The Secret in the Garage
The officers exchanged glances and stepped inside. The garage smelled of oil and rust — the familiar scent of George’s trade. But in the corner, beneath a tarp, they found it: an old pickup truck, its driver-side mirror shattered and dark streaks smeared across the bumper.
Mrs. Daniels leaned closer. It wasn’t paint. It was blood.
George’s face went pale as realization dawned. His hands shook as he reached for his cap, unable to speak.
Olivia’s eyes filled with tears. “He hit someone again,” she whispered. “He didn’t tell me what happened. He just came into my room and sat there… breathing hard. Just like last time.”
George clenched his jaw. “I was going to report it. I swear. I just… didn’t know how to explain.”
The silence was suffocating. The truth was neither what the teacher feared nor what anyone expected: George hadn’t harmed his granddaughter — he was hiding a darker secret. He had been involved in multiple hit-and-run accidents.
The revelation shattered the Carter family. George was arrested pending investigation, and Olivia moved in with her aunt in Cleveland. Word spread quickly through the small town. Some neighbors were shocked, insisting George had always been kind. Others whispered that his memory lapses and confusion were early signs of something more — maybe dementia, maybe guilt.
For Olivia, it wasn’t the gossip or the shame that hurt most — it was the betrayal. Her grandfather had been her protector after her parents’ divorce. Now she bore the weight of his secret for the second time — first when she overheard him weeping last year, muttering that he had “almost killed someone,” and now, staring at the bloody evidence in the garage.
