{"id":11049,"date":"2026-09-15T12:41:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11049"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:41:06","slug":"part-6-i-learned-derek-had-chosen-me-years-before-we-met-and-the-search-beneath-my-garden-exposed-what-my-father-had-buried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11049","title":{"rendered":"PART 6 \u2013 I Learned Derek Had Chosen Me Years Before We Met, and the Search Beneath My Garden Exposed What My Father Had Buried"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I did not believe Samuel at first.<\/p>\n<p>Not because his claim was impossible.<\/p>\n<p>Too many impossible things had already become facts.<\/p>\n<p>I resisted because accepting it would contaminate the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>The first coffee Derek bought me.<\/p>\n<p>The rainy afternoon when we missed a movie and talked for three hours instead.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal in my father\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n<p>Fourteen years of marriage.<\/p>\n<p>If Derek had approached me deliberately, then memory itself had become a crime scene.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long before we met did he know who I was?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel sat across from me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonths?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt least.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverhart knew your father had taken records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd they thought he gave them to me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t know where he hid them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Derek married me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe he was assigned to get close.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris interrupted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBelieve?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never saw the written order.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen how do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I handled expense reimbursements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He turned toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDerek submitted costs for following you before he ever introduced himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My throat tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShow me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel reached into an inner pocket and unfolded several photocopied pages.<\/p>\n<p>Old accounting sheets.<\/p>\n<p>Dates.<\/p>\n<p>Restaurants I recognized.<\/p>\n<p>A bookstore.<\/p>\n<p>A parking garage near my former office.<\/p>\n<p>And Derek\u2019s initials.<\/p>\n<p>DM.<\/p>\n<p>Next to one entry:<\/p>\n<p>SUBJECT C \u2014 INITIAL CONTACT APPROVED.<\/p>\n<p>I read it twice.<\/p>\n<p>The date was four days before I met him.<\/p>\n<p>I remembered that meeting vividly.<\/p>\n<p>I had been standing in line at a coffee shop.<\/p>\n<p>He dropped a receipt.<\/p>\n<p>I picked it up.<\/p>\n<p>He joked that I had saved his expense report.<\/p>\n<p>I laughed.<\/p>\n<p>For years, that became our story.<\/p>\n<p>The charming accident.<\/p>\n<p>There had been no accident.<\/p>\n<p>I put the paper down.<\/p>\n<p>Harris asked Samuel, \u201cWhy keep these?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause once I realized what Everhart was doing, I copied everything I could.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou told me you were only tracking insurance fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you what I thought you could survive knowing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou let me chase half a case for seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kept you alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They stared at each other.<\/p>\n<p>I understood something then.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel had not come to rescue us.<\/p>\n<p>He had come because whatever had remained buried for decades was finally moving again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did my father steal?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel answered carefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot one ledger. A collection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNames?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoney?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrimes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMurders?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we need to recover it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot through your department.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMason?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if Mason is compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou sent the message about Riverdale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel\u2019s eyes moved toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That stopped us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat message?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>Harris showed him.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel read it.<\/p>\n<p>His expression tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone else knows about Riverdale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we have another player,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOr someone trying to make you think there is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The distinction did not comfort me.<\/p>\n<p>By morning, Harris had contacted a federal investigator he trusted from an old financial-crimes case.<\/p>\n<p>Her name was Agent Lena Ortiz.<\/p>\n<p>She arrived alone.<\/p>\n<p>Short dark hair.<\/p>\n<p>No wasted movements.<\/p>\n<p>She listened more than she spoke.<\/p>\n<p>After two hours reviewing the blue folder, Riverdale files, and Samuel\u2019s documents, she said, \u201cWe need the material under the property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou say that as if digging up my yard is the simple part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt may be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the complicated part?