Daniel stared at the photograph as though it had reached through eleven years and put a hand around his throat.
“That car belonged to my father,” he repeated.
Mara held the photograph closer to the weak overhead light. The image was grainy, taken from far across the road, but the vehicle was unmistakable. Daniel had shown her old photographs of his father's car before. Dark sedan. Distinctive rear lights. Small dent beneath the left taillight. The same dent appeared in the photograph.
Her mother stepped forward. “Your father told me never to show this to anyone.”
Mara looked at her. “You knew this existed?”
“I knew there was a photograph. I didn't know where your father had hidden it.”
Daniel reached for the picture but stopped before touching it. “Why would my father be there?”
“Because he was following yours,” Elena said.
Daniel's face tightened. “You said they were investigating Bellweather together.”
“They were.”
“Then why were they following each other?”
Elena looked at the steel box. “Because they stopped trusting each other.”
The answer left a silence behind it.
Mara placed the photograph on the floor beside the open box. She picked up the ledger and began turning pages more carefully. Her father's handwriting filled most of the columns, but several entries had been written by another hand. She recognized it immediately.
Daniel did too.
“That is my father's handwriting,” he said.
Mara pointed to a date.
“The night Dad died.”
Beside it were three words.
TRANSFER COMPLETE. SUBJECT PRESENT.
Daniel leaned closer. “Subject?”
Mara turned another page.
There was a second entry from the same night.
MARA — SAFE.
Her mother made a small sound.
Mara looked up sharply. “What does that mean?”
Elena's eyes filled.
“That was the night your father realized someone was watching you.”
“I was nine.”
“Yes.”
“Why would anyone care about me?”
“Because your father had copied evidence and hidden it somewhere they couldn't find.”
“Where?”
Elena looked toward the steel box.
“With you.”
Mara shook her head. “I don't understand.”
“You had something your father needed to protect.”
“What?”
Elena swallowed.
“A key.”
Mara touched the silver key still lying beside her.
“This?”
“No.”
Elena pointed to the photograph.
“Another one.”
Daniel suddenly spoke. “The brass key.”
Mara looked at him.
“The one from the storage unit?”
He nodded.
“It wasn't for seventeen.”
Elena shook her head. “No.”
Mara felt a chill move across her arms.
“Then what does it open?”
Elena looked at Daniel.
His expression changed.
“Your father's old house.”
Mara stared.
“That house was demolished years ago.”
“Not the house,” Elena said. “The cellar.”
Mara remembered the place.
Her childhood home had stood on a narrow road outside town. After her father's death, Elena had sold it within months. Mara had never been allowed to return. She had always assumed there was nothing left.
Daniel opened the ledger again.
Near the back, he found a rough sketch.
The old house.
A small mark beneath the kitchen.
“There's a cellar under the foundation,” he said.
Mara looked at her mother.
“You never told me.”
“You were a child.”
“I am not a child now.”
“No.”
Elena looked exhausted.
“You aren't.”
A sound came from outside.
Gravel shifted beneath tires.
All three froze.
Daniel turned off the light.
The room fell dark.
Mara heard a vehicle stop near the building.
Then another.
Her mother whispered, “We need to leave.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. If they followed us here, they'll be watching the road.”
Mara looked at the steel box.
“What about the evidence?”
“We take what we can.”
They hurriedly gathered the photographs and papers.
Then Mara noticed something beneath the bottom lining of the box.
A thin envelope had been taped underneath.
She pulled it free.
Her father's handwriting covered the front.
FOR THE PERSON WHO FINDS THIS LAST.
Mara opened it.
Inside was a small photograph of a little boy.
Daniel.
He was perhaps ten years old, standing beside his father.
On the back, her father's handwriting said:
HE DOESN'T KNOW.
Mara looked at Daniel.
He stared at the photograph.
“I remember that day.”
“Why did my father photograph you?”
“I don't know.”
Elena took the photograph from Mara.
Her expression changed.
“He knew Daniel wasn't involved.”
Mara looked between them.
“Then why did he write that letter saying Daniel was there?”
Elena's face went pale.
“I don't know.”
Daniel suddenly noticed something on the back.
“There.”
Beneath the original sentence, almost invisible, was another line.
ADULT DANIEL WILL KNOW WHAT HIS FATHER HID.
Daniel took the photograph.
His fingers trembled.
“My father hid something from me.”
Mara whispered, “What?”
Before he could answer, the metal door of the unit rattled.
Someone outside tried the handle.
Daniel pushed a shelf against the door.
“There's another exit,” Elena said.
They moved toward the back wall.
A loud impact shook the unit.
Someone was forcing the door.
Mara clutched the evidence to her chest.
Daniel grabbed her hand.
This time she didn't pull away.
They escaped through the service passage and reached the alley.
Daniel led them to the car.
As he started the engine, Mara looked back.
A figure emerged from Unit 18.
Even from a distance, she recognized the way he stood.
Her mother did too.
“Victor,” Elena whispered.
Mara stared through the rear window.
The man didn't chase them.
He simply stood beneath the security light and watched.
Then he lifted one hand.
He was holding something.
A photograph.
Mara's photograph.
The one her father had hidden.
The one they had left inside the steel box.
Daniel accelerated into the darkness.
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: Daniel Learns the Man Who Sent Him Toward Mara Was Closer to His Family Than Anyone Had Ever Admitted
She Smiled for the Photograph, Then Noticed the Envelope Hidden Beneath His Hand
Part 5 of 8
