Linda begged Rachel to say the other packet hadn’t been sent yet. Speaking through the locked storm door, Rachel told her the police already had it.
Derek accused Rachel of trying to destroy his mother’s life. Rachel answered that someone had already destroyed her children’s Halloween, and all she wanted was her property back and the damage paid for.
Linda insisted she thought they were only collecting Derek’s belongings. Derek had told her Rachel was keeping things the divorce gave him and had locked him out.
Rachel corrected her. Derek’s personal items were one thing, but the TV was hers, the console belonged to the kids, and nobody had permission to break in. The locks had only been changed that afternoon, a full day after the door was forced.
Linda admitted that when she saw the broken wood, she knew something was wrong. She had wanted to believe her son anyway.
Derek brushed it all off, claiming they hadn’t taken anything Rachel couldn’t replace. Under pressure, he said the TV was at a friend’s place. When Rachel asked about Lucy’s pumpkin, he rolled his eyes and said he had thrown it away.
For once, Linda didn’t defend him. Rachel reminded her that she had seen the broken door and still helped carry their things out. Linda quietly agreed.
Derek warned that this wasn’t over. Rachel told Linda to have her lawyer contact Denise, and then she closed the door.
How the Halloween Break-In Unraveled Derek’s Lies
A few days later, Detective Cole called about a pawnshop on Westfield Avenue and asked for serial numbers. Mason still had the console box in his closet, so Rachel photographed the number and sent it over.
Within a week, the detective confirmed that pawnshop records connected Derek to both the TV and the console. Rachel never went near the shop and let the police handle it.
That same week, Linda called with a question she clearly didn’t want Derek to hear. She asked whether he had been paying child support.
He had made one partial payment. Linda went silent, then explained that Derek had told her Rachel was taking every dollar he earned. He had convinced her to put a card on her account so he could buy groceries for the kids.
Her statements told a different story: restaurants, bar tabs, and fishing gear, going back months.
Derek walked in mid-call, demanding to know why his card had been declined. Linda told him she had canceled it because of the charges he lied about. When he accused her of taking Rachel’s side, she said she was simply looking at what he had done, and that she would be speaking to a lawyer about his living arrangements.
She hung up on him. That night, Derek called Rachel 11 times. She didn’t answer once.
For Linda, the Halloween break-in was the moment her excuses finally ran out.
A Grandmother’s Hard Admission
The following afternoon, Linda met Rachel at Denise’s office with a folder of credit card statements. Instead of walking through every charge, she looked Rachel in the eye and started talking.
