Chapter 4: The Secret My Mother Took to Her Grave
The conference room door shook again.
"Open this door, Robert!"" Detective Collins shouted.
"We know Ethan is inside!""
Robert grabbed a metal chair and wedged it beneath the handle.
"There's a fire exit at the end of the hallway," he whispered.
"Take the stairs. Don't stop until you're outside.""
I clutched the gray folder against my chest.
"What about you?""
"Your father trusted me to protect you. I'm not failing him today.""
Helen Parker pointed toward a narrow door behind the filing cabinets.
"Go through there. It leads to the parking garage.""
I hesitated.
Then Collins slammed his shoulder against the door.
"ETHAN! You have nowhere to go!""
Robert looked at me.
"That's what they told you three years ago. Don't believe them again.""
I slipped through the narrow doorway.
The corridor smelled of dust and cleaning chemicals. I ran past a row of storage closets, pushed through the emergency exit, and descended two flights of concrete stairs.
When I reached the parking garage, I heard footsteps behind me.
"Stop!""
I turned.
A man in a gray jacket was running toward me.
I recognized him from the courtroom.
He had been Collins's assistant during my trial.
I ran.
My shoes slipped on the polished concrete as I rounded a parked SUV. I reached the street just as a delivery truck pulled away from the curb.
I jumped into the passenger side of a rideshare vehicle that had stopped nearby.
"Please, drive!"" I shouted.
The driver stared at me.
"Are you serious?""
"Please!""
He pulled away.
Through the rear window, I watched the man in gray emerge from the garage.
He lifted his phone.
Then he pointed directly at the car.
My phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
*You should have stayed in prison, Ethan.*
I showed the message to the driver.
He glanced at it.
"Man, what kind of trouble are you in?""
I didn't answer.
Because I was beginning to understand something.
My father hadn't simply uncovered financial fraud.
He had uncovered something powerful enough to make a judge, a detective, and possibly someone inside the medical system protect the same secret.
And now they knew I was back.
Robert called twenty minutes later.
"Are you safe?""
"For now. What happened?""
"Collins searched the office. Helen gave him nothing.""
"Did they arrest you?""
"No. But they threatened to charge me with obstruction.""
I closed my eyes.
"Robert, what did Collins mean about my mother?""
There was a long silence.
"Your mother discovered something before she died.""
"What?""
"She believed Vanessa was stealing from your father's company even before the forty-thousand-dollar theft.""
My stomach tightened.
"Why didn't Dad tell me?""
"Because your mother asked him not to involve you. She thought you were too young.""
I looked at the gray folder on my lap.
"Where are you?""
"At the old diner on Roswell Road. Come alone.""
When I arrived, Robert was sitting in a booth near the back.
He had a fresh cut above his eyebrow.
I slid into the seat opposite him.
"What happened?""
"Collins decided that searching my office required putting his hands on me.""
"Did you report him?""
Robert gave a bitter laugh.
"To whom? His friends?""
He ordered coffee for both of us.
Then he removed a yellowed photograph from his jacket.
It showed my mother standing outside our house, holding a thick brown envelope.
I recognized the date written on the back.
Three months before she died.
"Where did you get this?""
"Your father kept it in his desk.""
Robert turned the photograph over.
There was a handwritten message.
If anything happens to me, Ethan must know the truth about the night I found the account.
I read it twice.
"What account?""
Robert leaned forward.
"Your mother discovered an offshore account receiving payments from your father's company. She suspected someone was using the business to move money illegally.""
"Vanessa?""
"She wasn't your father's wife yet. She was his accountant.""
I stared at him.
"She worked for Dad before they got married?""
"Yes. She had access to everything.""
I suddenly remembered something.
My mother had once asked me whether I knew where my father kept his company checkbook.
I had been seventeen.
I told her I didn't.
A few weeks later, she stopped asking questions.
"Did my mother die because of what she discovered?""
Robert looked toward the window.
"Her death was officially ruled an accident. She lost control of her car on a rainy road.""
"Was it an accident?""
"Your father never believed it was.""
My hands tightened around the photograph.
"Why didn't he investigate?""
"He did. But the police found no evidence of another vehicle, and the case was closed.""
I couldn't breathe properly.
For years, I had remembered my mother's funeral as the saddest day of my life.
Now I wondered whether the people responsible had been standing beside me.
Robert pulled out another paper.
It was a handwritten list of names.
At the bottom were three entries.
Vanessa Walker.
Mark Collins.
Harold Whitmore.
And above them, in my father's handwriting, were the words:
The same people who destroyed my family.
I looked up.
"Why is Judge Whitmore on this list?""
Robert lowered his voice.
"Because your mother had evidence that he was receiving money from the same account.""
A waitress approached with our coffee.
Robert waited until she walked away.
Then he placed another photograph on the table.
This one showed my mother standing beside a little girl.
I frowned.
"Who's that?""
Robert's face became strangely serious.
"That's the question your father spent his last weeks trying to answer.""
I looked more closely.
The girl appeared to be around ten years old.
She had dark hair, a small nose, and a familiar smile.
Something about her face unsettled me.
"Where was this taken?""
"At a charity event. Your mother attended it shortly before she died.""
I turned the photograph over.
There was a name written on the back.
*LILY MORGAN.*
I looked at Robert.
"Who is she?""
He didn't answer.
Instead, he opened his briefcase and removed a second envelope.
"Your father left instructions that you should only open this after finding the first storage key.""
I stared at him.
"There's another letter?""
"Yes.""
I broke the seal.
Inside was a single sentence.
Ethan, if you ever discover what happened to your mother, remember that you were never an only child.
My entire body went still.
I looked at Robert.
"What does that mean?""
He took a deep breath.
"Your mother had another daughter.""
Before I could ask another question, my phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar.
I answered.
A young woman's voice spoke quietly.
"Is this Ethan Walker?""
"Yes. Who is this?""
"My name is Lily Morgan.""
I looked at the photograph.
She continued.
"I think we need to talk about your mother.""
May you like
Then she said something that made my heart stop.
"Because Vanessa has been looking for me for twenty years.""
