Chapter 16 - THE FIRST LIE
The walls hadn’t been blue in twenty-five years.
But beneath layers of paint, the room still belonged to memory.
Ortiz’s team searched everything.
Nothing.
Closet.
Floorboards.
Air vents.
Electrical outlets.
Then I remembered.
When I was nine, I broke my father’s watch.
I blamed Natalie.
My first serious lie.
Dad knew immediately.
He didn’t punish me.
He made me write:
THE TRUTH DOESN’T CHANGE BECAUSE YOU’RE AFRAID OF IT.
He taped it beneath my desk.
The desk was long gone.
But the wall behind it had a narrow wooden baseboard.
I pulled.
A section came loose.
Behind it sat an envelope.
My father had hidden something there decades later.
Inside was a handwritten password.
AUGUST14-TRUTH
Federal investigators entered it.
The cloud vault opened.
Files flooded the screen.
Transactions.
Audio.
Emails.
Payment records.
And one folder labeled:
L.M.
Laura Mercer.
The final file was a voicemail from Thomas to Victor.
“Grant wants her frightened. I want the problem resolved permanently.”
Ortiz looked at me.
There it was.
Not ambiguity.
Not implication.
Intent.
Another recording showed Thomas speaking to Diane the night before my father died.
“Give Robert the tablet Grant brings you.”
“What is it?”
“Something for his heart.”
“Is it safe?”
“Of course.”
Thomas had lied to her.
Diane had still chosen to administer an unknown drug.
But Thomas had engineered the murder.
Grant had delivered the pill.
Thomas supplied it.
Diane gave it.
Three different degrees of guilt.
One dead man.
Then we found Thomas’s contingency file.
It contained passports.
Cash locations.
Safe houses.
One property remained active.
A cabin north of Blackwater Lake.
Ortiz mobilized agents.
Before leaving, she looked at me.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“He killed my wife.”
“Yes.”
“He killed my father.”
“Yes.”
“And he threatened my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“That’s exactly why you stay here.”
I hated that she was right.
Two hours later, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Thomas.
“They found the cabin.”
I said nothing.
“I’m not there.”
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
My skin prickled.
“Close to what?”
He laughed quietly.
“Emma.”
I ran upstairs.
Her room was empty.
The window stood open.
Then I heard Natalie scream downstairs.
“Daniel!”
I sprinted outside.
Emma stood in the driveway.
Safe.
Beside her was a federal agent.
Across the street, a man in a baseball cap was running toward a parked sedan.
Thomas.
May you like
He had come himself.
He had finally made a mistake.
