Chapter 3
Nobody moved.
For several seconds, the noise of the party disappeared.
I could hear only Lily breathing against my shoulder.
Jason stared at the photograph like the paper itself had betrayed him.
“Dad is dead,” he said.
Evelyn looked away.
Jason grabbed her wrist.
“Dad is dead.”
The officer stepped forward.
“Sir, let her go.”
Jason released her immediately, but his eyes never left his mother.
“What is this?”
Evelyn wiped frosting from her cheek.
“A photograph.”
“I can see that.”
“Then stop acting like a child.”
Jason nearly laughed.
“My dead father is standing in the reflection.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know my own father.”
“So do I.”
“Then tell me who it is.”
Evelyn didn’t answer.
I looked at the picture again.
The reflected man wasn’t perfectly clear.
But the posture was unmistakable.
The slight tilt of the shoulders.
The gray hair.
The dark-framed glasses.
Robert Carter had worn the same style for years.
Even the charcoal jacket looked familiar.
Jason had one just like it because his father had bought matching jackets for them before a family trip to Colorado.
“Where did this come from?” I asked.
Evelyn’s eyes moved toward me.
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“It became my business when you tried to take my daughter.”
She smiled coldly.
“You still think this is about Lily.”
Jason’s voice broke.
“What is it about?”
Before Evelyn could answer, the police officer took the photograph.
“Who is the man in the reflection?”
“My late husband,” Evelyn said flatly.
Jason flinched.
“So you admit it.”
“No. I admit it resembles him.”
“When was this taken?”
“I don’t remember.”
“The date is printed on it.”
“Then why are you asking?”
Jason stared at her.
“You went to a hotel six months ago with Dad’s attorney, and somehow my dead father appeared behind you.”
“That’s what you want to believe.”
“I watched him die.”
The words came out quietly.
And suddenly I remembered that night.
Robert had collapsed during dinner at Evelyn’s house.
Jason had performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
Robert had been taken to St. Michael’s.
Evelyn told us he died in the emergency room.
Jason wanted to see his father.
She refused.
She said Robert’s body had already been transferred.
She claimed the hospital advised the family against viewing him because the resuscitation had been traumatic.
At the time, Jason had been devastated.
He trusted his mother.
We all had.
The funeral had been closed casket.
I felt cold.
“Jason.”
He looked at me.
I could see he was remembering the same thing.
“You never saw his body.”
His face tightened.
“No.”
Evelyn snapped, “Don’t start.”
Jason looked back at her.
“The funeral was closed casket.”
“Your father wanted dignity.”
“You told me the hospital wouldn’t let me see him.”
“They recommended against it.”
“Which hospital employee?”
Her mouth opened.
Then closed.
The officer watching us made a note.
Evelyn noticed.
“This is ridiculous. My husband is dead.”
Jason pointed to the photograph.
“Then explain that.”
“I don’t have to explain anything.”
“You’re going to.”
“Not to you.”
Jason stepped back as if she had slapped him.
That hurt him more than anything else she had said.
Lily tugged my shirt.
“Mommy, I’m cold.”
That snapped me out of it.
Whatever secret Evelyn had been hiding could wait five minutes.
My daughter had just been thrown into a pool.
I turned to Nora.
“Can you take Lily inside and help her change?”
“I don’t want Grandma’s house,” Lily whispered.
My heart clenched.
“Okay.”
I wrapped the towel tighter around her.
“We’ll go to Aunt Nora’s car.”
Nora nodded.
“I have some of Mia’s clothes in the trunk.”
She carried Lily away.
Evelyn watched them.
For one strange second, something almost like regret appeared on her face.
Then it disappeared.
The police separated Evelyn from the rest of us.
They questioned the remaining witnesses.
Jason barely answered.
He kept staring toward the photograph in the evidence bag.
I touched his hand.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
He didn’t pretend.
“I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Neither do I.”
“If he’s alive…”
He stopped.
I squeezed his hand.
