Chapter 3: The Man in the Missing Report
The storage facility stood behind an abandoned shopping center on the eastern edge of the city.
Emma arrived shortly after seven the following morning.
Her mother's brass key rested inside her coat pocket.
She had barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the photograph of Adrian's wrecked car. Then she saw her father standing in their old kitchen, wiping grease from his hands and promising to take her to the seaside when he finished his next job.
She had spent eleven years believing that promise had died with him.
Now she wondered whether someone had deliberately taken it away.
Locker 214 was at the end of a narrow corridor.
Emma inserted the key.
The lock turned.
Inside were three cardboard boxes, an old leather jacket, and a metal toolbox.
She recognized the toolbox immediately.
It was the same one she had watched her father carry into the garage every morning.
Her knees weakened.
She crouched and ran her fingers over the scratched metal surface.
"Hello, Dad," she whispered.
For a moment, she was seventeen again.
Then she noticed the envelope taped beneath the lid.
Her name was written across it.
For Emma. If anything happens to me.
She sat on the concrete floor and opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
My little girl,
If you're reading this, I failed to come home. I need you to know that nothing I did was because I wanted to leave you. I found something I wasn't supposed to find, and the people involved have made it clear that they will do anything to keep it hidden.
Emma pressed the paper against her mouth.
She continued.
*There is a man named Richard Blackwood. He believes he owns everyone who works for him. But his son Adrian is not like him.
Adrian has asked questions. He wants to expose what his father has done.*
I have agreed to help him.
If something happens to me, find the original report. It will tell you who was in the car.
The letter ended with a sentence that made Emma's blood run cold.
Trust the boy, but never trust the family.
A metallic sound came from behind her.
Emma turned.
The storage corridor was empty.
She quickly folded the letter and slipped it into her handbag.
Then she heard footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming toward her locker.
A man appeared at the end of the corridor wearing a gray coat and black leather gloves.
"Miss Carter?""
Emma stood.
"Who are you?""
He glanced at the open locker.
"Someone who would prefer you didn't look any further.""
Emma reached for her phone.
"Stay where you are.""
The man smiled faintly.
"Your father used to say the same thing.""
Emma stopped moving.
"You knew him?""
"Very well.""
"What happened to him?""
The man took another step.
"Your mother should have kept the key.""
Emma backed toward the exit.
"Answer me.""
"Your father was a stubborn man.""
"And you?""
"I am a man who understands consequences.""
Emma's phone connected to emergency services.
The man noticed.
His expression changed.
He turned and walked away.
Emma ran after him, but by the time she reached the main entrance, he had disappeared into the morning traffic.
A black motorcycle stood near the curb.
Its engine was still warm.
At Blackwood Holdings, Adrian was standing in front of the boardroom windows when Marcus entered.
"Sir, we recovered part of the missing footage.""
Adrian turned.
"Show me.""
Marcus connected a laptop to the large screen.
The ballroom appeared.
The footage showed Vanessa entering the restricted corridor.
She looked around before approaching the security terminal.
Then she removed something from her handbag.
A small black device.
"Zoom in," Adrian ordered.
Marcus enlarged the image.
It was a portable access key.
"She disabled the camera system," Adrian said.
"Yes.""
"Can you identify the device?""
"Not yet. But there's another recording.""
The screen changed.
A camera outside the hotel showed a man entering the building at 8:31 p.m.
He wore a dark suit and carried a slim leather case.
Adrian leaned closer.
"Who is that?""
Marcus paused the image.
"That's what we're trying to establish.""
Adrian studied the man's face.
Something about him seemed familiar.
Then he noticed the man's left hand.
A gold ring.
A black stone surrounded by a thin silver border.
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Where have I seen that ring?""
Marcus opened another photograph.
It showed a man standing beside Richard Blackwood at a company event from eleven years earlier.
The same ring.
The same man.
"His name is Victor Hale," Marcus said.
"He was your father's head of private security.""
Adrian stared at the screen.
Victor Hale had disappeared after the mountain-road accident.
The official explanation was that he had resigned and moved overseas.
But Adrian remembered something else.
Three weeks before the crash, Victor had visited his hospital room while he was still recovering from an unrelated injury.
He had told Adrian that Daniel Carter was a thief.
He had claimed Daniel had stolen confidential documents and disappeared.
Adrian had believed him.
Until now.
"Find Victor," Adrian ordered.
Marcus nodded.
"And Marcus?""
"Yes, sir?""
"Find Daniel Carter.""
Marcus hesitated.
"Sir, Daniel Carter was reported dead eleven years ago.""
"I know what the report says.""
Adrian walked toward the desk and opened a locked drawer.
Inside was a photograph.
A younger Adrian stood beside an older man in a mechanic's uniform.
Daniel Carter.
Adrian ran his thumb over the photograph.
"Find out what really happened.""
Emma returned to her apartment just before noon.
Her mother was waiting.
The moment Emma entered, Margaret noticed the letter in her hand.
"You opened it.""
"Yes.""
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Emma—"
"You knew he had written to me.""
"I found the letter after the funeral.""
"And you hid it?""
