Chapter 7
Detective Ellison locked the storage facility down.
Nobody was allowed to leave alone.
Officers searched the property.
They checked the surrounding warehouses.
The parking lot.
The road.
They found nothing.
Whoever had taken the photograph was gone.
Mom kept Lily in her arms the entire time.
Even after Lily woke up and complained that she could walk.
Mom wouldn’t put her down.
I understood.
For the first time since coming home, Mom’s fear wasn’t about secrets.
It was about keeping us alive.
At nearly midnight, officers escorted us home.
Sarah came too.
Nobody wanted her driving alone.
The house looked different when we returned.
Not safer.
Just exposed.
I kept looking at windows.
At shadows.
At parked cars.
Ray checked every lock twice.
Detective Ellison stationed a patrol car outside.
Then he sat us all in the living room.
“I need everyone to be completely honest now.”
His eyes moved from Mom to Ray.
“Anything you’ve withheld because it was embarrassing, painful, or seemed unrelated needs to come out.”
Nobody spoke.
I almost laughed.
Honesty had become a foreign language in this family.
Ellison looked at Ray.
“You first.”
Ray rubbed both hands over his face.
“I met Daniel through the Riverside project.”
“We know.”
“I also saw Thomas more than I admitted.”
Mom’s jaw tightened.
“How often?”
“Three or four times.”
“What was he doing?”
“Showing up unannounced. Asking questions. Once I heard him arguing with Daniel.”
“About money?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
Ray looked at me.
“He mentioned Camille.”
My stomach twisted.
“What did he say?”
“He told Daniel he should think about what his daughter would believe if certain photographs appeared online.”
I felt sick.
Dad had been blackmailed with the affair.
Mom asked, “Why didn’t you tell police after Daniel died?”
“I tried.”
Ellison leaned forward.
“How?”
“I went to the station.”
“When?”
“Two days after the funeral.”
“And?”
“I asked for Sergeant Ellison.”
Detective Ellison’s face changed.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He never received the case evidence.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I changed my mind before I saw him.”
Mom stood.
“You what?”
Ray looked ashamed.
“I was scared.”
“You had Daniel’s evidence!”
“I had a wife and a two-year-old son at the time.”
I blinked.
Ray rarely talked about his first marriage.
His son, Jason, was thirty now and lived across the country.
“Thomas found me in the parking lot.”
Ellison’s expression hardened.
“At the police station?”
Ray nodded.
“He knew I had the package.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
“He said if I handed it over, he’d make sure my son grew up without a father.”
Mom’s anger vanished.
Ray looked toward his hands.
“I believed him.”
I couldn’t even blame him completely.
“So you hid it.”
“Yes.”
“Why here?”
“Daniel had once shown me the concealed compartment behind the canvas. He said it was where he kept originals.”
“Then why didn’t Thomas find it?”
“I don’t think he knew.”
Ellison asked, “Why continue paying for the unit?”
Ray looked up sharply.
“I didn’t.”
Everyone went still.
I said, “Then who did?”
He shook his head.
“I assumed Denise did.”
Mom said, “I thought Sarah did.”
Sarah shook her head.
Ellison made a note.
“So someone else has maintained the lease for seven years.”
The room went quiet again.
The detective looked at Sarah.
“Your turn.”
She swallowed.
“I stayed in contact with Rebecca.”
“How much contact?”
“Every few months.”
“Why?”
“Because Lily was family.”
Mom looked away.
Sarah continued.
“Rebecca was afraid Thomas might eventually come after her.”
“Why didn’t she report him?”
“She did once.”
“What happened?”
“He denied everything. She had no proof.”
“What changed recently?”
Sarah hesitated.
“Lily was starting school.”
I frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Rebecca needed her birth certificate.”
My stomach tightened.
“She didn’t have one?”
“She did. But the father’s name was blank.”
I understood instantly.
“She wanted to add Dad.”
Sarah nodded.
“She wanted Lily to have the legal record.”
Mom looked stricken.
“She was going to establish paternity?”
“She already had.”
“What?”
Sarah’s voice became quieter.
“DNA testing.”
I stared at Lily, who was sitting on the rug drawing.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“With who?”
“Daniel’s biological sample.”
Mom stood.
“That’s impossible.”
“Not necessarily,” Ellison said. “Medical records, archived pathology samples—”
Sarah shook her head.
“She didn’t use any of that.”
Every eye turned to her.
“She used Thomas.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“Thomas agreed to a kinship DNA test.”
