Detective Harris was retired, but she answered Brandon's call.<\/p>\n
She arrived at our house the following morning.<\/p>\n
Age had changed her.<\/p>\n
Her hair was almost completely gray.<\/p>\n
Her movements were slower.<\/p>\n
But her eyes were the same.<\/p>\n
She placed the photograph on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ring,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou recognize it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father's security consultant.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father had a security consultant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrivately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't we know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Richard hired him after he discovered the financial irregularities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was his name?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris turned the photograph around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name meant nothing to us.<\/p>\n
But Harris continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cVale worked for Richard for nearly a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did nobody mention him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
Another missing man.<\/p>\n
Another disappearance.<\/p>\n
Another secret.<\/p>\n
Brandon stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many people disappeared around my father's death?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first was Michael.<\/p>\n
The second was Thomas.<\/p>\n
The third was Samuel Greene.<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel didn't disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficially.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris opened a folder.<\/p>\n
Samuel Greene had died six years after Richard.<\/p>\n
His death had been recorded as natural causes.<\/p>\n
But the medical examiner had noted an unusual medication interaction.<\/p>\n
No investigation had followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause no one connected it to Richard's case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon looked at the documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen someone may have been cleaning up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris turned another page.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there is one more problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Vale was not the man who came to your hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Vale had a scar across his left cheek.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man in the hotel photograph had no scar.<\/p>\n
I remembered him clearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there is another person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris studied the old photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is endless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ends somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pointed to the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father labeled him a witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWitness to what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris looked at the documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the question.\u201d<\/p>\n
That afternoon, Barbara called.<\/p>\n
Brandon almost didn't answer.<\/p>\n
Then he did.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice sounded older than I remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you found the storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't want you to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I knew it would reopen everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told us years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon's voice hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the person who was still watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know his name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've seen him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Richard's office.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Brandon.<\/p>\n
He placed the phone on speaker.<\/p>\n
Barbara continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard had discovered that someone had copied the trust documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw his face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do you know it was the same person?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
The black stone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you contact Emily?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I wanted her to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Richard didn't choose her by chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt my pulse increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara answered directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard knew Emily's father.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at Brandon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father knew her family before she ever met him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was involved in a case years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat case?\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cA financial fraud investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon's voice changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Emily's father involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt dizzy.<\/p>\n
My father had died when I was young.<\/p>\n
I knew almost nothing about his professional life.<\/p>\n
My mother rarely discussed him.<\/p>\n
Barbara said, \u201cRichard believed your father had evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did he trust Emily?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Richard believed the evidence would eventually lead back to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the old photograph.<\/p>\n
The man standing beside Richard.<\/p>\n
The black ring.<\/p>\n
The word witness.<\/p>\n
Everything was connecting.<\/p>\n
My father had been a witness.<\/p>\n
Richard had known him.<\/p>\n
The trust had been placed in my name.<\/p>\n
The person who had been watching me may have been looking for something my father had left behind.<\/p>\n
I asked Barbara, \u201cWhat did my father witness?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear I don't.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believed her.<\/p>\n
Not because I trusted her.<\/p>\n
Because she sounded genuinely frightened.<\/p>\n
Brandon asked, \u201cWhere is the evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother's house.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kept something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA red notebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered it.<\/p>\n
I had seen it as a child.<\/p>\n
A small red notebook in my mother's desk.<\/p>\n
After she died, I had searched through her belongings.<\/p>\n
I never found it.<\/p>\n
I had assumed it had been thrown away.<\/p>\n
I looked at Brandon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris stopped us.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot without protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
We returned to my mother's old house the next morning.<\/p>\n
The property had been empty for years.<\/p>\n
Dust covered the windows.<\/p>\n
The garden had grown wild.<\/p>\n
I unlocked the door.<\/p>\n
The smell of old wood and paper filled the hallway.<\/p>\n
Memories came rushing back.<\/p>\n
My mother sitting at the kitchen table.<\/p>\n
My father laughing in the living room.<\/p>\n
The red notebook.<\/p>\n
I walked toward the bedroom.<\/p>\n
The desk was still there.<\/p>\n
I opened the drawers.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Harris searched the walls.<\/p>\n
Brandon checked the floorboards.<\/p>\n
Then Lisa, who had come with us, called from the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
She was standing beside an old bookshelf.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a loose board.\u201d<\/p>\n
I crouched.<\/p>\n
She was right.<\/p>\n
One panel moved.<\/p>\n
Behind it was a narrow compartment.<\/p>\n
Inside was the red notebook.<\/p>\n
I took it out.<\/p>\n
The cover was faded.<\/p>\n
My mother's initials were written inside.<\/p>\n
I opened the first page.<\/p>\n
Dates.<\/p>\n
Names.<\/p>\n
Payments.<\/p>\n
And one name appeared repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Richard Sterling.<\/p>\n
I turned another page.<\/p>\n
There was a photograph.<\/p>\n
My father.<\/p>\n
Richard.<\/p>\n
Thomas Vale.<\/p>\n
And the unknown man.<\/p>\n
The black ring.<\/p>\n
On the back my mother had written:<\/p>\n
They know.<\/p>\n
I turned the photograph over again.<\/p>\n
Another line appeared beneath it.<\/p>\n
If anything happens to us, trust Richard.<\/p>\n
My hands began shaking.<\/p>\n
My father had trusted Richard.<\/p>\n
Richard had trusted me.<\/p>\n
The chain had existed long before Brandon and I met.<\/p>\n
Harris examined the notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could reopen the entire case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
We left the house with the notebook sealed in an evidence bag.<\/p>\n
As we reached the car, a black sedan passed slowly.<\/p>\n
I recognized it.<\/p>\n
The same model from the old photograph.<\/p>\n
The same car that had been outside my childhood home.<\/p>\n
It stopped at the corner.<\/p>\n
Then accelerated away.<\/p>\n
Harris watched it disappear.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't move.\u201d<\/p>\n
She called for backup.<\/p>\n
But before the officers arrived, my phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
The voice was calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou finally found the notebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have left it where it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then the voice answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Thomas Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Brandon stared at me.<\/p>\n
Harris looked toward the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dead man just called you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Harris was retired, but she answered Brandon's call. She arrived at our house the following morning. Age had changed her. Her hair was almost completely gray. Her movements were … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-readmore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions\/2602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}