still, he wanted to reach out, to offer some kind of comfort, but he knew that nothing he could say would take away the pain.

“I’ll be right back,” he said softly, standing and leaving the room. In the breakroom, he grabbed two sodas from the fridge.

As he turned, he almost ran into the sheriff, who eyed him with a hardened expression. “How’s it going in there?” Dawkins asked, his voice edged with frustration. “She got anything?”

Shane exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Slow. She’s grieving. No clear leads yet. But I’ll keep pushing.”

Dawkins’ jaw clenched, and his face hardened. “Well, I called in the GBI. We can’t afford to let this drag on, Shane. This kind of violence, this family ... we need answers, and we need them fast.”

Shane stiffened, feeling a pang of irritation. “The GBI?” he echoed, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. “You think I can’t handle this?”

“It’s not that,” Dawkins replied, though his eyes held a look that Shane couldn’t quite read. “But we owe it to that family to bring in every resource. They deserve justice. Willis Colburn was my friend, and I won’t let this case fall through the cracks just because we are a small county with even smaller resources.”

Shane held back a retort, knowing this wasn’t the time or place to argue. Instead, he gave a tight nod. “I’ll find something, Sheriff. I won’t let you down.”

With that, he returned to the interrogation room, taking a steadying breath as he handed one of the sodas to Missy Ann. She accepted it with a grateful nod, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she tried to compose herself.

“Thank you,” she murmured, opening the can with shaky hands.

Shane cleared his throat, gently steering the conversation in a new direction. “I wanted to ask about your dad,” he said.

Missy Ann’s eyes brightened, a trace of pride softening her grief. “He was the best dad someone could ask for. He never treated me any different than Seth and Raya.”

“What do you mean?”

She reached up and wiped a tear away. “He’s not my biological father, but he was always my dad. I was born before he met Mom, and, when they got married, he adopted me. I don’t remember a time that he wasn’t my dad. He was a good, good man.”

“I heard he was about to retire from Boeing?”

“Yes. Almost forty years as an engineer with them. It was the only place he’d ever worked. He’d talk about it like it was more than a job—a calling, almost. Worked on plans for planes, rockets, all kinds of projects. He was going to retire next spring. Along with Mom. They had so many plans.”

Shane nodded. “Did he ever mention any issues with coworkers? Anyone there he didn’t get along with?”

“No, he loved his job. He made really good friends there.”

“Forty years is a long time, Missy Ann. Everything was perfect all those years? He never came home complaining of anything. That’s sort of hard to believe. Sometimes the good guys get the shortest end of the stick in the workplace.”

Missy Ann thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. “There was one incident, several years back. Dad worked with a man named Greg Chung for years. Well, Chung got arrested and was convicted for espionage, of all things. Turns out he was sending information back to China for something like three decades, if I remember right. He’d shared classified information about the space shuttle, and different military aircraft. It was a big deal. I think he got like twenty years in prison for it or something. But my dad … he never liked him. Said he always seemed sneaky, even before the investigation. My dad wasn’t the type to accuse people, and he’s not one to discriminate against anyone. It was just that he had a bad feeling about that man.”

Shane’s mind raced, the information catching his attention. “Wait—do you know if your dad was the one who reported him? Was he the whistleblower?”

Missy Ann shook her head, a look of regret passing over her face. “I don’t know. He never told us much about it, just that he was relieved when they caught him. My dad is—was—a very patriotic man. He was so angry that someone in his department was a traitor. Someone that close to him, and it had gone on so long before the guy got caught. Made him feel like a fool, and my dad didn’t like no one making him out to be a fool.”

The gravity of her words hung in the air, and Shane felt a chill creep over him. A spy, working closely with her father. It was a stretch, but could this have been revenge? Was Willis the one who’d found him out and reported him? And if he was, could someone from the People’s Republic of China have sent someone to take out the family, years after the fact?

He was never one to buy into conspiracies, but this had to be checked out.

Shane forced himself to keep his tone calm, though his mind was racing. “Did they work closely together, you say?”

“Same department,” Missy Ann replied, her voice a whisper now. “But my dad never trusted him. Even told us once that he thought the man was hiding something, long before anyone else suspected.”

Shane leaned forward, his voice soft. “Missy Ann, I know this is a lot to ask, but if you remember anything—any conversations, something your dad might’ve mentioned about that—that could help us understand who might want to hurt your family, please let me know. It could make all the difference.”

Missy Ann nodded, her face a mask of determination despite the tears shining in her eyes. “I’ll try. I’ll think on it, and I’ll make that list for Seth, too.”

Shane reached out, giving her a reassuring nod. “Thank you, Missy Ann. You’re helping more than you know.”

As he watched her leave, a strange, electric thrill coursed through him—a glimmer of a lead, however tenuous. He knew it was a long shot, but, if there was even a chance this espionage case connected to the murders, he would dig until he found out. Because he wouldn’t let the GBI, or anyone else, step in and solve this case for him. This family deserved justice, and he was determined to be the one to bring it to them.

Now, for the other sister.

Shane watched as Raya Colburn entered the room, moving cautiously, as though every step took all the strength she had. Where Missy Ann had sat with shoulders up, easy to approach with questioning, Raya seemed almost folded into herself, a quiet, reserved presence that contrasted sharply with her sister’s more assertive demeanor. Her gaze fixed on the floor, and, unlike her sister’s polished appearance, Raya, though bigger than Missy Ann, looked worn down, her hair pulled back in a messy bun and her clothes wrinkled, as if she’d just thrown them on without much thought.

He had to assume that Raya was closer, and this had hit her harder emotionally, considering she lived right there next to her parents.

