The Shocking Truth Book 1
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 10
21 September
Tom’s head jerked up after hearing the FBI, and he cussed some more. Alex could barely keep the grin off his face as he knew Tom would try to run from reading his mind. Tom took off running through the house, although Alex knew he didn’t have a chance since Tom wasn’t in shape. While he had run track in college, it had been many years ago, and since then, Tom had done little exercise.
As soon as Tom left his study, Alex entered. He had ducked when his father ran by, so he was overlooked. Alex unlocked Tom’s computer and quickly transferred all the funds he had been working on to accounts Alex had set up earlier in the day. After the heat died, Alex would start combining accounts. It only took a few moments to drain all of Tom’s accounts. Alex also saved the routing information to trace the payments in and out later.
After the accounts were drained, Alex ensured the computer would stay unlocked. He wanted to ensure the FBI could easily find proof of what his father had been up to. Next up was the safe. The funny thing from Alex’s point of view was that Tom had succeeded in unlocking the safe during his last try, but didn’t realize it because the FBI knocked just as he stopped at the last number.
Alex knew he had to avoid leaving prints and be quick. He heard the FBI take his father down. Thankfully for Alex, it took all four agents to wrestle his father to the ground and cuff him. It didn’t help the police when Erin arrived home after spending the day with Elizabeth in rehab and began arguing with the agents. Alex smiled at his mother’s words, but he knew she wouldn’t be able to prevent the agents from searching the house.
Focusing on the door, Alex gently pulled. At first, nothing happened, but then Alex noticed that the power indicator in his heads-up display had increased, indicating that all the power plants were running at full capacity. He could feel the power running through him; he just had to figure out how to harness it. Telekinesis was something Alex had never tried before.
With his power plants at full capacity, Alex refocused on the safe door and pulled. This time, the door slowly opened, and Alex felt like dancing. Telekinesis was something he had wanted to experiment with, but hadn’t found the time.
Seeing the safe open, Alex’s jaw dropped. His father had amassed a substantial amounts of cash, gold, and jewels. Additionally, there was a .45 ACP pistol with a shoulder holster. When Alex later checked, there were no serial numbers on it. They were not filed off; there had never been numbers stamped on the gun.
Alex grabbed a nearby duffel bag and quickly dumped the cash, gold, and jewels into it. The handgun and spare magazines were stuffed into one of his pockets. Once Alex had taken everything he wanted, he left the rest of the evidence and closed the door with his telekinesis. Using telekinesis, Alex avoided leaving prints.
With the loot, Alex slipped out and headed to his room. He wasn’t dumb enough to hide the bag and gun there, but he could get to a good hiding place from there. Years before, Alex had learned of a secret room below his closet. While Alex didn’t know why the room was there, he did know there was no other access to it, and it didn’t appear on the house’s prints. This was the first time Alex was glad to have a room on the ground floor at the back of the house.
Alex opened the passageway and crawled down. While opening the passageway, he heard the FBI agents had finally gotten past his mother and were headed to his father’s office. Knowing he would have to work quickly, Alex shoved the bag and gun into the room before backing out and closing the passageway.
Standing up, Alex brushed himself off before stretching out on his bed with earbuds. This way, he could use the excuse that he had never heard the FBI enter. Since his room was at the back of the house and had several closed doors between him and the front door, he figured the agents would believe him without issue.
Alex watched the agents through their signatures. He was surprised they didn’t clear the rest of the house; instead, they headed straight to Tom’s study. The agents worked in the study for several hours, looking for evidence of Tom’s criminal activities. Alex knew they would find what they needed, as he had left evidence in the safe and had the computer unlocked.
After they went through Tom’s study, the agents finally began searching the rest of the house. Alex was disappointed with the agent’s behavior and swore he would never send tips to the FBI again. It was like amateur hour. Even if the FBI bungled the evidence collection, Alex figured one of his father’s criminal partners would take care of him in prison. After all, dead men tell no tales.
“FBI.” A woman’s voice reached Alex. He looked up to see a younger female agent standing at his door. Alex removed his earbuds.
“Hello, who are you?”
“I’m Agent Samantha Garland of the FBI.”
“Alex Armstrong. What can I do for you?”
“Can you answer some questions?”
“Shouldn’t one of my parents be present?”
“Do you have a reason they should be?” Alex smiled.
“Is anything you get from me even legal? No guardian present when questioning a minor. I can imagine any competent defense lawyer getting the whole thing thrown out.” This time, it was Samantha who smiled.
“You sound a bit like a lawyer.”
“Have you met my mother?” Samantha cringed. “It might be better if you hold off on questioning me. I highly doubt I can tell you anything anyway.”
“Oh, I’m willing to bet my next paycheck that isn’t true. The youngest child as small as you are. You would be easy to overlook during sensitive conversations. I know I was at your age. I didn’t hit my growth spurt until I was 16. Also, I’m not much older than you, so I still remember how much more I knew than adults thought I did.” Alex smiled.
“I think you and I are going to get along fabulously. What can I help with?”
“Have you seen any strangers around in the last few days?”
“Sorry, I just got home from the hospital yesterday. I was struck by lightning and spent a couple of weeks stuck in bed.”
“Ouch. You okay now?”
“Yep. Shockingly so.” Samantha cringed.
“Tip for you later in life: don’t try being a stand-up comedian.”
“That bad?”
“Worse.” Samantha’s eyes hardened. “Let’s stop clowning around, shall we. We received a tip stating that your father was involved in some very unsavory activities. We raided his college office and found enough there to lock him away for twenty years. The man is a creep, a pervert, and a general crook. There’s also evidence of more serious activities. What we didn’t find was the funding for his activities. When we came here, we found his safe unlocked and found more evidence, but there were still no funds.”
“Did you think about looking into offshore banks or cryptocurrencies?”
“The thing is that most of the activities he was involved in are notorious for only taking cash or gold.”
“Then he probably moved it out when he heard about his office being raided.”
“He swears it was in his safe.”
“Yeah, trust a criminal. Did he say which safe? Bastard probably moved it, but now he refuses to tell you because he thinks he will get out sooner rather than later. Once he’s out, he can grab his cash and run.”
Samantha looked at Alex. She felt he was hiding something, but knew if she pushed too hard, he would clam up and demand legal representation. With his mother’s reputation, Samantha knew she would never get to talk to Alex again.
“Can you think of someone who would help hide his cash?”
“My sister.”
“Do you know where she is? I would like to talk to her.”
“Rehab. She was found this morning OD’d on thrill.” Samantha cringed again. People were dying all over from that drug, and the DEA couldn’t find the source. Often, the drug wasn’t mixed until it was at the final dealer. Until then, it was only single drugs, not the super killer. It was worse when the dealers tried to stretch their profit by mixing in fillers. The fillers were sometimes deadlier than the drugs.