Chapter 4 - St. Jude Cemetery was nearly empty at sunrise.Fog covered the rows of graves.
Daniel walked between the stones with his mother beside him.
Neither spoke.
He kept thinking about Sophia's last call.
The message.
Michael.
His brother.
Alive.
But where?
Grave 114 appeared behind a line of dead trees.
Daniel stopped.
The grave belonged to Emily Cross.
His mother's name.
Same birth date.
Same death date.
Twenty-six years ago.
He slowly turned.
“But you're alive.”
She stared at the grave.
“I didn't die.”
“Then whose body is buried here?”
She looked at him.
“No body.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then why the grave?”
“Because Richard needed everyone to believe I was dead.”
“Everyone?”
“My parents. My friends. The police.”
She stepped closer.
“Especially you.”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“Why didn't you come back?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because the first time I tried, your father put a gun to Michael's head.”
Daniel froze.
“You said Michael was five.”
“He was two.”
“And you left him?”
“I didn't leave him.”
Her voice cracked.
“I was forced to choose.”
Daniel looked away.
“Between us.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
She looked at the grave.
“Your father took you to a private hospital.”
“Why?”
“Because you had been injured.”
Daniel remembered the headache.
The hospital ceiling.
His father's voice.
“What injury?”
His mother whispered:
“You saw something you weren't supposed to see.”
Before Daniel could ask, footsteps sounded behind them.
They turned.
Sophia stood between the graves.
She wore yesterday's wedding dress.
It was stained with mud.
Her hair was soaked.
Daniel stared at her.
“Sophia.”
She slowly walked toward him.
“I'm sorry.”
Daniel stepped back.
“Why did you lie to me?”
She didn't answer.
His mother moved between them.
“You should have left him alone.”
Sophia looked at her.
“You don't understand.”
The woman smiled bitterly.
“I understand exactly.”
Sophia began crying.
Daniel's anger weakened for a moment.
“Tell me.”
Sophia looked at him.
“My father threatened my little sister.”
Daniel stared.
“I don't have a sister.”
“You don't know about her.”
“Who?”
Sophia swallowed.
“Emma.”
His mother suddenly stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
Sophia shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel noticed blood on Sophia's sleeve.
“What happened?”
“My father took her.”
Silence.
Then Sophia whispered:
“And he told me I had forty-eight hours to bring you to him.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“So the wedding was a trap.”
“I never wanted it to be.”
“But you married me anyway.”
She nodded.
Tears rolled down her face.
“I fell in love with you before I knew who you were.”
Daniel stared.
The confession landed harder than he expected.
“But then my father showed me something.”
“What?”
Sophia pulled a small flash drive from beneath her dress.
“Proof that your father murdered Michael.”
Daniel's mother closed her eyes.
“No.”
Sophia handed the drive to Daniel.
“He didn't.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“Tell me.”
She didn't move.
Sophia whispered:
“Michael isn't your brother by blood.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“Your father changed the records.”
She pointed at the cemetery.
“There were two boys.”
Daniel's pulse raced.
“One was David.”
His birth name.
“And the other was Michael.”
“Who was he?”
Sophia shook her head.
“That is what your father killed people to keep hidden.”
Daniel plugged the flash drive into his phone.
One file appeared.
PROJECT DOVE.
He opened it.
A video began.
Richard stood in a dark room.
Beside him was a hospital bed.
A little boy lay unconscious.
Daniel recognized himself.
Five years old.
Richard leaned toward the camera.
“The memory procedure worked.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
A doctor stepped beside him.
“What about the other child?”
Richard answered:
“He'll remember enough to become useful.”
The video ended.
Daniel slowly looked at his mother.
“What procedure?”
She whispered:
“They erased your memories.”
Daniel's vision blurred.
His childhood memories.
His mother's voice.
His home.
His brother.
Everything.
A second video automatically began.
This one showed Michael.
Older.
Twenty-eight.
Alive.
Sitting inside a room.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then said:
“David, if you're watching this, don't trust Mom.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
Michael leaned closer.
“She's been lying to you too.”
The video cut to black.
A new message appeared.
LOCATION: 183 MERCER STREET.
Daniel stared at it.
His mother suddenly stepped backward.
“Don't go there.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where I killed your father.”
Daniel froze.
May you like
She whispered:
“Twenty-six years ago.”
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