Chapter 4: The Man Who Knew Too Much
For several seconds, nobody in the hotel room spoke.
I stared at the photograph in Thomas Reed's hand, at the red warning scrawled across its bottom, and at the two names beneath it.
Daniel Carter.
Thomas Reed.
My father and the man who had spent the last twenty-four hours promising to help me find him.
“One of you betrayed him,” I whispered.
Thomas didn't look away.
“Yes.””
The answer was so immediate that my stomach tightened.
Detective Rachel Morgan closed the door and stepped between Thomas and the exit.
“Mr. Reed, I need you to explain exactly what this photograph means.””
Thomas placed it on the conference table.
“I don't know who wrote the message. I received it this morning, just before I came here.””
“You didn't think to tell us?”” Detective Morgan asked.
“I wanted to verify it first.””
“By bringing a seventeen-year-old girl into a room with a man whose name appears on a potential betrayal warning?””
“I didn't know the warning was authentic.””
I stared at him.
“You said my father trusted you.””
“He did.””
“Then why is your name on that photograph?””
Thomas looked at me, and for the first time since we'd met, I saw something in his expression that resembled fear.
“Because I made a decision seventeen years ago that I have regretted every day since.””
My hands curled into fists.
“What decision?””
He drew a breath.
“I gave Victor Hayes information about your father's whereabouts.””
Detective Morgan immediately reached for her radio.
I felt as though someone had punched me in the chest.
“You what?””
“Your father was in danger. Victor had threatened to expose him as a thief and destroy his reputation. I thought I could negotiate with Victor. I believed that if I gave him a meeting location, I could convince him to leave your father alone.””
“And you gave him the location?””
“Yes.””
“Knowing what Victor wanted to do to him?””
“I knew they were fighting over money. I didn't know Victor intended to make your father disappear.””
I laughed once, a horrible sound that didn't feel like mine.
“You didn't know?””
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“No.””
“You're asking me to believe that you handed my father over to a dangerous man because you thought they might have a polite conversation?””
“No. I'm asking you to understand that I made a terrible mistake.””
I stepped away from him.
For seventeen years, I'd imagined hundreds of reasons my father hadn't come back. Sometimes I pictured him trapped somewhere, unable to reach me. Sometimes I imagined he had forgotten me. On my worst nights, I wondered whether he'd left because he no longer wanted me.
I'd never imagined that a stranger's mistake might have helped take him away.
Detective Morgan moved closer to Thomas.
“Did you report this to the police?””
“I reported Daniel missing.””
“That wasn't my question.””
Thomas hesitated.
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because Victor threatened to accuse me of participating in the financial fraud. I had a wife and a young son. I was terrified I'd lose everything.””
His voice cracked.
“So you protected your family,” I said, “and let mine believe my father was dead.””
Thomas didn't defend himself.
“Yes.””
I slapped the photograph off the table.
It landed face down on the carpet.
“Get out.””
“Nia—”
“GET OUT!””
Detective Morgan caught my arm before I could move toward him.
“Miss Carter, take a breath.””
“I don't want him here!””
Thomas stood slowly.
He didn't try to touch me.
“I understand.””
“No, you don't. You don't get to tell me you understand anything about my life.””
He swallowed.
“You're right.””
He walked toward the door.
Then he stopped.
“There is one thing I need you to know. Whatever I did seventeen years ago, I have spent every year since trying to find Daniel. I never stopped looking.””
“Then why did you find me only yesterday?””
“Because someone recently accessed a dormant account connected to your father's estate. That account contained a reference to the silver bird. It led me to a storage unit, and the storage unit led me to you.””
I stared at him.
“Who accessed the account?””
Thomas looked toward Detective Morgan.
“We don't know yet.””
Before he could say more, the detective's radio crackled.
A male voice reported that a black sedan had been spotted near the storage facility on the address from the letter.
The vehicle was registered to a company connected to Victor Hayes.
Detective Morgan's expression hardened.
“I'm going there.””
Thomas immediately shook his head.
“You shouldn't go alone.””
