Chapter 7 - The door burst open.I grabbed the nearest lamp and swung it.
The man ducked.
Daniel shoved Claire behind the desk.
Noah screamed.
Then the lights went out.
Total darkness.
I heard footsteps.
A crash.
Someone yelled.
Then three sharp pops.
Not gunshots.
Something smaller.
A stun device.
A man fell.
Daniel switched on his emergency flashlight.
The intruder was on the floor.
Unconscious.
A second man ran toward the hallway.
I chased him.
He kicked open the back door and disappeared into the yard.
I followed.
Rain had started.
I could barely see.
The man reached a black SUV.
Before he got inside, he turned.
For one second, the porch light caught his face.
Leonard Voss.
I recognized him.
He smiled.
Then he drove away.
Police arrived twelve minutes later.
The unconscious intruder carried no identification.
But he had a keycard.
Not to my house.
To Hale Meridian Holdings.
The detective looked at me.
“You're dealing with organized fraud.”
I looked toward Daniel.
He looked pale.
Too pale.
“Where's the flash drive?” he asked.
My hand went to my pocket.
I froze.
It was gone.
Someone had taken it during the struggle.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Then we're back to zero.”
“No.”
I looked at the unconscious man.
“Not zero.”
“What?”
“He came here because the drive mattered.”
Daniel stared at me.
“Which means they haven't recovered everything.”
I returned to the study.
The black notebook was still there.
That was our advantage.
We photographed every page.
Then we made copies.
Three copies.
One for the police.
One for Daniel.
One for me.
But I couldn't shake one thought.
Rebecca's video had accused Daniel.
And someone had stolen the flash drive.
Was Daniel involved?
Or had someone created the video to turn me against him?
At 3:40 a.m., I called my brother.
Samuel answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Because we need to talk.”
“Are you safe?”
He hesitated.
“No.”
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“Who are you afraid of?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“No.”
He whispered:
“Whoever is using your wife's name.”
I sat down.
“What do you know about Rebecca?”
Silence.
Then Samuel said:
“She wasn't supposed to come back.”
“Come back from where?”
“She didn't die.”
My entire body went numb.
“What?”
“I know what the papers say.”
“Samuel.”
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Two months before the official accident.”
I couldn't breathe.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“Who does?”
Silence.
“Samuel!”
He finally spoke.
“The woman in the photograph isn't Rebecca.”
I swallowed.
“Then who is she?”
“My brother,” he said quietly.
“I think she's her sister.”
I froze.
“My wife didn't have a sister.”
Samuel said:
“That's what you were told.”
The line went dead.
I called back.
No answer.
Then a message arrived.
A photograph.
Samuel sitting in a dark room.
His hands tied behind his chair.
A man stood behind him.
Leonard Voss.
Under the image was one sentence.
STOP DIGGING.
I showed Daniel.
He stared.
Then I noticed something.
Behind Samuel was a wall.
On that wall was a clock.
The time was visible.
11:27.
Daniel zoomed in.
“What?”
He pointed.
“Look.”
A reflection in the clock glass.
A man standing behind the camera.
His face barely visible.
I recognized the suit.
The ring.
The posture.
It couldn't be.
Daniel looked at me.
“You know him.”
I did.
Because I'd seen him that morning.
At my house.
The same man who had told the police he was helping us.
The detective.
The person we had assumed was protecting us.
He was standing behind Samuel.
Which meant the police weren't necessarily here to protect us.
Someone had infiltrated the investigation.
I picked up the notebook.
“We don't tell anyone what we found.”
Daniel nodded.
Then I heard Claire behind me.
“Dad?”
I turned.
She held a photograph.
One I had never seen.
She was younger.
Maybe twenty-one.
Standing beside Rebecca.
And beside them was another woman.
A woman who looked almost identical to Rebecca.
May you like
Claire whispered:
“My mother had a twin.”
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