Emily waited until she was alone in the hospital corridor before opening the envelope.
The corridor was quiet except for the wheels of a distant trolley and the muffled voices of nurses behind closed doors.
She looked back through the glass panel.
Margaret stood beside Daniel's bed.
Charles remained near the doorway.
Neither spoke.
Emily slipped one finger beneath the flap.
Inside was a photograph.
Old.
Creased.
The corners were worn almost white.
She pulled it into the light.
At first she did not understand what she was seeing.
It showed a younger Daniel standing outside a brick building.
Beside him was Charles.
But they were not alone.
A third man stood between them.
Emily knew the face.
Her breath stopped.
She had seen it every Christmas in an old framed photograph at her grandparents' house.
Her grandfather.
Thomas Mercer.
The man who had supposedly died before Emily was born.
She turned the photograph over.
On the back, Daniel had written:
SEPTEMBER 14, 2003.
THE NIGHT THEY SAID HE WAS DEAD.
Emily read the sentence twice.
Her hands began to shake.
She searched the envelope again.
There was another item inside.
A bank receipt.
Then a newspaper clipping.
Then a small brass key.
No explanation.
No letter.
Only those three things.
Emily stared at the key.
It was stamped with the number 317.
She immediately thought of the hospital.
Room 317.
She looked down the corridor.
Daniel's room was 317.
Her father's secrets had been sitting beside him for days.
She walked back.
Margaret saw the photograph in her hand.
Her face drained of color.
"Where did you get that?"
Emily held it up.
"Who is the man beside Grandpa?"
Margaret said nothing.
"Mom."
Still nothing.
Emily's voice hardened.
"You told me Grandpa died before I was born."
"He did."
"Then why does Dad's photograph say he was alive the night you said he died?"
Margaret looked toward Daniel.
He had closed his eyes.
Charles moved closer.
"Emily, there are things you don't understand."
"Then explain them."
Charles sighed.
"Not here."
"That's what everyone keeps saying."
Emily held up the bank receipt.
"What is this?"
Charles looked at it.
His expression changed.
"Where did you find that?"
"In Dad's envelope."
Margaret whispered, "Daniel kept it."
"Kept what?"
Charles did not answer.
Emily unfolded the newspaper clipping.
The headline was faded but readable.
LOCAL BUSINESSMAN MISSING AFTER PRIVATE FLIGHT.
Underneath was a photograph of Thomas Mercer.
Emily's knees felt weak.
Her grandfather had not died.
He had disappeared.
Those were not the same thing.
She looked through the glass toward Daniel.
He was awake now.
Watching her.
Emily returned to his bedside.
"Why did you let me believe he was dead?"
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
He could not speak.
Emily sat down.
"You need to tell me."
Daniel reached for the pen on the bedside table.
His fingers could barely hold it.
Emily placed the paper beneath his hand.
He wrote slowly.
NOT DEAD.
HIDDEN.
She looked at the words.
"Hidden by whom?"
Daniel stopped writing.
He looked toward Margaret.
Emily followed his gaze.
Her mother was standing perfectly still.
Charles moved behind her.
Daniel wrote again.
C.
Emily looked at Charles.
"Charles?"
He shook his head.
"No."
Daniel's pen scratched across the paper.
CANNOT SAY HERE.
Emily leaned closer.
"Then where?"
Daniel wrote three numbers.
317.
Emily stared.
"We're already in 317."
Daniel nodded.
Then he pointed toward the wall behind the bed.
Emily frowned.
"What?"
He tapped the mattress twice.
She looked underneath.
There was nothing obvious.
Then she noticed a small seam in the wooden panel behind the bed.
A maintenance panel.
She pulled the bed slightly away from the wall.
Charles stepped forward.
"Emily, don't."
She turned.
"Why?"
Charles looked at Daniel.
Daniel stared back at him.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Charles said quietly, "Because once you open it, you won't be able to pretend this family is what you thought it was."
Emily slid her fingers beneath the panel.
It came loose.
Inside was a narrow metal compartment.
Empty except for a memory card.
Emily stared at it.
Margaret whispered, "Daniel."
He looked at her.
There was no anger in his face.
Only exhaustion.
Margaret stepped closer.
"I didn't know he kept that."
Emily looked at her.
"Who?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"My father."
Emily felt cold.
"Grandpa?"
Margaret nodded.
"He contacted Daniel after everyone believed he was dead."
Charles closed his eyes.
Emily turned toward him.
"You knew?"
"I knew part of it."
"What part?"
Charles said nothing.
Emily's voice rose.
"How long have you known my grandfather was alive?"
Charles finally answered.
"Twenty-three years."
Emily stared at him.
The room seemed suddenly too small.
"Then where is he?"
Charles looked at Daniel.
Daniel's eyes closed.
Margaret whispered the answer.
"He's dead."
Emily looked at her.
"But you just said—"
"He died recently."
"When?"
Margaret swallowed.
"Three weeks ago."
Emily's mind struggled to keep up.
"Three weeks?"
Charles nodded.
"Daniel received a message."
"From Grandpa?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Charles looked toward the corridor.
His voice dropped.
"Someone who wanted Daniel to believe your grandfather was still alive."
Emily looked at the memory card.
"What is on it?"
Charles did not answer.
Daniel raised his hand.
Emily leaned closer.
His voice was barely audible.
"Everything."
She looked at him.
"Everything about what?"
Daniel's eyes moved toward Margaret.
"Her."
Margaret's face crumpled.
Emily stood.
"Mom?"
Margaret backed away.
"I never wanted this."
Daniel turned his head sharply.
Emily stared at her mother.
"You knew."
Margaret began crying.
"I knew enough."
"Enough to lie to me?"
"Enough to keep you alive."
Emily felt the room tilt.
"What does that mean?"
Margaret wiped her face.
"Your grandfather didn't disappear because of money."
She looked at Daniel.
"He disappeared because he was afraid of what your father had discovered."
Emily turned to Daniel.
"What did you discover?"
Daniel reached for her wrist.
His eyes were fixed on the door.
Someone was standing outside.
A nurse.
No.
Not a nurse.
A man in a dark coat.
He looked through the glass for several seconds.
Then walked away.
Emily watched him disappear.
Charles whispered, "We're out of time."
Click Here to continue read next: PART3: The Man Outside the Hospital Is Gone Before Emily Reaches Him, Leaving Her With a Key, a Memory Card, and One Terrifying Name
The Visitor Arrived Carrying Two Expensive Shopping Bags, Yet Her Father Had Asked Everyone to Keep Her Away From His Hospital Room
Part 2 of 16