“I wasn't planning to.””
She turned toward me.
“You're staying here with an officer until we know what's happening.””
“No.””
“Nia, this isn't a request.””
“My father might be there.””
“And if Victor is there, you could be walking into a dangerous situation.””
I looked at the photograph on the floor.
“I've spent eight years being told my father was dead. Yesterday, my stepsister destroyed the first thing I've ever won. This morning, I learned that the man who might have saved him could have betrayed him.””
My voice trembled.
“I am done sitting in rooms while other people decide what I deserve to know.””
Detective Morgan studied me for a long moment.
Then she glanced at Rebecca Shaw, who had been quietly listening near the window.
Rebecca closed her briefcase.
“Nia doesn't need to enter the facility,” she said.
“But she can accompany us to a secure location and remain under supervision. If we find evidence involving her father, she should hear it directly.””
The detective considered this.
“Fine. But you follow every instruction I give you.””
I nodded.
Thomas remained by the door.
I didn't look at him.
He left without another word.
And somehow, his silence hurt more than any excuse could have.
The storage facility stood behind a row of industrial buildings on the outskirts of Boston.
A cold wind swept across the parking lot as Detective Morgan's team arrived. Gray clouds hung low over the city, and the metallic smell of approaching rain filled the air.
I sat in the back of the police vehicle, watching officers move toward the entrance.
Rebecca sat beside me.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”” she asked.
“No.””
She turned toward me.
I looked down at my hands.
“But I want to know more than I'm afraid of finding out.””
She nodded.
“That is a brave answer.””
A uniformed officer approached the vehicle.
“Detective Morgan wants you both to remain here until the facility is secured.””
I watched the entrance.
Then I saw the black sedan.
It was parked behind a loading bay, partially concealed by a row of delivery vans.
The driver's door opened.
Victor Hayes stepped out.
He was older than in the photographs, with silver threaded through his dark hair. He wore an expensive coat and carried a leather folder beneath one arm.
He looked nothing like a dead man.
He looked like someone who had spent years making sure other people disappeared instead.
My phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number appeared on the screen.
If you want the truth about your father, ask Vanessa what happened the night he died.
I read it twice.
Then I showed Rebecca.
Her face tightened.
“Did anyone else see this?””
“No.””
She photographed the message with her phone.
“Don't respond.””
I looked through the window again.
Victor was speaking to a man near the loading bay. The man handed him a small metal key.
Victor examined it, nodded, and walked toward the storage building.
Then he stopped.
He turned directly toward the police vehicle.
For one terrible second, I thought he was looking at me.
He smiled.
Not broadly.
Just enough to let me know he recognized the car.
Then he raised two fingers to his forehead in a mocking salute.
And disappeared inside.
Detective Morgan came running toward us moments later.
“Stay in the vehicle,” she ordered.
“What happened?””
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she opened the rear door and looked directly at me.
“The storage unit has been emptied.””
My stomach dropped.
“Everything?””
“Almost everything.””
“What does that mean?””
She glanced toward the building.
“There was a metal box inside. It contained photographs, bank records, and a letter addressed to you.””
I grabbed the edge of the seat.
“Where is it?””
“Victor took the box before our officers entered.””
My heart began to race.
“Then go after him!””
“We are.””
Detective Morgan's radio crackled again.
An officer reported that the black sedan had left through a service exit.
Victor was gone.
And whatever my father had hidden seventeen years ago was now in the hands of the man who might have made him disappear.
But Detective Morgan wasn't finished.
She held up a transparent evidence bag.
Inside was a single object.
A tiny silver button.
My breath stopped.
I knew that button.
It had belonged to my father's favorite coat.
The coat he'd supposedly been wearing on the night of his fatal accident.
The coat Vanessa had told me was destroyed in the fire.
I stared at the button until the world blurred.
Then Detective Morgan spoke.
“Nia, there's something else. The storage unit's rental records show that the person who paid for it wasn't your father.””
She turned the evidence bag over.
May you like
A name was printed on the attached label.
*VANESSA HAYES.*
