At 3 A.M., My Brother Dragged Me Out of My Bedroom While Dad Laughed—He Had No Idea What the Smoke Detector Had Recorded

“You’re destroying this family.”

I stopped.

For years, that sentence would have made me apologize.

Now I looked at the box.

The photographs.

The damaged doorway.

The furniture Aaron kept straightening whenever anyone questioned him.

I wanted to explain that I hadn’t asked him to direct the search.