“If he’s alive, we find out why.”
Jason looked toward his mother.
“And if she lied about his death?”
“Then we find out why she did that too.”
A few minutes later, one officer approached us.
He explained that based on witness statements, Evelyn was being detained for suspected child endangerment and assault.
She immediately started shouting.
“You cannot arrest me at my own house!”
The officer asked her to turn around.
“This is absurd!”
Her wrists were cuffed.
Several relatives stared.
Nobody stepped in.
That surprised me.
Evelyn had spent years making everyone afraid of crossing her.
But watching her throw Lily into the pool had broken something.
Uncle Mark looked almost relieved.
As the officers led Evelyn toward the gate, she stopped beside Jason.
“You need to leave this alone.”
Jason looked at her.
“Tell me Dad is dead.”
She said nothing.
His eyes filled.
“Tell me.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“If you keep digging, you’re going to destroy this family.”
Jason’s voice dropped.
“You already did.”
She was taken away.
The second cruiser followed.
The party was over.
No one needed to say it.
People began leaving quietly.
The caterers packed food into containers.
Someone turned off the music.
A worker started cleaning broken glass from the patio.
The giant cake still had Evelyn’s face-shaped crater in it.
I would have laughed under any other circumstance.
Instead, I felt sick.
Jason walked into the house.
I followed him.
He went straight to his father’s old study.
Evelyn had kept it mostly untouched.
Dark wooden shelves.
Leather chair.
A framed photograph of Robert with Jason at a fishing tournament.
Jason picked it up.
“He hated hospitals.”
I stood beside him.
“What?”
“My dad.”
Jason brushed dust from the frame.
“He hated hospitals because his brother died in one when they were kids.”
I waited.
“If he knew he was dying, he would’ve made sure I was there.”
His voice cracked.
“He wouldn’t have disappeared without saying goodbye.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Then someone spoke behind us.
“He didn’t.”
We both turned.
Uncle Mark stood in the doorway.
Jason stared at him.
“What did you say?”
Mark looked exhausted.
“Your father didn’t disappear without saying goodbye.”
Jason put the photograph down.
“What do you know?”
Mark stepped inside and closed the door.
“I know enough to be ashamed of myself.”
My pulse quickened.
“Mark, start talking.”
He looked at Jason.
“Your father called me three days after Evelyn told everyone he was dead.”
Jason froze.
I felt the room tilt.
“No.”
“He called from a number I didn’t recognize.”
“No.”
“Jason—”
“No!”
Jason slammed both hands against the desk.
“My father was dead.”
“I thought it was a prank at first.”
“What did he say?”
Mark’s voice lowered.
“He said he needed help.”
Jason stared at him.
“And you never told me?”
“Your mother threatened me.”
“With what?”
Mark hesitated.
“Everything.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She had control of the company. My mortgage was tied to a family loan. My son worked for Carter Development. She told me if I interfered, she’d ruin us.”
Jason laughed in disbelief.
“So you let me bury an empty coffin?”
Mark’s face twisted.
“I was scared.”
“You were my uncle.”
“I know.”
“You knew my father was alive!”
“I didn’t know where he was.”
“You could have told me!”
“I should have.”
Jason looked ready to explode.
I moved closer.
“What did Robert say on the phone?”
Mark turned toward me.
“He said Evelyn had taken control of his medication.”
My stomach dropped.
Jason stared.
“What medication?”
“Blood pressure medicine. Heart medication. I don’t know exactly.”
“What else?”
“He said she was telling people he was confused.”
“She never told me that.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
“He said she wanted him declared incompetent.”
Jason’s face changed.
“Why?”
“Because he was changing the company trust.”
Silence.
Jason whispered, “What?”
Mark sat heavily in the leather chair.
“Your father found financial irregularities.”
“What kind?”
“Money moving out of Carter Development into private accounts.”
“Whose accounts?”
Mark looked toward the closed door.
Then back at Jason.
“Evelyn’s.”
Jason shook his head.
