I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 54
Jeffrey surrendered his phone and access cards the moment investigators arrived. He had not visited the research hospital in years, and security footage placed him at Smith Group during the theft. His credentials had been copied like so many identities before them.
The laboratory camera showed a man wearing a mask and Jeffrey’s employee badge. He moved directly to the correct freezer without consulting records, indicating inside knowledge of the research collection.
Mrs. Smith identified his posture as belonging to Chad Ellis, a former Smith bodyguard dismissed after helping Coco evade security during the early family conflict. Chad had disappeared before police questioned him about the arson.
Coco admitted paying Chad to follow Raina and Theo near the food stand. She denied asking him to enter laboratories, but recalled that he often offered solutions more extreme than her instructions.
Financial records showed Grace had begun paying Chad after Coco dismissed him. He became another participant who moved from one resentful employer to the next while preserving access to the Smith household.
Joshua traced his vehicle to an abandoned medical warehouse. Officers found the stolen sample container but no blood vial. Chad had already delivered it elsewhere.
A message on his discarded phone instructed him to bring the vial to Grace’s attorney. The lawyer denied involvement and produced office footage showing Chad leave after realizing Grace was in custody and unable to pay.
Chad contacted Jeffrey directly, demanding money in exchange for the sample. He threatened to destroy it if police approached. Jeffrey wanted to make the payment, but Raina warned that paying privately would repeat the secrecy that sustained every earlier crime.
They arranged a controlled exchange at the Smith mansion. Jeffrey would appear alone in the study while officers monitored adjoining rooms. Raina remained with the command team rather than becoming visible bait.
Chad entered through a service door he still knew how to bypass. He placed a refrigerated case on Jeffrey’s desk and demanded cash plus transport out of Brookfield.
Jeffrey asked why he had helped Grace. Chad answered that loyalty never paid as well as secrets. The response finally stripped away every excuse Coco once used to treat him as a protector.
When Jeffrey opened the case, it contained only ice and an empty holder. Chad had hidden the vial elsewhere to preserve leverage. Police could arrest him, but doing so would not recover the evidence.
Raina spoke through the study intercom and offered no bargain. She told Chad the sample would become useless once the court authorized alternative methods to access Grace’s archive. His leverage was already losing value.
Chad panicked and called an accomplice, ordering the vial moved. Luke traced the active call to a storage locker across town. Officers recovered the sample before the accomplice arrived.
Joshua arrested Chad inside the mansion. Jeffrey watched his former employee leave in handcuffs and admitted that convenience had guided too many hiring decisions. Trust without oversight had repeatedly endangered both daughters.
The court approved limited use of the preserved sample. Independent specialists created the biometric key under recorded supervision, preventing any family or company from controlling the process.
The remaining archive opened. Most files documented Grace’s clients, but one folder contained letters written by Jeffrey’s mother after Raina’s birth. She had noticed discrepancies in the hospital wristbands and questioned Grace.
Grace convinced her the concern came from medication and later monitored her correspondence. The grandmother continued investigating privately, leaving coded notes among ordinary family recipes.
Mrs. Smith retrieved the old recipe book from the mansion kitchen. Numbers written beside ingredients matched dates and archive references, forming an index to evidence Grace had never found.
The final entry pointed to a bank vault opened in Raina’s childhood name. According to the note, it contained “the truth to give her when she is old enough to choose her family.”