Chapter 7
Everyone turned toward the restaurant.
Kevin was gone.
Thomas grabbed his phone.
“Lock the building down.”
One of the security guards spoke into his radio.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Rebecca whispered, “Where did he go?”
I stared at the back door.
Kevin had been there minutes earlier.
He had been helpful.
Calm.
Concerned.
He had sent me home from my shift.
He had given Thomas the security tablet.
He had told us Daniel was outside.
My skin crawled.
“He knew I was here,” I said.
Thomas looked at me.
“What?”
“Kevin knew I switched shifts.”
Daniel frowned.
“Of course. He’s the manager.”
“He approved it.”
Thomas’s face became grim.
Rebecca pointed at the photograph on my phone.
“Who sent that?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked around the parking lot.
“Maybe someone watching Alan.”
Mark said, “Or Alan himself.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Why would he expose Kevin?” Rebecca asked.
“Because people like Alan survive by making everyone distrust each other.”
Thomas looked toward the restaurant.
“Security checks every exit.”
The guards moved.
Emma stayed close to Rebecca.
Mark took one step toward them.
Rebecca immediately said, “Don’t.”
He stopped.
The pain on his face looked real.
I wasn’t sure I cared.
Thomas turned to me.
“You’re coming with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I know what Kevin has to do with this.”
“Maya.”
“No.”
Daniel said quietly, “She’s right.”
Thomas snapped toward him.
“You don’t get a vote.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“Still you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re terrified, so you start controlling the room.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
Daniel continued.
“That’s how you lost Sarah.”
The words hit.
Thomas looked at me.
Then he did something I didn’t expect.
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
Daniel blinked.
So did Rebecca.
Thomas looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t answer.
He continued.
“I want you somewhere safe. But you decide.”
That mattered.
More than I wanted it to.
“I’m staying.”
He nodded.
“Then I stay too.”
A guard returned.
“Kevin Mitchell’s car is gone.”
Thomas frowned.
“When did he leave?”
“Camera shows four minutes ago.”
“Before the photograph arrived,” Emma said.
Mark looked at my phone.
“Whoever sent that knew we’d discover him.”
Daniel held out his hand.
“Let me see.”
I showed him.
He enlarged the image.
The hotel sign was visible in the background.
“The Lenox.”
Rebecca looked at the date stamp.
“This was yesterday.”
Thomas stared at Daniel.
“You recognize Alan?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“That’s him.”
Mark looked sick.
“He’s alive.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca turned toward her husband.
“You attended a fake funeral for a man who was alive.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Did you ever know anything?”
Mark accepted that.
“No. Apparently not.”
Thomas looked at me.
“Maya, did your mother ever mention Alan Price?”
I shook my head.
“She didn’t talk about any of you.”
Daniel looked pained.
“She was protecting you.”
“From you?”
He looked down.
“Probably.”
My phone rang again.
Unknown number.
Thomas said nothing this time.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“Do you want to know why your mother really died?”
My lungs stopped working.
Everyone watched me.
“Who is this?”
“You have something that belongs to me.”
I looked around.
“What?”
“The locket.”
My hand flew to my necklace.
Thomas saw.
His face changed.
“The locket?” I repeated.
“Yes.”
My fingers closed around it.
“It belonged to my mother.”
“Before that, it belonged to Helen Collins.”
Thomas went pale.
Helen.
His wife.
Sarah and Rebecca’s mother.
“What do you want with it?”
“Open the back.”
I frowned.
“It is open.”
“No. The other back.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“Maya.”
I held up a hand.
“What do you mean?”
The voice gave a dry laugh.
“Sarah was smarter than the rest of you.”
Then the call ended.
I stared at the locket.
Rebecca moved closer.
“What did he say?”
I explained.
Thomas reached toward it, then stopped.
“May I?”
This time I nodded.
I unclasped the necklace and gave it to him.
He held it under the parking lot light.
His hands trembled.
“I bought this in 1984.”
“For Grandma?” Emma asked.
He nodded.
“Your grandmother wore it until she died.”
“What happened to her?” I asked.
“Cancer.”
His voice softened.
“Sarah was eleven. Rebecca was nine.”
Rebecca looked at the locket.
“Dad gave it to Sarah when she turned eighteen.”
Thomas ran his thumb along the edge.
Then frowned.
“What?”
“There’s a seam.”
Rebecca leaned closer.
“I don’t remember that.”
Thomas took a small pocketknife from his key ring.
He looked at me.
“Okay?”
I nodded.
He gently worked the blade beneath the back panel.
Nothing happened.
Then there was a click.
A paper-thin metal cover lifted.
Inside was a tiny storage card.
Emma whispered, “Oh my God.”
Thomas looked stunned.
Mark stepped closer.
“A microSD card.”
Daniel laughed softly.
