PART 2 I called 911 from the doorway of Unit 118. “Three elderly people living in storage units at Lakeside Self Storage on Peach Street. One of them is barely conscious. I need ambulances. More than one.” The old man’s name was Augie Novotny. He was 91. A Korean War veteran. His hands were like ice. He kept trying to sit up and salute when he saw my Coast Guard jacket.

The detectives went to the house on Cherry Street that night.

Tammy tried to tell them it was “a temporary living arrangement.” Buddy tried to say the old people “wanted to be there.”

Then the detectives found the laptop.

Tammy had been running an online ad for six months.

“Affordable Senior Living. Private rooms. Meals included. $1,400 a month.”

She’d found Augie and Fern through the ad. Their families were far away. Augie’s only son had died years ago. Fern’s daughter lived in Arizona and had paid the first three months by check, thinking her mother was in a cozy group home.

Tammy had signed up as the “representative payee” for Augie’s VA pension and Fern’s Social Security. She’d been taking every dollar.

And my mother’s.

That was how they paid for the red truck. And the big TV.

Tammy and Buddy were arrested that night. Elder abuse. Theft. Fraud. Unlawful restraint. The Social Security Administration and the VA opened their own investigations.