She sat down—a bit timid, glancing around as if she wanted to be anywhere but here. Inwardly, he acknowledged that Raya wasn’t as striking as Missy Ann. She had a more subdued appearance, plain but not unattractive if she put some work into it. He could see that she’d once had a quiet kind of beauty. He sensed she was the type who often faded into the background, a trait he’d learned could sometimes make people very observant. People often said the most around those they didn’t feel compelled to notice. The people who stayed in the corner. With her sister and brother both being successful at business, it probably made her feel less than them. Intimidated, maybe.

“Raya,” he greeted softly, settling into his chair. “Thank you for coming in. I know this is hard, and I’m really sorry for what you’re going through.”

She gave a small nod, barely looking at him. Her voice was soft, almost as if she was afraid to speak too loudly. “I’ll help however I can,” she murmured.

Shane folded his hands on the table, keeping his voice gentle. “I just want to understand more about your parents. Their lives, the people around them. Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to harm them?”

Raya’s gaze finally lifted, her eyes wide with a kind of startled innocence. “No,” she whispered. “I can’t think of anyone. My parents … they were good people. No enemies that I know of.”

He nodded, leaning forward slightly. “Your sister mentioned a situation at your dad’s work. Something about a former coworker involved in espionage. Do you know anything about that?”

She shook her head, looking uncertain. “I remember hearing something about it … years ago. But I don’t remember any details. Dad didn’t like to talk about work stuff around us.”

Shane made a mental note of her response, though he sensed she genuinely didn’t know more. Maybe she was too young at the time. He decided to switch directions. “Your sister also mentioned an uncle,” he said, watching her closely. “Your dad’s brother that he wasn’t on good terms with?”

Raya nodded suddenly, her brow furrowing slightly. “Oh, yeah. Uncle Clyde. She’s right, he and my dad weren’t on the best terms lately.”

Shane arched an eyebrow. “Any idea why?”

She shifted in her seat, a faint hint of embarrassment crossing her face. “I think it was because Uncle Clyde wanted to bring his camper onto the property and live here. Dad told him no. Uncle Clyde pitched a fit and then left in a huff.”

“Why wouldn’t your dad allow it?”

A faint smile, laced with sadness, tugged at her lips. “Dad said if he let one wayward family member move in, they’d all start showing up with campers. He always had this saying, ‘Once you open the door, it’s hard to close it again.’ I guess he thought it was a boundary he had to set.”

“But they let you live on the property,” Shane said.

“Yes, but that was just to give me a head start to save some money. Ronnie and I were planning to move soon. We want a condo, with a pool and a gym.”

She didn’t look like she was a fan of any gym.

“We had an apartment when Ronnie first came, but we didn’t like it there.”

“Oh, which ones? When did you live there?”

She gave him the name and the dates, and he scribbled it down.

“Come to think of it,” Raya said, her finger to her chin, “Uncle Clyde told my Dad that he didn’t deserve to have all that land and should be sharing it.”

“Was the land in the family before your dad?”

“No. He and Mom bought it. My uncle has no stake in it, so I don’t know what he’s talking about. He can be off the wall at times, though.”

Shane considered this, filing it away. Family conflicts, however small, had a way of festering. “I see. Well, about your uncle, I might need to talk to him, just to cover all our bases.”

Raya nodded, though her face remained impassive. “He was sad to hear about Dad. They weren’t speaking, but … Uncle Clyde’s still family.”

Shane let a moment of silence linger, then steered the conversation toward a different topic. “Raya, can you tell me a little about your brother, Seth? What was your relationship like with him? ”

Her expression softened, a nostalgic warmth flickering in her eyes. “We were super close, all through school. He was my best friend for a long time. But after he married Erin and had the kids … well, things changed. We drifted.”

Shane gave her a sympathetic look. “Does that make you sad?”

She shrugged, a hint of defensiveness in her tone. “Not really. I have Ronnie now, and he’s all I need.”

Shane paused, curious about her relationship with this man who’d come into her life from across the country. “How did you meet Ronnie?”

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she looked down at her hands. “It was online. A gaming site. We started talking in the chat, then moved to private messages. Over time … we fell in love.”

He nodded, noting the faint pride in her voice despite her reserved demeanor. “So, he moved here from California?”

“Yeah. We didn’t want to keep doing long-distance, and I didn’t want to leave Georgia. My family’s here,” she replied, glancing away. “He left everything to be with me.”

“And I understand the two of you were planning to get married?” Shane prompted.

Raya’s face fell, and she let out a sigh. “Yeah. We were actually going to elope. We chose Christmas Eve, thinking it would be special … now, I wish we hadn’t picked that day.” Her voice cracked, and she swallowed hard, as if trying to keep her composure. “After everything that happened … we still aren’t married.”

Shane sensed a lingering regret, as though the failed wedding plan was both a point of sadness and guilt for her. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out as planned.”

She nodded, forcing a small, sad smile. “Me, too.”

He let a moment of silence pass before clearing his throat and asking, “One last thing, Raya. Is there anything else you can think of—anything at all—that might be relevant? People, incidents, anything out of the ordinary?”

She shook her head, looking down again. “No … I wish I could help more, but I don’t know anything that would make sense of this. I’m just … so lost.”

Shane gave her a reassuring nod, leaning back in his chair. “You’ve helped a lot, Raya. Thank you for coming in. I’ll walk you out.”

As he watched her leave, he felt a growing sense of urgency. Raya was reserved, but there were threads there—family tensions, a fiancé from out of state, an estranged uncle—that all warranted deeper investigation. And then there was the espionage thread, however tenuous. Shane had a feeling the answers weren’t as far away as they seemed.

But he knew he needed to move fast before the GBI took the case over.