“Sarah.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“She used to hide things in ridiculous places.”
Rebecca almost smiled through her tears.
“She once hid Dad’s car keys inside a cereal box for three days.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You knew about that?”
Rebecca actually laughed.
A short, broken sound.
“She made me swear.”
For one second, the whole family seemed to remember the same person.
Then the moment disappeared.
Thomas handed me the card.
“It’s yours.”
I stared at it.
“What if it has the records?”
“Then it still belongs to you.”
Daniel looked impressed.
Thomas noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
Daniel shrugged.
“That was almost emotionally healthy.”
Rebecca covered a laugh.
Thomas glared at him.
It was strange.
Terrible.
Almost normal.
Then Mark spoke.
“We need a computer that isn’t connected to the network.”
Everyone looked at him.
He lifted his hands.
“I know you don’t trust me. You shouldn’t. But if Alan knows the card exists, he may be watching accounts, devices, everything.”
Thomas nodded.
“He’s right.”
Rebecca looked surprised.
Thomas frowned.
“I can hate him and still recognize when he is right.”
We went back inside.
The restaurant had been cleared.
Customers had been told there was an electrical issue.
Most staff were gone.
Kevin was still missing.
Thomas led us into the main office.
A security technician brought an isolated laptop.
I inserted the card.
There was one folder.
SARAH.
My hand froze over the mouse.
Thomas stood behind me.
Rebecca beside him.
Daniel farther back.
Mark near the door.
Emma beside me.
I opened the folder.
There were dozens of scanned documents.
Emails.
Bank records.
Photographs.
And one video file.
Dated March 14.
The day before my mother died.
My breathing stopped.
Emma whispered, “Maya.”
I clicked it.
My mother appeared on the screen.
Older than in the family photograph.
Younger than the last time I saw her.
Her hair was tied back.
Her face looked tired.
She stared into the camera for several seconds before speaking.
“My name is Sarah Collins Carter.”
Thomas covered his mouth.
Rebecca began crying immediately.
Daniel stepped backward.
My mother continued.
“If Maya is watching this, then something happened before I could tell her the truth.”
I started crying.
There was no stopping it.
She looked directly into the camera.
Directly at me across fourteen years.
“Maya, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth.
“I wanted to tell you about your family so many times. I was afraid that if I opened that door, I would bring danger back into your life.”
Thomas whispered, “Sarah.”
Onscreen, my mother took a breath.
“I found proof that your father was framed for the Collins Hospitality theft.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“But that does not make Daniel innocent of everything.”
He looked away.
“He left us. He took our money. He knew I was afraid, and he still chose himself.”
Daniel started crying.
My mother’s recorded voice continued.
“If he ever tells you he left because he loved you, don’t accept that. Love is not disappearing.”
I looked at him.
He couldn’t look back.
“Your grandfather made terrible mistakes too.”
Thomas nodded through tears.
“He was proud. Controlling. He made me believe love came with conditions.”
Thomas sank into a chair.
“But I also know now that he searched for me.”
He looked up sharply.
“I know he tried longer than I wanted to admit.”
Thomas broke.
His shoulders shook.
Rebecca put both hands on him.
My mother looked down on the video.
“And Rebecca…”
My aunt stiffened.
“Rebecca, if you ever see this, I’m sorry.”
Rebecca whispered, “No.”
“I’m sorry I made you carry my secrets. I’m sorry I stopped calling. I blamed you for staying when I was the one who left.”
Rebecca covered her face.
“I loved you. I never stopped.”
Rebecca fell into the chair beside Thomas.
They cried together.
Then my mother’s expression changed.
Fear.
“There is one more thing.”
Everyone became still.
“Alan Price is alive.”
Mark stared at the screen.
“I saw him two weeks ago.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“He followed me.”
My mother glanced toward something off camera.
“I think he knows I have the records.”
I could barely breathe.
“If something happens to me, the original evidence is not with this video.”
Thomas frowned.
My mother leaned toward the camera.
“I gave it to someone I trust.”
The video froze for a second.
Then continued.
“The person’s name is—”
Static.
The image corrupted.
“No,” I whispered.
The video skipped ahead.
My mother was suddenly crying.
“Maya, remember that none of these people get to tell you who you are.”
Then the screen went black.
I stared at it.
Nobody moved.
Emma touched my shoulder.
I didn’t react.
Then another file appeared automatically.
It hadn’t been visible before.
A text document.
One line.
IF I AM GONE, FIND THE ORIGINALS AT 48 HAWTHORNE STREET.
Thomas’s face changed.
Rebecca looked at him.
“What?”
He whispered, “That was our old house.”
The house where Sarah and Rebecca had grown up.
The Collins family home.
May you like
The place Thomas had sold eighteen years ago.
And then Mark said quietly, “Kevin Mitchell owns it now.”
