Chapter 7 - THE SECRET OF MARIA MILLERShawn refused to believe Brenda had betrayed them.
Emma dragged him through the maintenance tunnel until they emerged behind an abandoned warehouse.
Snow covered the ground.
They hid inside.
Shawn's hands shook.
“She wouldn't do this.”
Emma looked at him.
“You don't know your sister.”
“I know her better than you.”
“Do you?”
Emma placed the hard drive on a table.
“Your sister has been working with Kane for years.”
Shawn stared at her.
“No.”
“She redirected your money.”
“She was forced.”
“She signed the house away.”
“Under threat.”
“She lied to your parents.”
“To protect them.”
Emma shook her head.
“She did more than that.”
She connected the hard drive to a laptop.
A list of video files appeared.
Dates.
Years.
Shawn opened one.
Security footage.
Brenda entered a bank.
Another.
Brenda meeting Kane.
Another.
Brenda standing outside the basement.
Shawn felt sick.
“How long?”
Emma watched the footage.
“Seven years.”
Shawn closed his eyes.
The screen changed.
A video dated two months earlier.
Brenda sat in a room with Kane.
Kane placed a file in front of her.
“Your brother is coming home.”
Brenda looked terrified.
“I didn't tell him.”
“He'll come.”
“What if he doesn't?”
“He will.”
Kane smiled.
“His father made sure of that.”
The video ended.
Shawn stared at the screen.
“What did my father do?”
Emma didn't answer.
Another video opened automatically.
Don Miller sat at a table.
Across from him was a younger man.
Shawn recognized the scar.
Kane.
Don pushed a document toward him.
“My son leaves tomorrow.”
Kane nodded.
“And the boy?”
“He knows nothing.”
Kane smiled.
“He will.”
The recording ended.
Shawn's breathing became shallow.
His father had planned his departure.
His entire life?
No.
That couldn't be true.
Then another video appeared.
Maria entered the room.
She looked younger.
She was holding a baby.
Shawn.
Kane stood beside her.
“Your husband believes the child is his.”
Maria stared at Kane.
“And you?”
Kane smiled.
“I know better.”
The video stopped.
Shawn froze.
Emma's expression changed.
“Shawn.”
He couldn't speak.
“What did he mean?”
“I don't know.”
“My mother was holding me.”
“Yes.”
“Kane said my father believed I was his.”
Emma looked away.
Shawn stood suddenly.
“No.”
“Shawn…”
“No.”
He grabbed the laptop.
“Where's my mother?”
“We have to assume Kane has her.”
“We're going back.”
“That's exactly what he wants.”
“I don't care.”
“Your father is still alive.”
Shawn stopped.
“What?”
Emma connected another file.
Live feed.
The basement.
Don sat behind the bars.
Maria beside him.
Kane entered.
He pulled up a chair.
“You know where Evelyn is.”
Don looked at him.
“She’s dead.”
Kane smiled.
“Still lying.”
Maria cried.
Kane leaned closer.
“Tell me where the list is.”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
Don shook his head.
Kane placed a photograph on the table.
Shawn's childhood.
A photograph from a hospital.
The date was the day he was born.
Kane pointed at the infant.
“You remember what happened that night.”
Don stared at the photograph.
Then whispered:
“No.”
Kane smiled.
“Then I'll remind you.”
He stood.
“Your son was never supposed to survive.”
Shawn froze.
The video ended.
Emma looked at him.
“There is one place Kane won't search.”
“Where?”
“Your childhood home.”
Shawn gave a bitter laugh.
“He owns it.”
“Not the house.”
She pointed to the laptop.
“The church.”
“Which church?”
“Where your grandfather is buried.”
Shawn remembered the brass key.
The family cemetery was behind St. Vincent's Church.
They drove there before dawn.
The graveyard was covered in snow.
They found the grave.
THOMAS MILLER.
Emma crouched.
“There.”
A metal plate was hidden beneath the stone.
Shawn used the brass key.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a single envelope.
His name.
He opened it.
There was only one sentence.
Your mother is not Maria Miller.
Shawn looked up.
Someone stood between the graves.
Maria.
May you like
Alive.
And holding a gun.
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