Chapter 3: Eleven Days Ago
I spent the drive to Beaufort staring at my phone.
Captain Hayes sat beside me in the back of a government vehicle, while Investigator Bennett followed in another car. Agent Collins had remained in Savannah to coordinate with the team reviewing the old military records.
Outside, the Georgia coastline slipped past in long stretches of marsh grass, dark water, and low houses tucked beneath ancient live oaks.
My mother had called me four times.
I hadn't answered.
The fifth call came just as Hayes instructed the driver to turn onto a narrow road lined with pine trees.
“Pick up,” he said gently.
“If she knows we're coming, she may tell us something useful.””
I pressed the green button.
“Nia?”” My mother's voice sounded breathless.
“Where are you?””
“Where are you, Mom?””
A pause.
“I'm at home.””
“No, you're not.””
“What is that supposed to mean?””
I looked at the photograph resting in my lap.
“Eleven days ago, you were standing beside Dad outside a house in South Carolina.””
Silence.
Then I heard something fall in the background.
“Who told you that?””
“So it's true.””
“Nia, listen to me. You need to come home.””
“Why were you with him?””
“You don't understand.””
“Then explain it to me!””
Her voice sharpened.
“Stop shouting at me. You have no idea what you're dealing with.””
I pressed my forehead against the cool window.
“You told me he abandoned us. You told me he didn't love me. You watched me grow up believing I wasn't worth coming home for.””
“I did what I had to do.””
The words slipped out so quickly that she seemed to realize her mistake only after she'd spoken them.
I sat upright.
“What did you just say?””
“Nothing.””
“No. You said you did what you had to do. What does that mean?””
“I cannot explain this over the phone.””
“Then tell me in person.””
“Not tonight.””
“Why?””
“Because if you come looking for Daniel, you could destroy everything.””
The line went silent.
“Mom?””
She had hung up.
I lowered the phone slowly.
Captain Hayes watched me with a troubled expression.
“What did she say?””
“She admitted she knew where he was.””
He looked toward the windshield.
“Then we're closer than we've ever been.””
The vehicle turned down a gravel driveway and stopped in front of an old white house surrounded by tall pines. A wooden porch stretched across the front, and a single light glowed beside the door.
The photograph had been taken here.
I knew it immediately.
My hands began to shake.
“Is he inside?”” I whispered.
Hayes didn't answer. He spoke quietly into his radio, then waited until Investigator Bennett's vehicle arrived behind us.
Two officers approached the house first. One knocked while the other moved toward the side entrance.
A moment later, the front door opened.
An elderly woman in a cardigan appeared on the threshold.
“Yes?””
Investigator Bennett showed her identification.
“Ma'am, we're looking for Daniel Carter. We have reason to believe he may have stayed here recently.””
The woman's eyes flicked toward me.
Then she looked at Captain Hayes.
Her face went pale.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“You're the people he said might come.””
My heart seemed to stop.
“He's here?”” I asked.
The woman hesitated.
“He was.””
“When did he leave?””
“Yesterday morning.””
“Where did he go?””
She shook her head.
“He didn't tell me. He said if anyone came asking, I should give them something.””
She disappeared into the house and returned carrying a small cardboard box.
Inside lay a silver Navy identification tag, a folded piece of paper, and a photograph of a little girl standing beside a Christmas tree.
I was the girl in the photograph.
I recognized the red dress, the crooked ribbon in my hair, and the missing front tooth I'd lost that December.
My father had been there.
He had been there for a moment I remembered only through my mother's stories.
Except she had always said I was three years old when he left.
I had been four in that photograph.
The woman handed me the folded paper.
“Mr. Carter asked me to give this to his daughter if she ever came.””
My fingers trembled as I opened it.
Nia,
If you're reading this, then Victor finally found you. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me. I need you to know that I never left because I stopped loving you.
Your mother knows what happened. But she isn't the only person who can tell you the truth.
Find the blue ledger.
Ask what was delivered to Pier Seven at 11:40 p.m.
And whatever you do, do not trust Samuel Brooks.
I read the final line twice.
Then I looked up at Captain Hayes.
“Pier Seven. What happened there?””
His jaw tightened.
“That's where the Resolute received supplies before your father's final mission.””
“What was delivered?””
“We don't know yet.””
Investigator Bennett took the letter and examined the handwriting.
“This could be significant,” she said.
“We'll need to verify the paper, the ink, and the circumstances under which it was left.””
I barely heard her.
My father had written to me.
He had thought about me.
He had left instructions for the day I finally learned the truth.
And he had warned me about the man my mother had raised me to trust.
I looked around the small house, desperate for another clue.
On a side table sat a framed photograph of Daniel standing beside the woman who had answered the door. They were smiling beneath a banner celebrating a local veterans' charity.
On the back, someone had written a date.
October 18.
Eleven days ago.
My father had been here when the recent photograph was taken.
He hadn't simply survived.
He had been living a life somewhere beyond the reach of the story my mother told me.
“Did he say why he was leaving?”” I asked the woman.
She nodded slowly.
“He received a phone call. Afterward, he packed a bag and told me he had waited too long already.””
“Who called him?””
“He didn't say.””
I looked at Hayes.
“Could it have been my mother?””
“Possibly.””
“Or Samuel?””
Hayes's silence was answer enough.
Outside, a vehicle engine sounded from the road.
Investigator Bennett stepped onto the porch and raised a hand, signaling the officers to hold their positions. A dark sedan had stopped near the entrance to the driveway.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out wearing a gray jacket and dark trousers.
Even from a distance, I recognized the shape of his face.
The faint scar beside his chin.
The familiar way he adjusted his cuff before walking toward someone.
Samuel Brooks.
My Uncle Sam.
He had brought me birthday presents, attended my high school graduation, and once sat beside my hospital bed when I had my appendix removed.
He had also told me, year after year, that my father was a coward.
Now he stood at the edge of the driveway, looking directly at me.
He didn't appear surprised to find us there.
Instead, he smiled the same comfortable smile I remembered from childhood.
“Nia,” he called.
“You've grown up.””
Captain Hayes moved in front of me.
“Samuel Brooks,” he said coldly.
“You need to come with us.””
Samuel glanced at the officers, then back at me.
“I suppose Denise finally lost control of the situation.””
I stepped around Hayes.
“You knew my father was alive?””
Samuel's smile disappeared.
For the first time in my life, I saw the man behind the familiar face.
He looked tired. Angry. Afraid.
Then he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small blue ledger.
My father's letter seemed to burn in my hand.
“Before you decide who the villain is, Nia,” Samuel said, holding the ledger toward me, “you need to know what your father did at Pier Seven.””
He opened the cover.
On the first page was a handwritten list of names.
My father's name appeared at the top.
My mother's was directly beneath it.
May you like
And the final name belonged to someone I had never expected to see connected to any of this.
*Victor Hayes.*
