Sophie read the five words again.
If I disappear, find Victor.
She looked at her mother.
"You're expecting to disappear?"
Marianne did not answer.
"Mom."
"I don't know."
"That's not what the note says."
Marianne closed the metal case.
"The note was insurance."
"Against what?"
"Against me being wrong."
Sophie held the paper.
"Who is Victor?"
Marianne walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside by one inch.
The street was empty.
"Your father's brother."
Sophie stared.
"My uncle?"
"You've never met him."
"Why?"
"Because I was told he was dead."
"Was he?"
"I don't know."
Sophie looked toward the photograph.
The young man beside her father.
"Is that him?"
Marianne nodded.
"That's Victor."
"Then why did Dad write, 'Don't trust Victor'?"
"Because Victor betrayed him."
"What did he betray him over?"
Marianne sat down.
"The box."
Sophie looked at the metal case.
"What is inside?"
"A recording."
"Of Dad?"
"Yes."
"Then play it."
Marianne shook her head.
"I've never heard it."
"Why keep it?"
"Because your father told me to."
"How did you get it?"
"Victor gave it to me."
Sophie stared.
"You just said Victor betrayed Dad."
"He did."
"Then why would he give you the recording?"
Marianne's eyes filled.
"Because he wanted me to know what had happened."
"That doesn't make sense."
"It didn't then either."
Sophie sat opposite her.
"Tell me everything."
Marianne looked at the clock.
"You may wish you hadn't asked."
"I already wish I had asked twenty years ago."
Marianne lowered her gaze.
Her story began with a business.
Her husband, Daniel, had owned a small construction company. Victor worked with him, handling contracts and finances. The brothers were close at first.
Then Daniel discovered money missing from the company.
He confronted Victor.
Victor denied everything.
Two weeks later, Daniel disappeared.
The police treated it as an unexplained absence.
Marianne believed he had left voluntarily.
Until Victor came to her house.
"He told me Daniel was alive."
Sophie leaned forward.
"What?"
"He said Daniel had found evidence against someone powerful."
"Who?"
"I never knew."
"Then why did Victor say Daniel was alive?"
"Because he wanted something."
"What?"
"The recording."
Sophie looked at the metal case.
"Was the recording evidence?"
"Yes."
"Of what?"
Marianne hesitated.
"Your father meeting someone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Sophie frowned.
"You've had the recording for twenty-eight years."
"I never played it."
"Why?"
"Because Victor told me if I did, Daniel would die."
Sophie stared at her.
"Did you believe him?"
"I believed he was capable of making it happen."
"And Dad?"
Marianne's voice cracked.
"I never saw him again."
Sophie sat silently.
Then she looked at the recorder.
"Let's hear it."
Marianne's hand moved toward the case.
Before she could open it, someone knocked on the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Both women froze.
The knock came again.
Sophie whispered, "Is that him?"
"I don't know."
Marianne motioned for her to stay back.
She approached the door.
"Who is it?"
A man's voice answered.
"Marianne."
Her face went white.
Sophie watched.
"Who?"
Marianne whispered, "Victor."
Sophie stepped forward.
Marianne held up a hand.
"Don't open it."
The voice came again.
"I know Sophie is there."
Sophie felt her stomach tighten.
Marianne looked at her.
"He followed you."
"No."
"You came here tonight."
"So?"
"He knew you would."
The handle moved.
Marianne backed away.
The deadbolt held.
Victor spoke through the door.
"I don't want to hurt either of you."
Sophie whispered, "What do you want?"
"To stop your mother from making a mistake."
Marianne's eyes narrowed.
"You had twenty-eight years to tell the truth."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"By lying?"
"By keeping Daniel's secret."
Sophie looked at the metal case.
"What secret?"
Victor became silent.
Then he said, "Ask your mother why Daniel wasn't in the car."
Marianne's face changed.
Sophie stared.
"What does that mean?"
Victor continued.
"The police report was false."
Marianne closed her eyes.
"Victor, leave."
"Not until you give me the recording."
Sophie moved toward the case.
Marianne grabbed her arm.
"No."
"We need to hear it."
Victor laughed softly through the door.
"You still haven't listened."
Sophie looked at her mother.
"Why?"
Marianne whispered, "Because I was afraid of what I'd hear."
The room seemed to shrink around them.
Then headlights appeared through the curtains.
Another car had arrived.
Victor said, "They're here."
Marianne turned.
"Who?"
Victor's voice hardened.
"The people who killed your father."
The word father made Sophie recoil.
"My father was killed?"
Marianne said nothing.
Victor continued.
"Open the door."
Marianne refused.
A sharp crack sounded from outside.
The front lock shook.
Sophie grabbed the metal case.
Marianne reached for her.
"Run."
"Where?"
"Study."
They rushed through the hallway.
The door behind them splintered.
Sophie entered the study and locked it.
Marianne pushed the desk against the door.
"What are we doing?"
"Buying time."
Sophie opened the case.
The cassette recorder was old but intact.
She inserted the tape.
Her fingers trembled.
Marianne stood behind her.
"Don't."
Sophie pressed play.
Static.
Then Daniel's voice.
"If you're hearing this, something happened to me."
Sophie covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
"I found the missing accounts."
A second voice spoke.
Victor.
"You should have left it alone."
Daniel answered.
"I can't."
"Then they'll come."
"I know."
Sophie looked at her mother.
Marianne was crying silently.
Daniel's voice returned.
"The money isn't the real story."
Static.
"What is?" Victor asked.
Daniel answered.
"They're buying houses."
"Why?"
"Because the houses sit over the old water tunnels."
Sophie frowned.
The recording continued.
"Someone wants the entire neighborhood emptied."
Victor asked, "Who?"
Daniel whispered a name.
The tape distorted.
Sophie leaned closer.
"What did he say?"
Marianne shook her head.
Then Daniel's voice became clear again.
"Whatever happens, don't trust…"
The recording cut off.
The study door shook.
Victor shouted from outside.
"Marianne!"
Sophie stopped the tape.
"There's more."
"There has to be."
The cassette recorder had two sides.
She flipped it.
Pressed play.
This time, Daniel's voice came through almost immediately.
"I lied to Marianne."
Sophie froze.
Marianne whispered, "No."
Daniel continued.
"She thinks I disappeared because I was afraid."
A pause.
"I'm afraid, but not of the people she thinks."
Sophie stared at her mother.
Then the recording revealed a name.
"Victor isn't the man behind this."
Marianne stepped backward.
"What?"
Daniel continued.
"The person controlling the operation is someone inside our family."
The recording ended.
Silence.
Then Sophie heard something behind them.
A floorboard.
She turned.
The study window was open.
A man stood outside on the porch.
Not Victor.
He was older, wearing a dark coat.
He held the missing half of the cassette recorder.
Sophie stared.
Marianne whispered one word.
"Daniel."
Click Here to continue read next: PART3: The Man They Believed Dead Returned With the Missing Half of the Recording, but His First Question Forced Sophie to Doubt Her Mother’s Entire Story
The Daughter Arrived Without Warning, but Her Mother Was Already Packing a Life That Was Supposed to Have Been Left Behind Forever
Part 2 of 16