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeeping the search secret.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris explained the obvious problem.<\/p>\n<p>My house was under surveillance.<\/p>\n<p>Even after Derek\u2019s arrest, someone had installed new cameras.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone connected to the network could be watching the property.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz proposed entering through the neighboring property.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Higgins.<\/p>\n<p>I almost objected.<\/p>\n<p>Then remembered Mrs. Higgins saying she should have climbed through my window.<\/p>\n<p>She would probably enjoy covert excavation.<\/p>\n<p>We returned after dark using separate vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Higgins answered her back door wearing black sweatpants and a flashlight clipped to her belt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHarris told you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told me enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m seventy-three.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat hasn\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We entered my backyard through a loose fence panel between the properties.<\/p>\n<p>No lights.<\/p>\n<p>No phones.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz\u2019s technical team had already located and disabled two new wireless cameras.<\/p>\n<p>A third had been concealed in a birdhouse.<\/p>\n<p>That offended Mrs. Higgins personally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI bought that birdhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently someone upgraded it,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout permission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We began near the old garage foundation.<\/p>\n<p>I remembered the structure from childhood.<\/p>\n<p>My father kept tools there.<\/p>\n<p>Old fishing equipment.<\/p>\n<p>Paint cans that never seemed to empty.<\/p>\n<p>When Derek moved in, he suggested demolishing it.<\/p>\n<p>He said the wood was rotten.<\/p>\n<p>I had agreed without much thought.<\/p>\n<p>Now every casual decision involving him looked deliberate.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel used the old photograph to identify the northwest corner.<\/p>\n<p>A ground-penetrating scanner detected a rectangular void beneath the patio.<\/p>\n<p>Eight feet by six.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team removed several pavers.<\/p>\n<p>Beneath them was compacted gravel.<\/p>\n<p>Then concrete.<\/p>\n<p>The concrete looked newer than the surrounding foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Derek had resealed it.<\/p>\n<p>Harris noticed the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew where it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t he recover it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe couldn\u2019t open it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat makes you think that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Edward designed the vault.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My father.<\/p>\n<p>Another thing he had never told me.<\/p>\n<p>The team exposed a steel hatch beneath the slab.<\/p>\n<p>No visible hinges.<\/p>\n<p>No handle.<\/p>\n<p>Just a keypad.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat code?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz examined the panel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOld system. Limited attempts before lockout.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you bypass it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Higgins leaned over the hole.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTry Claire\u2019s birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She shrugged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMen hide important things and then choose obvious passwords.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Against my better judgment, Ortiz tried it.<\/p>\n<p>Incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>Our wedding date.<\/p>\n<p>Incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>One attempt remained before lockout.<\/p>\n<p>Harris said, \u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I crouched beside the keypad.<\/p>\n<p>My father had been meticulous.<\/p>\n<p>Not sentimental.<\/p>\n<p>If he believed people might threaten him, he would not choose a family date.<\/p>\n<p>Then I remembered something from childhood.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever he locked his workshop, he used the same four numbers.<\/p>\n<p>I had once asked why.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cIt\u2019s the day I learned not to trust anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At twelve, I assumed he was being dramatic.<\/p>\n<p>I remembered the number.<\/p>\n<p>417.<\/p>\n<p>April seventeenth.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz entered it.<\/p>\n<p>The light turned green.<\/p>\n<p>The hatch released.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Harris lifted it.<\/p>\n<p>Cold air rose from below.<\/p>\n<p>A narrow ladder descended into darkness.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz went first.<\/p>\n<p>Then Harris.<\/p>\n<p>I followed despite every objection.<\/p>\n<p>The chamber smelled of metal and damp concrete.<\/p>\n<p>Shelves lined both walls.<\/p>\n<p>Boxes.<\/p>\n<p>Binders.<\/p>\n<p>Old computer drives.<\/p>\n<p>Microcassettes.<\/p>\n<p>Bank records.<\/p>\n<p>Photographs.<\/p>\n<p>My father had built an archive.<\/p>\n<p>One entire shelf was labeled EVERHART.<\/p>\n<p>Another FAMILY.<\/p>\n<p>I moved toward it.<\/p>\n<p>Harris stopped me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGloves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I pulled on a pair.<\/p>\n<p>The first binder contained photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Derek.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Evans.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Kline.<\/p>\n<p>My father had been watching them.<\/p>\n<p>Not recently.<\/p>\n<p>Before his death.<\/p>\n<p>A photograph of Derek and Natalie together had been taken five years before Derek\u2019s crash.<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie had claimed she barely knew him independently of me.