Rain began before they reached the cemetery.
It came lightly at first, then harder, tapping against the windshield as Rowan drove without headlights for part of the road.
Mara sat in the back beside Daniel.
Eli sat in front.
Nobody spoke.
The memory card rested inside a small plastic evidence sleeve in Mara's pocket.
She kept touching it to make sure it was still there.
Daniel noticed.
“You're going to wear a hole through that.”
“I want to know what's on it.”
“So do I.”
“You've known about it?”
“No.”
“Then why did you bring me here?”
“Because Dad once told me that if everything went wrong, I should look beneath his grave marker.”
Mara stared at him.
“You never told me that.”
“I never thought everything would go wrong.”
The cemetery gates appeared through the rain.
Rowan parked behind a line of trees.
They walked between wet headstones.
Daniel moved slowly.
Eli stayed beside him.
Mara walked ahead.
Their father's grave looked exactly as she remembered.
Simple stone.
No elaborate inscription.
Just his name and two dates.
She knelt.
“What now?”
Daniel pointed toward the base.
“Third stone.”
Mara examined the marker.
There was a small metal plate underneath.
She pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Eli crouched.
“Turn it clockwise.”
She did.
A faint click sounded.
A narrow compartment opened.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Mara pulled it out.
Her father's handwriting covered the front.
For Mara and Daniel.
Her hands trembled.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Open it.”
Inside was a single photograph and another note.
The photograph showed their father standing outside the same old garage.
Beside him was Keller.
And behind them stood a younger Rowan.
Mara stared.
“Rowan.”
The detective looked away.
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since before you were born.”
Mara turned toward him.
“Why did you lie?”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Rowan looked at her.
“Because it's true.”
She unfolded the note.
Her father's words were brief.
Keller believes the ledger is the weapon. It is not. The evidence is the weapon. The ledger only tells him where to look.
Mara read the sentence twice.
Daniel understood first.
“The memory card.”
She nodded.
Her father had hidden the evidence somewhere else.
The ledger was bait.
A shadow moved between the trees.
Eli stood immediately.
“Someone's here.”
Rowan drew his weapon.
A figure ran.
Eli chased him.
Mara shouted after him.
He disappeared behind the mausoleum.
A moment later, there was a crash.
Then silence.
Daniel tried to follow.
Mara stopped him.
“No.”
“I can help.”
“You can barely walk.”
Daniel leaned against the grave marker.
“I need to know what happened to Eli.”
Rowan moved toward the mausoleum.
Mara followed.
They found Eli on the ground.
A man had struck him and escaped through the rear gate.
Eli's lip was bleeding.
“You okay?” Mara asked.
He nodded.
“Your father knew Keller would come for the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Eli looked at the envelope.
“Read the last line.”
Mara looked again.
At the bottom of the note, nearly hidden beneath the fold, were five words.
THE WITNESS IS STILL ALIVE.
Daniel went completely still.
“Who?”
Eli looked at him.
“You know.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You do.”
Mara turned to her brother.
“Who?”
Daniel stared at the ground.
“The driver.”
“Harlan?”
Daniel nodded.
“He didn't disappear.”
“Where is he?”
Daniel looked at Rowan.
The detective's face had lost its color.
“He's been in protective custody for seven years.”
Mara stared at Rowan.
“You knew.”
“I knew where he was.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because Keller was searching for him.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“So all these years, we were told Dad died, Harlan vanished, and Keller was gone.”
Rowan said nothing.
Mara's voice became quieter.
“Where is Harlan now?”
Rowan looked toward the cemetery entrance.
“Safe.”
Eli shook his head.
“No.”
Rowan looked at him.
“What?”
“He isn't safe.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Keller wouldn't have sent us here unless he wanted us to find him.”
A phone vibrated.
Everyone looked at Mara.
It was not hers.
It was Rowan's.
He answered.
“Hello?”
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
“Say that again.”
Mara watched his face.
Then he slowly lowered the phone.
“Harlan is gone.”
Daniel whispered.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Mara looked at the grave.
Her father's photograph.
The note.
The memory card.
Everything was connected.
She took out the card.
“We need a computer.”
Rowan looked at her.
“There is one place.”
Eli said, “The house.”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
She remembered the burning rooms.
The broken windows.
The floor.
Her father's warning.
“Not the house.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Then where?”
“The study was destroyed.”
Mara looked at the photograph of the garage.
“But the garage wasn't.”
Eli understood.
“The old garage has a terminal.”
Rowan nodded.
“There was one.”
“Then let's go.”
They returned before dawn.
The garage remained sealed by police tape.
Inside, the workbench was exactly where they had left it.
Mara inserted the memory card.
A folder appeared.
Only one file.
She clicked it.
The screen went black.
Then her father's face appeared.
He was sitting in a room Mara had never seen.
His expression was exhausted.
“If you're watching this,” he said, “Keller has found the ledger.”
Mara leaned closer.
Her father continued.
“But Keller is not the person who betrayed me.”
Daniel looked at her.
The recording continued.
“The person who helped him is someone you already trust.”
The video ended.
Mara stared at the blank screen.
No one moved.
Then Rowan's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
It showed no number.
He answered.
A man's voice said one sentence.
“You should have left the children alone, Rowan.”
Rowan closed his eyes.
Mara watched him.
“You're the one who betrayed him.”
Rowan did not deny it.
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: Rowan Finally Admitted What He Had Done, but His Confession Revealed a Final Betrayal That Put Daniel Directly in Keller’s Hands
By the Time Mara Reached the Porch, the Fire Had Already Taken the One Thing Her Brother Was Trying to Protect
Part 6 of 16