Mom looked horrified.
“Why would he help her?”
“He wanted money.”
“Of course he did.”
Sarah nodded.
“The test supported that Lily was biologically related to Daniel’s family.”
I watched Lily color a purple flower.
She had no idea we were talking about the proof of who her father was.
“What happened after the test?”
“Rebecca started investigating everything.”
Ellison said, “Why?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Because Thomas said something strange.”
“What?”
“He told her Daniel had known she was pregnant.”
My chest tightened.
“But her letter says he didn’t.”
“Rebecca believed he didn’t.”
“So Thomas was lying?”
“Probably.”
“Why?”
“To upset her. Or manipulate her.”
Mom asked, “What did Rebecca discover?”
“That the storage unit still existed.”
“And then?”
“She came here.”
The timeline was coming together.
Rebecca came to the storage unit.
Found Dad’s evidence.
Thomas followed or met her there.
They fought.
Days later, she died in a car accident.
I looked at Ellison.
“You think Thomas killed her.”
“I think the circumstances deserve investigation.”
“That means yes.”
“It means I don’t guess before evidence.”
I hated that answer.
But I knew it was the right one.
Lily suddenly looked up.
“My mom said Uncle Tommy broke her car.”
Everyone froze.
Ellison turned toward her.
“Lily?”
She kept coloring.
Mom knelt beside her.
“What do you mean?”
“He was mad.”
“When?”
“At our house.”
“Did you see him break something?”
Lily nodded.
“He opened the front of the car.”
“The hood?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He had tools.”
Ellison was completely still.
“When was this?”
Lily shrugged.
“Before Mommy went to heaven.”
Sarah covered her mouth.
Ellison asked gently, “Was it the same day as the accident?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it daytime?”
“Yes.”
“Did your mom know he was touching the car?”
“No.”
I felt cold all over.
Mom whispered, “Oh my God.”
Ellison stood.
“I’m calling the traffic investigator.”
Then Lily said one more thing.
“He told me not to tell.”
The room changed.
The detective crouched.
“Did he threaten you?”
She shook her head.
“He said it was a surprise for Mommy.”
I closed my eyes.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I went upstairs.
I needed air.
Space.
Anything.
But when I entered the white bedroom, I stopped.
Someone had been there.
The window was open.
I knew I had closed it.
On the bare floor sat one object.
A photograph.
Dad and me in front of the original mural.
I hadn’t seen that picture in years.
On the back, someone had written:
HE LIED TO ALL OF YOU.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Mom!”
Footsteps thundered upstairs.
Ray reached me first.
Then Ellison.
He saw the open window.
“Don’t touch anything.”
Mom pulled Lily behind her.
Sarah stood in the hallway.
Ellison moved toward the window.
There were scratches on the frame.
Someone had forced it.
The patrol car had been outside.
Which meant whoever entered had used the back of the house.
Or had been inside before we returned.
Officers searched every room.
The basement.
The attic.
The garage.
Nobody was there.
But in the garage, they found something else.
A small black GPS tracker attached beneath Sarah’s car.
Ellison stared at it.
“That’s how he knew where you were.”
Sarah went pale.
“When did he put that there?”
“We’ll check it for prints.”
Then Mom’s phone rang.
Blocked number.
Nobody moved.
Ellison held out his hand.
“Answer it. Speaker.”
Mom did.
“Hello?”
Thomas’s voice filled the hallway.
“Did you like the photograph?”
Mom’s face twisted.
“You came into my house.”
“I’ve been in that house before.”
I stared at her.
Mom whispered, “When?”
Thomas ignored her.
Then he said something that made Ray’s face change.
“Ask Raymond what else Daniel gave him.”
Ray shook his head.
“There’s nothing else.”
Thomas laughed.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”
Ellison gestured for Ray to keep him talking.
Ray said, “What do you want?”
“Something that belongs to me.”
“The flash drive?”
“No.”
“What?”
A pause.
Then Thomas said, “Daniel’s ledger.”
Ray frowned.
“What ledger?”
Thomas’s voice hardened.
“The one that proves who really took the Riverside money.”
Everyone stared at the detective.
Thomas continued.
“You think I stole eight hundred thousand dollars?”
His laugh sounded bitter now.
“You haven’t found the real secret yet.”
I stepped toward the phone.
“What secret?”
Thomas was quiet.
Then he said, “Your father wasn’t investigating me.”
May you like
My skin prickled.
“He was investigating your mother.”
