Mara followed Eli into the farmhouse without speaking.
Noah was asleep upstairs.
The knowledge that another name had suddenly entered their lives made everything feel unstable.
“Who is Daniel?”
Eli sat at the kitchen table.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked at Mara.
“My brother.”
Mara stared.
“You have a brother?”
“I had one.”
“You told me you were an only child.”
“I told you what I wanted you to know.”
The sentence landed harder than any accusation.
Mara sat across from him.
“Is Daniel alive?”
Eli shook his head.
“No.”
“When did he die?”
“He didn't.”
Mara frowned.
“What?”
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Twenty-five years ago.”
Mara looked toward the stairs.
“Why didn't you ever tell me?”
“Because I thought it was over.”
“What happened to him?”
Eli rubbed his hands together.
“He was six.”
Mara felt a chill.
“The child in the letter?”
Eli nodded.
“My parents had another son. Daniel.”
“Why would the letter say if anything happens to the child?”
“Because my father believed someone wanted him.”
“Who?”
Eli looked at the old photograph.
“We never knew.”
Mara picked it up.
“Who's the woman?”
“My mother.”
She looked at the younger Eli.
“You were there.”
“I was.”
“What happened?”
Eli stared at the table.
“My father worked on this farm. He had debts. He also had information about a land deal.”
“What kind of information?”
“Enough to make powerful people angry.”
Mara waited.
“He disappeared first.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“Two weeks later.”
“Taken?”
“We don't know.”
Mara looked at the letter.
“And this?”
“My mother wrote it before she died.”
“Why was it hidden here?”
“I don't know.”
Mara stood.
“You're going to show me beneath the floorboards.”
Eli looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because the letter told us to.”
They returned to the barn.
The floorboards were old.
Mara noticed one section that looked different.
A newer nail.
Eli removed it.
The board lifted.
Beneath it was a narrow cavity.
Inside was a wooden box.
Mara's heart beat faster.
Eli pulled it out.
The box contained documents.
Property records.
Letters.
A photograph of a young boy.
Daniel.
Mara stared.
“He looked like you.”
“He was my brother.”
There was another photograph.
Daniel standing beside an older man.
Eli looked at it.
“That isn't my father.”
“Who is it?”
“I don't know.”
The investigator later identified the man as a former farm employee.
His name was Walter Reed.
He had died years ago.
But his connection to Daniel remained unclear.
Mara found another letter.
This one was newer.
The handwriting was different.
It contained an address.
And a warning.
Do not trust the man who says he came to help.
Mara looked at Eli.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don't.”
She held up the photograph.
“Then we're going to find out.”
The sheriff returned that afternoon.
Mara told him everything.
He examined the documents.
The sheriff's expression changed when he saw Daniel's photograph.
“I know this case.”
Mara stared.
“You do?”
“Old missing-child case. It was never solved.”
Eli looked stunned.
“You knew?”
“I was a deputy when I started.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know the connection until now.”
The sheriff asked where the documents came from.
“Under the barn.”
He examined them carefully.
One document showed a property transfer.
Another listed a bank account.
The account had been active long after Daniel disappeared.
Mara frowned.
“Could someone have used his name?”
“Yes.”
The sheriff pointed to the signature.
“This doesn't look like a child's signature.”
Eli stared.
“Who had access?”
“My father.”
“Anyone else?”
“Walter.”
The sheriff nodded.
“We need to trace the records.”
That evening, a vehicle stopped at the end of the driveway.
Mara saw it through the window.
An older man stepped out.
He raised his hands.
“I came to talk.”
The sheriff immediately moved outside.
“Stay where you are.”
The man stopped.
He identified himself as Thomas Reed.
Walter's son.
Mara watched from the window.
Thomas said he had information about Daniel.
The sheriff brought him inside under controlled circumstances.
Thomas looked at Eli.
“You finally found the box.”
Eli stared.
“How do you know about it?”
“My father told me.”
“What did he tell you?”
Thomas sat down.
“He said Daniel wasn't taken.”
Mara's heart stopped.
“Then what happened?”
“He was hidden.”
“By whom?”
Thomas looked at Eli.
“Your father.”
Eli stood.
“Why?”
“Because someone was looking for him.”
“Who?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Mara looked at him.
“Then why did you come here?”
“Because I found something.”
He reached into his coat.
The sheriff stopped him.
“Slowly.”
Thomas removed a photograph.
It showed a young boy standing beside a woman.
Daniel.
The woman was not Eli's mother.
Mara recognized her from the old photograph in the box.
She looked at Eli.
“Who is she?”
Eli stared.
“My aunt.”
Thomas nodded.
“She took Daniel.”
“Where?”
“Another farm.”
“Which one?”
Thomas gave an address.
The sheriff recognized it.
“That property was sold fifteen years ago.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Someone still lives there.”
Mara felt the room close around her.
“Who?”
Thomas looked at her.
“I don't know.”
Then Noah cried upstairs.
Everyone turned.
Mara ran.
The bedroom was empty.
The crib was empty.
The window was open.
Click Here to continue read next: PART4: Noah Vanished From a Locked Bedroom, and the Search Led Mara to an Abandoned Farm Where an Old Family Secret Finally Began to Make Sense
She Thought the Quiet Baby Was Finally Resting Until One Small Detail Made Her Turn Around and Realize Something Was Terribly Wrong
Part 3 of 8