“No.”
“He confronted her.”
“When?”
“About a month before the heart attack.”
Jason paced away.
“Why would Dad fake his death?”
“I don’t think it was his idea.”
That stopped Jason.
“What do you mean?”
Mark took a breath.
“When Robert called me, he sounded terrified.”
I felt goosebumps spread over my arms.
“He told me Evelyn had arranged everything.”
“The death?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Jason stared at him.
“Why?”
“He said she told him it was temporary. That there were threats against him connected to the money.”
“But?”
Mark looked sick.
“He realized later the whole thing trapped him.”
“Trapped him where?”
“I don’t know.”
Jason grabbed the desk.
“Think.”
“I am.”
“Hotel?”
“Maybe.”
“The Brighton Grand?”
Mark’s eyes shifted.
Jason saw it.
“You know something about that hotel.”
Mark stood.
“Six months ago, I followed Evelyn.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw her with Thomas Reed.”
“My father’s attorney.”
“Yes.”
“They went to room 814?”
Mark nodded.
“What happened?”
“I waited in the lobby.”
“And?”
“Thomas left first.”
“Evelyn?”
“Twenty minutes later.”
“What about my father?”
Mark looked at Jason.
“I saw a man come out after her.”
Jason stopped breathing.
“Was it him?”
“I couldn’t be sure from where I was standing.”
“Mark.”
“He looked like Robert.”
Jason closed his eyes.
I could see his hands trembling.
“Why didn’t you follow him?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He got into a black SUV.”
“License plate?”
“I wrote it down.”
Jason’s eyes opened.
“Where?”
Mark reached inside his jacket and pulled out his wallet.
From a hidden pocket, he removed a folded receipt.
He handed it to Jason.
There was a license plate number written across the back.
And below it, an address.
Jason read the address aloud.
“Magnolia Ridge Assisted Living.”
My heart sank.
“That’s a nursing facility?”
“Private memory care,” Mark said.
Jason looked up.
“My father doesn’t have dementia.”
“He didn’t when I knew him.”
Jason was already pulling out his phone.
I grabbed his wrist.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Think about what Evelyn has done.”
“She hid my father.”
“Exactly.”
“If he’s there—”
“If he’s there, we don’t know under what name. We don’t know who’s protecting her. We don’t know if they’ll move him the second they know we’re coming.”
Jason stared at me.
I had never seen him look so torn.
“What do you suggest?”
I looked at the address again.
“We don’t call.”
Mark nodded slowly.
“We go.”
Jason picked up his keys.
I stopped him.
“Not yet.”
“Sarah.”
“Lily needs us.”
His face softened immediately.
Guilt replaced panic.
“You’re right.”
“She comes first.”
He nodded.
We went outside.
Nora was waiting near her car with Lily dressed in oversized leggings and a purple sweatshirt.
Lily ran straight to Jason.
“Daddy.”
He dropped to his knees.
She threw her arms around his neck.
Jason held her so tightly I thought he might never let go.
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“You didn’t push me.”
“No.”
“But Grandma did.”
His eyes closed.
“I know.”
“Is she coming home?”
“Not tonight.”
“Can she come to our house?”
“No.”
Lily pulled back.
“Promise?”
Jason looked at me.
Then back at his daughter.
“I promise.”
We drove home in silence.
That night Lily slept between us.
Every time she moved, I woke.
At 2:17 a.m., Jason’s phone vibrated on the nightstand.
He picked it up.
Unknown number.
He opened the message.
His body went rigid.
I sat up.
“What?”
He showed me.
There was no text.
Just a photograph.
It had been taken less than a minute earlier.
The picture showed the front of our house.
Our bedroom light was visible through the upstairs window.
Under the photograph was a second message.
STOP LOOKING FOR ROBERT.
Jason stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
This one contained a photograph of Lily leaving Evelyn’s party in Nora’s arms.
May you like
And beneath it were six words.
OR NEXT TIME SHE WON’T SURFACE.
