For several seconds nobody spoke. Mara stared at the photograph until the edges blurred. Jonah stood exactly where she had seen him last Thursday evening, near the old dock, wearing the dark jacket she remembered. His expression was serious. One hand held a folder. The other rested on the shoulder of the person standing beside him.
Mara recognized the second man.
Her father.
Not as he had looked near the end of his life, thin and exhausted after years of illness, but as he had appeared in the old photographs from the tunnel. Younger. Stronger. His hair still dark. His face turned toward the camera.
Dead for twelve years.
Mara's knees nearly gave way.
“No.”
The stranger held the photograph steady.
“I knew you'd say that.”
“That picture is fake.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Mercer stepped forward.
“Give me the photograph.”
The stranger did not move.
“Not yet.”
“You're surrounded.”
The man gave a faint smile.
“No, Detective. You're standing inside a room designed by people who understood exactly how to make a police officer feel safe while being completely exposed.”
Mercer glanced toward the passage.
Elias looked sick.
Mara barely heard them.
Her eyes remained fixed on the image.
“Where is Jonah?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Close.”
“Then take me to him.”
The man studied her.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you want the truth or the version that lets you sleep tonight.”
Mara stepped toward him.
“I haven't slept properly in twelve years.”
The man's expression changed.
For the first time, something like sympathy crossed his face.
“Then perhaps you're ready.”
Mercer moved between them.
“Start explaining.”
The man looked at him.
“Your investigation began too late.”
“What investigation?”
“The one concerning Jonah Reed.”
Mercer frowned.
“We didn't know Jonah was investigating this property until three days ago.”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew his name.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he had contact with Mara.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew someone was watching this cottage.”
Mercer said nothing.
Mara turned sharply.
“You did know.”
Mercer looked at her.
“I knew Jonah was in danger.”
“When?”
“Before he came here.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I couldn't prove who was after him.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I did.”
Mara stared at him.
“You told me to stay away from Jonah.”
“Yes.”
“That's not a warning.”
“It was the only thing I could safely do.”
Elias shook his head.
“You still don't understand.”
Mercer looked at him.
“Then explain.”
Elias pointed toward the photograph.
“That isn't Thomas Vale.”
Mara turned.
“What?”
Elias stepped closer.
“Look at the left hand.”
She did.
The man beside Jonah had his hand resting on Jonah's shoulder.
Mara stared.
Her father's left thumb had been injured when she was a child. He had lost part of the nail after an accident at school. Every photograph she remembered showed the same small scar.
The man in the picture had no scar.
Mara's breathing slowed.
“You're right.”
The stranger smiled.
“Your memory is better than you think.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Adrian Vale.”
Mara's face tightened.
“My father's name was Thomas Vale.”
“Thomas was my brother.”
The room seemed to shift.
Elias whispered, “You never said you had a brother.”
“He wasn't supposed to exist.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had spent years protecting my identity.”
“From whom?”
“From the people who believed I was dead.”
Mercer lowered his weapon slightly.
“Where is Thomas?”
Adrian looked at Mara.
“Dead.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“So the photograph—”
“Is Jonah standing beside me.”
She opened them.
“You said it was Thomas.”
“I let you think that.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know whether you could still recognize your father.”
Mara's anger rose.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone inside the police knew you would be questioned.”
Mercer stiffened.
Adrian continued.
“I needed to know whether that person had already reached you.”
Mara looked at Mercer.
The detective's expression had become unreadable.
“Are you accusing me?” he asked.
“I am telling you that one of your colleagues has been feeding information to the people who wanted Jonah silenced.”
Mercer said nothing.
The second officer shifted uneasily.
Mara noticed.
So did Elias.
“Who?” Mercer asked.
Adrian shook his head.
“You're not ready.”
“I'll decide that.”
“No. You won't.”
Adrian stepped backward.
A metallic click sounded behind them.
Mercer turned.
The steel door had begun closing.
“Move!”
Everyone rushed toward it.
Mara grabbed the edge.
Elias caught her arm.
The door slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed the room.
For several seconds there was only breathing.
Then a light came on.
Not from the lamps.
A small monitor mounted on the wall flickered to life.
Jonah appeared on the screen.
Mara moved toward it.
“Jonah?”
He looked directly into the camera.
“Mara, if you're seeing this, Adrian has found you.”
Mara stopped.
Jonah continued.
“Listen carefully. The person who has been helping you is not the person you think.”
Mercer stared at the screen.
Jonah's face tightened.
“Don't trust anyone who came to the cottage today.”
The recording ended.
Mara slowly turned.
Three men stood in the room with her.
Mercer.
Elias.
The second officer.
Adrian was gone.
A red light began blinking above the steel door.
Elias looked toward it.
“That means the ventilation system is closing.”
Mercer stepped toward him.
“What did Jonah mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Elias shook his head.
“I don't know which of us he meant.”
The second officer raised his weapon.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
Mercer turned.
“Lower that.”
The officer did not.
Mara looked at him.
He was sweating.
“Why are you afraid?”
He swallowed.
“I'm not.”
“You are.”
He glanced at the monitor.
Mara followed his eyes.
Something had appeared beneath Jonah's final message.
A line of text.
A code.
Mara recognized it immediately.
It was the same sequence her father had written on the back of an old photograph when she was a child.
She had never understood it.
Now she did.
It was not a code.
It was a date.
The date her father died.
Mara whispered it aloud.
“October seventeenth.”
Elias looked at her.
“What?”
“That's when my father died.”
Mercer moved closer.
“What does it mean?”
Mara stared at the screen.
“It means Jonah wasn't talking about the future.”
She looked toward the sealed door.
“He was talking about what happened that night.”
A faint sound came through the tunnel.
Three knocks.
Then three more.
Mara's face changed.
“That was the signal my father used.”
Elias stared at her.
“To call you?”
“No.”
She looked at the floor.
“To tell someone the room was compromised.”
Mercer understood.
“Someone is outside.”
The second officer stepped backward.
His face had gone completely pale.
Mara looked at him.
“You know who it is.”
He said nothing.
Mercer slowly raised his weapon again.
“Tell me.”
The officer's hand trembled.
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot exploded in the darkness.
Mara screamed.
When the emergency lights returned, Elias was on the floor.
Blood spread across his jacket.
Mercer stood over him, stunned.
The second officer was gone.
And on the steel door, written in fresh red paint, were six words:
NOW YOU KNOW WHO BETRAYED JONAH.
Click Here to continue read next: PART5: The Wounded Man Knew the Betrayer’s Name, but Before He Could Speak, the Cottage Above Them Began Filling With Smoke
The Police Arrived Before Sunrise, Yet the Woman Already Knew Exactly What They Had Come to Ask Her About
Part 4 of 16
