The memory card contained forty-seven files.
Most were photographs.
Some were short audio recordings.
One folder was encrypted.
The police officer sat at Thomas's computer while Evelyn stood behind him.
Adrian remained near the doorway.
Claire had stopped crying.
Martin had stopped speaking.
Nobody wanted to admit how much they were afraid of what might be found.
The first photographs showed Thomas's office.
His desk.
His filing cabinets.
The back door.
The hallway.
Then came photographs of people.
Martin entering the office.
Martin leaving.
A man Evelyn did not recognize.
Adrian.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
There were six photographs of her son.
Taken from a distance.
At a restaurant.
Outside the office.
In the driveway.
One showed Adrian standing beside a black car she had never seen before.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Why was Dad taking pictures of me?”
Nobody answered.
The officer opened the first audio file.
Static filled the room.
Then Thomas's voice.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I don't know how long I have before they realize I've found the records.”
Her breath caught.
The recording continued.
“The accounts have been altered for eighteen months. Money is leaving through companies that don't exist. Martin knows about some of it.”
Martin lowered his head.
Adrian looked at him.
“You said you didn't do anything.”
“I didn't know all of it.”
Thomas's recording continued.
“Someone inside my family has also been contacted. I don't know whether they're involved willingly.”
Evelyn opened her eyes.
The room was silent.
The recording ended.
Another file began.
Thomas sounded tired.
“Evelyn, if you're hearing this, I'm probably dead or unable to speak for myself.”
She pressed one hand against her mouth.
Adrian looked away.
“I need you to understand something. I don't want you to blame Adrian without proof. He's made mistakes, but mistakes are not the same as betrayal.”
Adrian's eyes filled.
Evelyn looked at him.
The recording continued.
“If anyone tells you Adrian took the blue folder, don't believe them.”
Adrian whispered, “Dad.”
The officer paused the recording.
Everyone looked at him.
He asked, “Do you want to continue?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Yes.”
The recording resumed.
“The blue folder contains copies of transactions and one letter. The letter matters more than the money.”
Static.
Then Thomas spoke again.
“Evelyn, I should have told you years ago.”
A long pause.
“There is something about Adrian's birth that I never explained.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“What?”
The recording continued.
“His biological father—”
The audio cut off.
The room became painfully still.
The officer checked the file.
“It ends there.”
Adrian turned toward his mother.
“What was he going to say?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You knew something.”
“No.”
“Then why did you look like that?”
“Because I didn't know.”
He stepped closer.
“Did you know Dad wasn't my father?”
“No.”
“Did you ever suspect?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I suspected nothing.”
Adrian turned away.
Claire approached him.
He stepped back.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
Martin looked exhausted.
“You should leave this alone.”
Adrian turned sharply.
“You don't get to tell me what to do.”
Martin's voice softened.
“Your father wanted to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From the truth.”
“Then tell me.”
Martin looked at Evelyn.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas never told me the whole story.”
Evelyn studied him.
“You knew enough to be afraid.”
Martin said nothing.
The officer opened another file.
This one contained a photograph of a handwritten letter.
The image was blurred.
Only one sentence was readable.
I paid him because I thought he was my son.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Evelyn felt the blood leave her face.
Claire whispered, “Oh God.”
Adrian stepped backward.
“No.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“No.”
She moved toward him.
“Adrian.”
“Don't.”
“You're my son.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“You are my son.”
“Is he my father?”
She could not answer.
Not because she knew.
Because she didn't.
And somehow that was worse.
The police officer enlarged the image.
More words became visible.
I paid him because I thought he was my son, but the payments continued after I learned the truth.
Adrian looked at Martin.
“What payments?”
Martin closed his eyes.
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“I know there were payments.”
“To whom?”
Martin remained silent.
Adrian moved toward him.
“Who was my biological father?”
Martin's voice dropped.
“Your mother knows.”
Evelyn turned.
“I don't.”
Martin shook his head.
“You don't know the name.”
“What are you saying?”
“Thomas found out.”
“Found out what?”
Martin looked at Adrian.
“That the man who claimed to be your biological father wasn't.”
Adrian stared.
“Then who was?”
Martin didn't answer.
The officer stepped between them.
“Everyone needs to calm down.”
Evelyn looked at the photograph.
There was another clue.
At the bottom of the letter was a date.
Twenty-nine years earlier.
She knew that date.
It was the day Thomas had taken Adrian to the hospital.
The day Evelyn had been told their newborn son had nearly died.
The day Thomas had disappeared for six hours.
She had never understood why.
Now she remembered him returning pale and silent.
She had asked him what happened.
He had kissed the baby's forehead.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
She had believed him.
For twenty-nine years.
Evelyn sat down.
Her hands trembled.
Adrian remained standing.
Claire knelt beside him.
“Whatever this means,” she whispered, “you're still you.”
He looked at her.
“I don't know who that is anymore.”
The officer opened the encrypted folder.
A password prompt appeared.
Three attempts were allowed.
The first failed.
The second failed.
The third attempt would lock the files permanently.
Evelyn looked at the photograph of Thomas.
She remembered something.
Not a word.
A habit.
Whenever Thomas created passwords, he used dates that meant something only to him.
She leaned forward.
“Try the day we met.”
The officer entered it.
The folder opened.
Inside was a single video.
Thomas appeared on the screen.
He was sitting at his desk.
Alive.
Tired.
And looking directly into the camera.
“If this recording is being watched,” he said, “then the person I feared has already made their move.”
Evelyn felt her stomach tighten.
Thomas leaned closer.
“I need Adrian to hear this.”
Adrian stepped toward the screen.
Thomas looked directly at him.
“My son, there is something I owe you.”
The video stopped.
The screen went black.
Then the computer displayed a new message.
FILE DELETED.
The officer stared at it.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
Martin suddenly looked toward the hallway.
Someone had entered the house.
Not through the front door.
A soft click came from behind them.
Everyone turned.
Claire grabbed Adrian's arm.
Evelyn looked toward the glass doors.
The curtains were moving.
But the windows were closed.
On the marble floor beneath the photograph table lay a single wet footprint.
Bare.
Fresh.
And pointed toward the stairs.
Click Here to continue read next: PART4: The Footprint Led Them Toward a Secret Thomas Had Buried for Decades, Forcing Evelyn to Choose Between Protecting Her Son and Revealing Everything
She Had Invited Them Into Her Husband’s House for One Last Goodbye, but the Young Couple Arrived Expecting Something Far More Valuable
Part 3 of 16
