Ryan became suspicious when his dog ran into the church and started barking at his father’s coffin. Seeing the dog alert and tense, he opened the casket and was shocked to find it empty.

Earlier, Ryan got out of his car and stood outside the church, not ready to say goodbye to his father. “We couldn’t even give Dad a proper funeral,” he thought sadly. Just then, Bella, his dog, barked loudly and broke his thoughts.

Ryan looked at the car, where Bella seemed more restless than usual.

“Bella!” he said, using a hand signal to tell her to lie down. She obeyed, and he gently patted her head through the window. “Stay here, Bella.”

Then Ryan walked into the church, ignoring her whines. His father’s closed casket was already at the front, and the funeral director had roped off the area because Arnold had died from a contagious illness.

Ryan sat next to his mother, knowing his father would be cremated instead of buried because of how he died.

As the funeral mass ended and people stood to sing, Bella’s barking filled the church. She jumped onto the casket, knocking over the flowers, and barked loudly.

Then Bella sat on the floor in an alert position, staring at Ryan. He immediately felt something was wrong.

“Open the casket!” Ryan shouted.

People gasped, but he didn’t care. He walked up and opened the casket—his father’s body was gone.

“Wh-Where’s my brother?” Ryan’s uncle asked the funeral director in shock.

The shock was too much for Ryan’s mother. She fainted, but Ryan caught her just in time before she hit the floor. He rushed her to the hospital.

Later, at his mom’s house, Ryan called the police.

“The coroner confirmed the cause of death and sent the body to the funeral home,” Detective Bradshaw said. “Was your father involved in anything unusual?”

Ryan hadn’t worked with his dad since starting his own dog training business. Still, he believed his father wouldn’t do anything to harm his or the company’s name.

With no clear leads yet, the detective promised to follow up. But Ryan didn’t want to wait. With his mom staying overnight in the hospital and Bella safe at home, he headed to the morgue to search for answers himself.

“The coroner quit? What about the new one?” Ryan was shocked when the nurse told him there wasn’t a replacement yet. He asked to see his dad’s file, but the nurse said it was against the rules.

Ryan had an idea. He put $1000 on the counter, and the nurse looked the other way while he slipped into the coroner’s office. He searched the shelves for his dad’s file but couldn’t find it—Arnold’s file was missing.

Feeling frustrated, Ryan’s phone buzzed. It was Mr. Stevens, his father’s lawyer. He said Ryan was now the new CEO of Arnold’s company and needed to come in right away.

At the office, Ryan logged into his dad’s Gmail but found the inbox completely empty—someone had deleted all the emails.

“Ryan! Good to see you,” Mr. Stevens said as he walked in and closed the door.

“Who’s been using this computer?” Ryan asked.

“No one,” Stevens replied.

Ryan looked around. “Where are the dancer figurines?” he asked, noticing two were missing.

“Oh, Arnold took them home. He always wanted the third one but couldn’t get it. The owner refused to sell it for less than half a million,” Stevens said.

Ryan knew that wasn’t true. He had been through his parents’ house and hadn’t seen the figurines there.

Stevens changed the subject. He explained the company was in serious debt, and investors were threatening to leave because Arnold had been missing meetings for months.

“It all started when his new secretary joined. To be honest, I think Arnold was romantically involved with her,” Stevens added.

Ryan got angry thinking about how upset his mother was. He wanted to confront his father’s secretary, Miss Pearson, but Mr. Stevens stopped him, saying it would only damage Arnold’s reputation.

Instead, Ryan spent the day working to fix the company’s financial issues and sent gift baskets to the most important investors. Afterward, he followed Miss Pearson and saw her drive into a small house in the suburbs. She was his only clue so far, so he waited outside in his car.

Later, the sound of her garage door woke him up. He saw her drive away toward the city and was about to follow, but then had a better plan. He rushed into her garage just before the door closed and found a way into the house.

He quietly searched the kitchen and found a flashlight so he wouldn’t need to turn on the lights. In her bedroom, he was shocked to find a photo of Miss Pearson kissing his father. Still, he stayed calm and reminded himself he was there to find answers.

After searching the house with no luck, he was about to leave when he noticed a slightly open drawer in the coffee table. Inside was a Manila envelope containing Arnold’s $7 million life insurance policy—naming Miss Pearson as the only person who would receive the money.

Ryan took the document straight to the police.

“This is strong evidence,” said Detective Bradshaw. “I’ll look into this Miss Pearson.”

While Ryan waited at the police station, Detective Bradshaw came rushing in with officers. Miss Pearson had booked a flight to Morocco that was leaving in 30 minutes.

“The U.S. doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Morocco,” she explained, “so we have to stop her before she gets on that plane!”