Chapter 8 - The Man Who DiedHale ran.
The man disappeared around the corner.
Officers followed.
Metal doors slammed as they moved through the facility.
Ava watched through the glass.
"Mom."
"I'm here."
"That's him."
Elena stared.
"Who?"
"The man from the photograph."
Rebecca grabbed Ava's wrist.
"Impossible."
"That's what they said about Claire."
The police caught nobody.
The hallway ended at a locked gate.
Beyond it was an empty loading area.
No exits.
No cars.
No hiding places.
The man was gone.
But Hale found something.
A wallet.
Inside was identification.
Victor Lane.
Rebecca's brother.
Rebecca nearly collapsed when she saw it.
"That's his."
Hale looked at her.
"You said he died."
"He did."
"Three years ago."
"I buried him."
"Then explain this."
She couldn't.
Back at the hotel, Hale reviewed everything.
The fingerprint from the wallet belonged to Victor.
The identification was authentic.
The photograph from the old records showed the same man.
There was no explanation.
Then the medical examiner called.
Hale answered.
His face changed.
"You're certain?"
He listened.
"No. Send the report."
He hung up.
Elena asked:
"What?"
"The body identified as Victor three years ago was never conclusively matched with DNA."
Rebecca stared.
"So he could still be alive."
"Apparently."
Ava thought about the red door.
The hidden recordings.
The photographs.
The phrase Phase Two.
"Victor knows everything."
Hale nodded.
"Maybe."
"Then we need to find him."
Before he could answer, the hotel television switched to a breaking news broadcast.
A local reporter stood outside the police station.
Ava watched.
The headline appeared.
TEEN GIRL'S ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BUSINESSMAN CALLED INTO QUESTION
Ava went pale.
The reporter continued.
"Sources close to the Mercer family claim the young woman has a history of emotional instability..."
Elena grabbed the remote.
Turned it off.
Ava stared at the black screen.
"It's starting."
Hale nodded.
"Phase Two."
Her phone buzzed.
Another unknown message.
A video.
She opened it.
The camera showed someone entering a room.
A familiar room.
Her childhood bedroom.
The camera slowly panned across the shelves.
Then stopped on a framed photograph.
A photograph Ava had never seen before.
It showed her.
Claire.
And Daniel.
Together.
The date was seventeen years earlier.
Ava's hands began trembling.
There was more.
The camera moved closer.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten note.
The person filming picked it up.
Then spoke.
A man's voice.
"Your father wasn't lying about one thing."
Ava stopped breathing.
The voice continued.
"You really weren't the first."
The video ended.
Hale stared at the phone.
Then asked:
"Who sent this?"
Ava looked at the screen.
"I think..."
May you like
She swallowed.
"...Victor."