"I was terrified.""
"Of what? That I might learn the truth?""
Margaret stood.
"Of losing you too.""
Emma placed the letter on the table.
"Who was Victor Hale?""
Her mother looked confused.
"Where did you hear that name?""
"Someone at the storage facility mentioned him.""
Margaret gripped the edge of the table.
"Victor worked for Richard Blackwood.""
"Was he involved in Dad's death?""
"I don't know.""
"Mom, please stop saying that.""
Margaret looked away.
"Your father told me that Victor had threatened him. He said if anything happened, I should take you and leave the city.""
"Why didn't we?""
"Because the police told me your father was dead, and the company offered compensation. I thought the danger was over.""
Emma stared at her.
"How much?""
Margaret didn't answer.
"How much did they pay you?""
"Two hundred thousand dollars.""
Emma stepped back.
The number struck her harder than she expected.
"Two hundred thousand?""
"They said it was compensation for his years of service.""
"Did you sign anything?""
Margaret nodded.
"What?""
"A confidentiality agreement.""
Emma let out a bitter laugh.
"They paid you to stay quiet.""
"I had no choice.""
"You always had a choice.""
"Your father was dead, Emma! I had a seventeen-year-old daughter and no income. Men came to our house.
They followed me to work. One of them left a photograph of you outside your school.""
Emma fell silent.
Margaret's voice broke.
"I was afraid they would take you too.""
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Emma's phone rang.
Adrian.
She considered ignoring it.
But she answered.
"What?""
"Emma, where are you?""
"Why?""
"Because someone just tried to access your apartment building's security system.""
Her stomach tightened.
"How do you know?""
"My security team traced the attempt.""
"Your security team?""
"Yes.""
"Why are you monitoring me?""
"I'm not. I'm trying to protect you.""
Emma laughed without humor.
"You've spent months lying to me. Why should I believe anything you say?""
"Because someone is looking for the same information you are.""
"Who?""
"Victor Hale.""
Emma glanced at her mother.
"Do you know where he is?""
"I have an address.""
"Send it.""
"Not until you agree to meet me.""
"No.""
"Emma, please.""
"Why should I?""
Adrian's voice became quieter.
"Because I found something about your father.""
She gripped the phone.
"What?""
"I found a photograph from the night of my accident.""
"And?""
"Your father was standing beside my car.""
"Before the crash?""
"Yes.""
Emma swallowed.
"Was he alive?""
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Then he said something that made her blood run cold.
"Emma, the police report says your father died in the warehouse fire three days before my accident.""
"I know.""
"But I have another report.""
"What does it say?""
"It says Daniel Carter was alive when the car was found.""
Emma closed her eyes.
For eleven years, she had imagined her father's final moments in a burning warehouse.
Now she was being told he might have survived that night.
"Where is the report?"" she whispered.
"At my house.""
"Why didn't you tell me before?""
"Because I only found it this morning.""
"Who gave it to you?""
"My father.""
Emma frowned.
"Your father is dead.""
"Yes.""
"Then how—"
"He left it in a safe deposit box. The instructions were released to me yesterday.""
Emma looked at the letter on the table.
"What's in the report?""
Adrian exhaled.
"Three names.""
"Whose?""
"Mine. Your father's. And the name of the person who was driving the car.""
"Who was driving?""
Silence.
Then Adrian answered.
"Victor Hale.""
Emma closed her eyes.
A moment later, Adrian added something else.
"There's one more thing you need to know.""
"What?""
"The report lists your father as the passenger. But the hospital records say he was brought in alive.""
Emma's fingers went numb.
"Where was he taken?""
"St. Mary's Hospital.""
"Then why was he declared dead in a warehouse fire?""
"That's what I intend to find out.""
Emma looked at her mother.
Margaret was crying silently.
"Send me the address," Emma said.
Adrian paused.
"Will you come?""
"I'll come for the truth. Nothing else.""
"I understand.""
The call ended.
A message arrived seconds later.
It contained an address in the northern part of the city.
Emma picked up her coat.
But before she could leave, her mother caught her wrist.
"Emma, don't go.""
"Why?""
Margaret shook her head.
"Because I remember what happened after your father's accident.""
Emma stared at her.
"What happened?""
Her mother whispered the words she had been hiding for eleven years.
"Victor Hale came to our house the night your father disappeared.""
"And?""
"He wasn't alone.""
"Who was with him?""
Margaret looked directly into her daughter's eyes.
"Adrian Blackwood.""
Emma felt the floor shift beneath her feet.
"That's impossible.""
"I saw him.""
"Adrian was the victim of the accident.""
"That's what everyone believed.""
Margaret reached into her pocket and removed an old photograph.
It showed three men standing outside a hospital entrance.
Daniel Carter.
Victor Hale.
And a much younger Adrian Blackwood.
On the back, in her father's handwriting, were seven words.
*THE BOY KNOWS WHO LEFT ME BEHIND.*
Emma stared at the photograph.
Then her phone vibrated again.
A new message from Adrian appeared.
There's something I didn't tell you.
A second message followed.
I remember your father.
May you like
And then a third.
I remember leaving him behind.
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