<\/p>\n<p>The image showed them sitting across from each other in a restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed Dr. Evans entering Derek\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed Dr. Kline meeting my father.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese people all knew one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n<p>I opened another folder.<\/p>\n<p>MY DAUGHTERS.<\/p>\n<p>My hands shook.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were letters.<\/p>\n<p>One addressed to Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>One to me.<\/p>\n<p>Both sealed.<\/p>\n<p>I opened mine.<\/p>\n<p>Claire,<\/p>\n<p>If you are reading this, then I failed to keep the problem away from you.<\/p>\n<p>I stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The next line was worse.<\/p>\n<p>Derek may already be in your life.<\/p>\n<p>I had to sit down.<\/p>\n<p>The letter had been written before I married him.<\/p>\n<p>My father knew.<\/p>\n<p>He knew Derek might target me.<\/p>\n<p>Yet he never warned me directly.<\/p>\n<p>I kept reading.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that he had once worked for Everhart, helping structure trusts and financial vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>At first, he believed the company hid taxable money.<\/p>\n<p>Then he learned it profited from manipulated insurance policies, coerced estates, false deaths, and in some cases actual deaths disguised as natural causes or accidents.<\/p>\n<p>He collected evidence.<\/p>\n<p>He planned to expose them.<\/p>\n<p>Then they discovered him.<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s death happened soon after.<\/p>\n<p>I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>My mother died when I was twenty-two.<\/p>\n<p>A stroke.<\/p>\n<p>Sudden.<\/p>\n<p>Uncomplicated, according to the doctors.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Samuel.<\/p>\n<p>He looked away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My voice rose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou keep using that word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I pointed at Samuel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow did my mother die?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father believed she was killed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The chamber seemed to shrink.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy Everhart?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo punish him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to be sick.<\/p>\n<p>My mother had been the uncomplicated grief.<\/p>\n<p>The one death I had never questioned.<\/p>\n<p>Now even that was broken.<\/p>\n<p>I forced myself back to the letter.<\/p>\n<p>My father said he staged his death because he believed remaining publicly alive would put both daughters at risk.<\/p>\n<p>He planned to continue working from inside Everhart while building a case.<\/p>\n<p>He trusted no law-enforcement agency completely.<\/p>\n<p>He named one person he feared most.<\/p>\n<p>Not Derek.<\/p>\n<p>Not Mason.<\/p>\n<p>Not Dr. Evans.<\/p>\n<p>A woman named Evelyn Hart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverhart,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFounder?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOfficially, the company was named decades before she took control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is she now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMostly invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs she E?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris asked.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel said, \u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The single letter from Derek\u2019s messages.<\/p>\n<p>E.<\/p>\n<p>My father had warned me that Evelyn rarely appeared on paper.<\/p>\n<p>She used relatives, attorneys, doctors, accountants, officers, and desperate people willing to trade one crime for protection from another.<\/p>\n<p>One sentence in the letter stopped me.<\/p>\n<p>If Derek is close to you, assume Evelyn knows everything you tell him.<\/p>\n<p>I folded the letter.<\/p>\n<p>Fourteen years.<\/p>\n<p>Every confession.<\/p>\n<p>Every argument.<\/p>\n<p>Every family story.<\/p>\n<p>Every vulnerability.<\/p>\n<p>Possibly reported upward.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz called from the opposite shelf.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need to see this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She held a drive connected to an offline reader.<\/p>\n<p>A video file had loaded.<\/p>\n<p>Dated nine years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>My father appeared on screen.<\/p>\n<p>Alive.<\/p>\n<p>Healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Not the weak man I remembered from hospice.<\/p>\n<p>Beside him stood Dr. Kline.<\/p>\n<p>The recording began.<\/p>\n<p>My father spoke directly to the camera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this file is opened, the contingency has failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He explained his illness had been partly fabricated.<\/p>\n<p>The medications administered during hospice were chosen to mimic rapid decline.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Kline helped stage the death.<\/p>\n<p>Then Dr. Kline spoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI agreed because Edward convinced me Everhart intended to kill him if he remained visible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>The doctor I had blamed moments earlier had helped save him.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing stayed simple.<\/p>\n<p>My father continued.<\/p>\n<p>He said Natalie knew part of the plan.<\/p>\n<p>I felt the room tilt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie knew he was alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The video answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie has agreed to assist with limited communications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood completely still.<\/p>\n<p>My sister had known.<\/p>\n<p>For nine years.<\/p>\n<p>She attended the funeral beside me.<\/p>\n<p>Held my hand.<\/p>\n<p>Watched me mourn.<\/p>\n<p>And knew.<\/p>\n<p>The video continued.