CHAPTER 2 THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH The silence after Mayor Collins spoke was heavier than the storm outside. For ten years, I had imagined the moment I would finally confront the person responsible for my father’s disappearance. I imagined anger. I imagined screaming. I imagined demanding answers from the person who stole my childhood. But standing there in that dusty courthouse room, with the man everyone trusted watching me from the doorway, I felt something completely different. Fear. Not because he looked dangerous. That would have been easier. Dangerous people were obvious. They raised their voices. They made threats. They showed you exactly who they were. Thomas Collins was different. He smiled. He spoke softly. He looked like the kind of man who would help an old woman cross the street. The kind of man people defended without even being asked. And that was what made him terrifying. Because monsters rarely looked like monsters. “Mayor Collins,” Deputy Cole said carefully. His hand rested near his belt. Not reaching for his weapon. Not yet. But close enough that I noticed. The mayor’s eyes moved toward him. “Deputy Cole.” A small smile appeared. “I’m surprised to see you here.” Cole’s expression remained cold. “Funny. I was about to say the same thing.” The mayor stepped further into the records room. His expensive shoes crossed over years of dust and forgotten paperwork. He looked around. At the boxes. At the hidden compartment. At everything we had uncovered. Then his eyes landed on me. “Emily.” He said my name like he was speaking to a child. Like he was disappointed. “I know losing a parent leaves scars.” My jaw tightened. “Don’t.” His smile faded slightly. “I understand you want answers.” “No.” I held up the file. “You understand that I found something you tried to hide.” The room went silent. For the first time, the mayor’s expression changed. Only slightly. A tiny movement around his eyes. A small tightening of his jaw. But I saw it. I knew I was right. “You always had your father’s stubbornness,” he said. The words hit me harder than I expected. “You knew him.” The mayor looked away for half a second. “Yes.” “How well?” A pause. Then: “Better than you think.” My stomach twisted. “What does that mean?” Before he could answer, Deputy Cole stepped forward. “That’s enough.” Mayor Collins looked at him. “No, Daniel’s daughter deserves the truth.” The way he said my father’s name made my skin crawl. Like he owned the memory of him. Like he had the right to speak about him. “You knew my father was investigating something.” “Yes.” “You knew he was in danger.” The mayor didn’t answer. That was enough. My hands began shaking. “You let it happen.” His eyes returned to mine. “Careful, Emily.” The kindness disappeared. Just for a moment. “You’re making accusations you don’t understand.” “I understand enough.” I lifted the document. “You buried his file.” “No.” His response was immediate. Too immediate. “I protected this town.” Those words froze me. Protected. That was the word people always used when they wanted to justify terrible things. Protected. Controlled. Hidden. Forgotten. “What was he investigating?” The mayor looked at the boxes. Then at Deputy Cole. Then back at me. “Your father believed there was corruption inside this town.” “I know.” “No.” His voice became quieter. “You don’t.” He walked closer. “Daniel didn’t discover corruption.” A pause. “He discovered something much bigger.” The storm outside exploded with thunder. For a second, the lights flickered. And in that brief darkness, I felt the entire room shift. When the lights returned, Mayor Collins was standing closer. “Your father found the Blackridge files.” The name meant nothing to me. But Deputy Cole reacted immediately. His face changed. “You know about Blackridge?” I turned toward him. “You’ve heard of it?” Cole looked away. That scared me more than anything else. Because Deputy Cole was a man who had seen everything. Car accidents. Crime scenes. People at their worst. But this name frightened him. “What are the Blackridge files?” Nobody answered. I looked between them. “Someone better start talking.” The mayor sighed. Like I was exhausting him. “Blackridge wasn’t supposed to exist.” “Then why does my father’s file mention it?” His expression became colder. “Because Daniel was brilliant.” That almost sounded like admiration. Almost. “He followed a trail that nobody else was willing to follow.” “What trail?” The mayor looked at the hidden boxes. “A trail connecting missing people.” My heartbeat stopped. “Missing people?” “Yes.” “How many?” He didn’t answer. I stepped closer. “How many people disappeared?” The mayor remained silent. Deputy Cole finally spoke. “Twenty-three.” My blood ran cold. Twenty-three. Not one. Not two. Twenty-three people. “All from this town?” Cole nodded. “Over eighteen years.” “And nobody noticed?” His eyes lowered. “People noticed.” “Then why didn’t anyone say anything?” Because everyone was afraid. He didn’t say it. But I saw it. The mayor watched me carefully. “You think your father was the first person to search for answers?” I looked at him. “No.” The mayor nodded. “He wasn’t.” He reached into his coat pocket. My body immediately tensed. But he only pulled out an old photograph. He placed it on the table. A photograph of my father. My breath caught. Daniel Hayes stood outside an old building. Beside him was another man. A man I didn’t recognize. But the expression on my father’s face shocked me. I had never seen him look that scared. “Who is that?” The mayor stared at the photo. “Someone who died because of what your father found.” I picked up the photograph. On the back was writing. A date. A location. And three words: DON’T TRUST HIM. My eyes moved upward. “Who wrote this?” Nobody spoke. Then Deputy Cole whispered: “Your father.” The room went completely silent. I looked at the photo again. My father had written that warning. But who was it meant for? The mayor? Deputy Cole? Someone else? A cold realization slowly formed in my mind. My father had known he was being watched. He knew he might disappear. And before he vanished… he had prepared a trail. A trail leading directly to the people responsible. I turned back toward Mayor Collins. “You know where he went.” The mayor looked at me. For the first time that night, I saw something human in his expression. Regret. “You shouldn’t be looking for him.” “Why?” His voice dropped. “Because Daniel isn’t the only one who disappeared.” My heart tightened. “What are you talking about?” The mayor looked toward the dark hallway. Then back at me. “Emily…” A pause. “Your father wasn’t taken because he found the truth.” The courthouse lights flickered again. “He was taken because he was about to reveal it.” Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Then Deputy Cole’s radio suddenly crackled. A voice came through. A voice filled with static. But clear enough to understand. “Deputy Cole…” Everyone froze. Because the voice wasn’t from dispatch. It wasn’t from another officer. It was a voice that should have been impossible. Cole slowly raised the radio. His face turned pale. The voice repeated: “Deputy Cole…” A pause. Then: “Tell Emily to stop digging.” My fingers went numb. Because I knew that voice. I had spent ten years trying to hear it again. A voice I remembered from childhood. A voice that used to say goodnight every night. The radio crackled one final time. And the voice whispered: “Emily…” My knees almost gave out. “Don’t trust anyone.” The signal died. The room went silent. Deputy Cole stared at the radio. Mayor Collins looked terrified. And I realized the impossible truth. My father wasn’t dead. He was alive. Somewhere. Watching. Waiting. And somehow… he had just contacted us.

5 chapters