Chapter 7 - The church stood abandoned on the edge of town.Elena arrived at sunrise.
Ruiz waited outside.
“You brought the key?”
She nodded.
Daniel was not with her.
Neither was Vanessa.
“Good,” Ruiz said.
“What do you know about this place?”
“Your father came here frequently.”
“For what?”
Ruiz pointed toward the building.
“Confession.”
Elena frowned.
“My father wasn't religious.”
“He wasn't confessing to a priest.”
They entered.
Dust covered the wooden benches.
At the altar stood an old cross.
Ruiz walked toward it.
“There.”
A tiny slot had been carved beneath the cross.
Elena inserted the key.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
And a letter.
Her hands shook.
She pressed play.
Her father's voice filled the empty church.
“Elena, if you're hearing this, I'm probably gone.”
She closed her eyes.
“I need you to understand something.”
Static.
“Margaret isn't the person you should fear.”
Elena opened her eyes.
Ruiz looked at her.
Her father's voice continued.
“Daniel is.”
The recording stopped.
Elena stared at the machine.
“That can't be.”
Ruiz remained silent.
The recorder clicked again.
A second recording began.
“Daniel doesn't know who he serves.”
Elena's heart raced.
“He thinks Margaret is in control.”
A pause.
“She isn't.”
“Then who is?” Elena whispered.
Her father didn't answer.
Instead, the recording contained one final sentence.
“Look at your wedding photograph.”
Elena immediately pulled out her phone.
Ruiz frowned.
“Your wedding photograph?”
She opened the image.
At first, nothing.
Then she zoomed in.
Behind the guests stood an old man.
Elena recognized him.
She gasped.
“That man.”
Ruiz leaned closer.
“Who?”
“My grandfather.”
“But your grandfather died forty years ago.”
Elena stared.
“No.”
The photograph was taken twelve years ago.
The man in the background was alive.
And standing beside him was Daniel.
Ruiz's expression hardened.
“That's impossible.”
Elena zoomed closer.
The image revealed something else.
A small tattoo on the man's wrist.
A black crescent.
Ruiz recognized it.
“I've seen that symbol.”
“Where?”
“In three unsolved cases.”
“What kind?”
“Disappearances.”
Elena felt cold.
“What does it mean?”
Ruiz looked at her.
“It belongs to a private network.”
“Criminal?”
“Yes.”
“How powerful?”
Ruiz paused.
“Powerful enough to erase people.”
A sound came from outside.
Car doors.
Then footsteps.
Ruiz immediately drew his weapon.
“Someone followed us.”
The church doors slammed open.
Two masked men entered.
Ruiz fired into the ceiling.
“Police! Drop your weapons!”
The men ran.
Elena chased one toward the side exit.
He escaped through the cemetery.
But before disappearing, he threw something toward her.
A phone.
Elena picked it up.
One message was open.
WE KNOW YOU FOUND THE RECORDING.
Then another message appeared.
NOW ASK RUIZ WHY YOUR FATHER DIED.
Elena turned.
Ruiz had gone pale.
“Detective?”
He said nothing.
“What happened to my father?”
Ruiz looked away.
Elena stepped closer.
“You know.”
Finally, he answered.
“I was there.”
Elena froze.
May you like
“Where?”
“When he died.”
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