<\/p>\n<p>My father explained that Natalie was chosen because she traveled frequently and could carry messages without attracting attention.<\/p>\n<p>Over time, however, he became concerned she had grown too close to Derek.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is vulnerable to pressure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wants money. She wants approval. Derek understands both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I shut my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Every layer of betrayal contained an earlier one.<\/p>\n<p>Then my father leaned toward the camera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Claire finds this, tell her I am sorry I chose secrecy over trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Sorry was becoming the favorite word of people who had destroyed my life.<\/p>\n<p>The final portion of the video contained a warning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ledger is incomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>My father said the most important file had been removed from the vault years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>A master index linking real names to shell companies, deaths, false identities, and payments.<\/p>\n<p>He believed Derek took it.<\/p>\n<p>Then he added:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut Derek never understood the index alone is useless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel whispered, \u201cThe key.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat key?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>My father looked into the camera as though he knew I would eventually be watching.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decryption key is not hidden in the vault.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I waited.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is hidden with Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My father smiled sadly on screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has had it since childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The video ended.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Then Mrs. Higgins called from above.<\/p>\n<p>Her voice was sharp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone\u2019s in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris drew his weapon.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz killed the reader.<\/p>\n<p>We climbed out.<\/p>\n<p>A light had appeared upstairs.<\/p>\n<p>My bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>We had left the house dark.<\/p>\n<p>Harris signaled the tactical officers.<\/p>\n<p>They entered through the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>Seconds later came shouting.<\/p>\n<p>A crash.<\/p>\n<p>Then silence.<\/p>\n<p>Harris received a message through his earpiece.<\/p>\n<p>He looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone got out the front.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey found one person inside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We entered carefully.<\/p>\n<p>A woman sat handcuffed in my living room.<\/p>\n<p>Blood marked her lower lip.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>She looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>Her face collapsed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood several feet away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew Dad was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She started crying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor nine years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou let me bury him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought I was protecting you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laughed once.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo did he.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Natalie shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. You don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen make me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked toward Harris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe came here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDerek.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My chest tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris stepped forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Natalie swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe man you arrested wasn\u2019t Derek.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was a substitute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDNA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey manipulated the comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie looked back at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe real Derek was here ten minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She began trembling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he took something from your bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Natalie\u2019s eyes moved toward the stairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe photograph of you and your father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mind raced.<\/p>\n<p>The hallway photograph.<\/p>\n<p>Me at seven years old, sitting on my father\u2019s shoulders at the county fair.<\/p>\n<p>It had hung beside my bedroom for decades.<\/p>\n<p>The frame.<\/p>\n<p>The picture.<\/p>\n<p>Something I had possessed since childhood.<\/p>\n<p>The decryption key.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knows,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe finally figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11050\">Click here to continue reading: PART 7: Derek\u2019s Prison Identity Collapsed, Natalie Confessed the Part She Had Hidden, and My Childhood Photograph Became the Most Dangerous Object Left<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I did not believe Samuel at first. Not because his claim was impossible. Too many impossible things had already become facts. I resisted because accepting it would contaminate the beginning. &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11069,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11049\/revisions\/11069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}