Chapter 5 - The Door Came Down
The third strike nearly tore the front door from its hinges.
BOOM.
Sophie jumped.
I pulled her against my side.
Daniel stood between us and the entrance, gripping the metal box against his chest.
My mother was frozen beside the fireplace.
Melissa stared at her as if she were seeing a stranger.
“Mom,” she whispered.
Carol didn't answer.
Another impact shook the house.
BOOM.
The lock splintered.
Daniel looked at me.
“There’s a back exit through the kitchen.”
I shook my head.
“What about Owen?”
Melissa looked toward her son.
He was crouched beside the couch, crying silently.
“I’m taking him.”
“Then move.”
For the first time that morning, Melissa didn't argue with me.
She ran to Owen.
I grabbed Sophie.
Daniel shoved the metal box into my hands.
“Keep this.”
“What?”
“If they catch me, they’ll search me first.”
“Daniel—”
“Go.”
The front door cracked open.
A gloved hand reached through.
My mother screamed.
Daniel grabbed a heavy brass fireplace poker.
The door burst inward.
Two men stepped inside.
Both wore dark coats.
Both were strangers.
The first man raised a weapon.
Daniel swung the poker.
The man's wrist snapped backward.
The weapon clattered across the floor.
“RUN!”
We ran.
I pulled Sophie through the kitchen.
Melissa dragged Owen behind us.
Glass shattered somewhere in the living room.
Someone shouted.
Then came a gunshot.
Sophie screamed.
I covered her ears.
“Don't look back.”
We reached the rear door.
Locked.
I fumbled with the handle.
“Come on!”
Melissa grabbed the deadbolt.
“It’s stuck.”
“Move.”
I slammed my shoulder against the door.
Once.
Twice.
The third time, it opened.
Cold air hit us.
We spilled into the backyard.
Snow covered the grass.
Behind us, another gunshot cracked through the house.
We ran toward the detached garage.
Daniel came through the door seconds later.
His cheek was bleeding.
“Get in the car!”
I opened the garage.
An old black SUV sat beneath a tarp.
Daniel threw the tarp aside.
“You still have this?”
“I kept it for John.”
He climbed behind the wheel.
Everyone piled inside.
I put Sophie beside me.
Melissa and Owen sat in the back.
Daniel started the engine.
The garage door opened.
We shot into the street.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Only the sound of Owen crying softly filled the car.
Then Melissa whispered,
“Are they going to kill us?”
Daniel stared at the road.
“If they wanted us dead, they would have done it inside.”
I looked at him.
“Then what do they want?”
“The evidence.”
I placed the metal box on my lap.
“What evidence?”
“Your father's financial records.”
“And the recording?”
“More than that.”
Daniel glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
“John discovered the account wasn't simply stealing money.”
“What was it doing?”
“Moving it.”
“To where?”
“A shell company.”
I frowned.
“Whose?”
Daniel didn't answer.
I looked at Melissa.
She had gone pale.
“You know.”
She shook her head.
“I don't.”
“Then why do you look terrified?”
She looked away.
“Because I remember the name.”
“What name?”
She swallowed.
“Redwood Holdings.”
Daniel slammed his hand against the steering wheel.
“Damn it.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“That's the company John was investigating.”
My mother's voice suddenly echoed in my memory.
You don't understand what will happen if you expose this.
I turned toward Melissa.
“How do you know that name?”
She closed her eyes.
“I saw it once.”
“When?”
She didn't answer.
“Melissa.”
She finally looked at me.
“When Dad disappeared.”
The car went silent.
“You were there?”
“No.”
“You knew something.”
“I knew he was fighting with Mom.”
“What else?”
Melissa's eyes filled with tears.
“She told me Dad was going to destroy everything.”
“What did he want to destroy?”
“I don't know.”
“Stop saying that.”
My voice sharpened.
“You always know more than you admit.”
She flinched.
Then she whispered,
“Dad came to me the night before he disappeared.”
I stared at her.
“What did he say?”
“He told me not to trust Mom.”
My breath caught.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was seventeen.”
“You were old enough.”
“I was scared!”
Her voice broke.
“I was scared she would leave me too.”
I looked at her.
For years, I had imagined Melissa as my mother's willing accomplice.
Maybe I had been wrong.
Maybe she had been another prisoner.
But that didn't explain everything.
I remembered the note.
You're worthless.
The humiliation.
The cruelty.
The years of insults.
If Melissa was afraid of our mother, why had she helped her destroy Sophie?
I asked the question.
Melissa couldn't answer.
Finally, she whispered,
“Because Mom promised me something.”
“What?”
“That if I did what she asked, she'd protect Owen.”
I looked at Owen.
He was asleep against the window now.
“What did she ask you to do?”
Melissa began crying.
“I was supposed to make you leave.”
My blood ran cold.
“Leave where?”
“The family.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because Dad left something for you.”
Daniel answered.
“The inheritance.”
I looked at him.
“What inheritance?”
“John had moved ownership of several properties and investment accounts into a trust.”
“For me?”
“For both daughters.”
Daniel paused.
“But there was a condition.”
“What?”
“You had to be told the truth about his disappearance before you could access it.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So Mom spent twelve years keeping me away from my own inheritance.”
Daniel nodded.
“She was afraid you would find the records.”
I looked down at the metal box.
“What records?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
“Every transfer. Every account. Every person who received money.”
My heart hammered.
“And Victor Hale?”
Daniel's face hardened.
“He wasn't working alone.”
I waited.
“Who was helping him?”
Daniel glanced at Melissa.
She looked terrified.
Then he said,
“Your mother.”
The words landed like a blow.
I stared at him.
“No.”
“She helped move the money.”
“No.”
“She signed documents.”
“No.”
“She lied to John.”
My voice cracked.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“And Melissa knew enough to be useful.”
I turned toward my sister.
She covered her face.
“I didn't know what they were doing.”
I believed her.
Partly.
But there was something she wasn't telling us.
And I could feel it.
We drove for another twenty minutes.
Then Daniel pulled into an abandoned roadside diner.
The sign was dark.
The parking lot was empty.
He killed the engine.
“We can't stay together.”
“What?”
“They're tracking the SUV.”
“How?”
“Your mother's phone.”
I looked at Melissa.
She immediately understood.
“Mom.”
Daniel nodded.
“She put a tracker on your phone.”
Melissa pulled it from her pocket.
“I didn't know.”
Daniel took it.
Then threw it into the snow.
A second later, a black sedan passed the diner.
Slowly.
Then disappeared.
Nobody breathed.
Daniel waited.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Then he whispered,
“They found us.”
Sophie suddenly reached into her backpack.
“Mom.”
“What?”
She pulled out her sketchbook.
“There's another page.”
I looked down.
It showed a red door.
A black car.
And four words written beneath them.
Don't trust Aunt Melissa.
I stared at my daughter.
Then at my sister.
Melissa began shaking.
“I didn't write that.”
Sophie looked at her.
“I know.”
“Then who did?”
Sophie pointed at the bottom corner.
A tiny red triangle.
The same symbol from the box.
“The same person who left Grandpa's clues.”
I looked at Daniel.
His face had gone completely white.
“What?” I asked.
He whispered,
“That symbol wasn't John's.”
“Then whose was it?”
Daniel looked toward the road.
“The person who helped him disappear.”
And suddenly, the mystery became even darker.
Because if my father had left clues for me before he died, someone else had been leaving clues for Sophie.
Someone who knew my daughter existed.
May you like
Someone who knew about the evidence.
Someone who had been watching our family for years.
