Matthew was brought into the interview room again that evening.<\/p>\n
This time, I was waiting for him.<\/p>\n
He looked at me through the glass before entering.<\/p>\n
When he sat down, he didn't speak.<\/p>\n
I placed Cole's letter on the table.<\/p>\n
Matthew stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou signed the custody agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew they intended to take Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I could stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone keeps saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it's true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFear doesn't explain everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He lowered his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn't excuse anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the first honest thing he'd said without defending himself.<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me about Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew looked at the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe recruited me after Dad died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Dad had left debts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas that true?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich ones?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney he had redirected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBack to people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTransfers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Dad's office.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the hidden files.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Cole know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone gave him access.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never learned.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Dad owe him money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what did Cole want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it was the last property tied directly to the original trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
The house wasn't valuable merely because of its location.<\/p>\n
It was valuable because ownership of it connected the entire fraudulent chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the house changed hands, what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old claims became harder to challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if I stayed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could contest everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they needed me gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPreferably declared incapable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Lily?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know how to forgive you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't expect you to.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer hurt more than an excuse would have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Dad know about Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn't he go to the police?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone inside the system warned Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the ledger.<\/p>\n
Payments to clerks.<\/p>\n
Officials.<\/p>\n
People who could erase records.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow deep was it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew took a breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad told me the only safe way was to gather proof first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was building the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he became sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you poison him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew's face went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you suspect him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Dad told me he had been threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy someone above him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father died years before Anthony.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean people who continued working after he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho runs it now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou must know something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew looked toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was one person Cole answered to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
He whispered a name.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard Ellis.\u201d<\/p>\n
I froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my father's brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy uncle?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had never met him.<\/p>\n
He had disappeared from the family before I was born.<\/p>\n
I remembered old photographs.<\/p>\n
A man standing beside my father.<\/p>\n
A man nobody discussed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cDead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who replaced him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cCole.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat back.<\/p>\n
The chain was becoming clearer.<\/p>\n
My grandfather created the system.<\/p>\n
My father participated in it.<\/p>\n
Anthony discovered it.<\/p>\n
Cole inherited control.<\/p>\n
Matthew was recruited.<\/p>\n
And I had been kept outside it until my property became necessary.<\/p>\n
But there was still one missing person.<\/p>\n
Evelyn.<\/p>\n
She had survived.<\/p>\n
She had preserved evidence.<\/p>\n
She had waited beneath the house.<\/p>\n
And now she was finally free.<\/p>\n
I left Matthew with the officers.<\/p>\n
Outside, Ella and Jonah were waiting.<\/p>\n
I showed them the letter from Anna.<\/p>\n
Ella touched the paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonah looked at the handwriting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom always said she wanted us together.\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
We went back to the house.<\/p>\n
Evelyn was sitting beside the window.<\/p>\n
She looked tired.<\/p>\n
I placed the letter in front of her.<\/p>\n
She touched it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mother always knew how to hide things.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know where we would end up?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know about the property?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know my father was involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't excuse him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he was also trapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of Matthew.<\/p>\n
The same pattern.<\/p>\n
Different generation.<\/p>\n
Fear passed from one person to another until it became a family tradition.<\/p>\n
I hated it.<\/p>\n
I wanted it to end with me.<\/p>\n
Evelyn opened her hand.<\/p>\n
Inside was a tiny brass key.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the last one.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it open?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna's box.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn smiled sadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou already have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pointed toward the old clock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first key.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
The key marked 17.<\/p>\n
But I had used that key on the barn locker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere's another compartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
We returned to the clock.<\/p>\n
Behind the face was another opening.<\/p>\n
The key fit.<\/p>\n
A small drawer slid out.<\/p>\n
Inside was a folded map.<\/p>\n
A photograph.<\/p>\n
And one handwritten sentence.<\/p>\n
The person who controls the original trust is not dead.<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
I looked at Evelyn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The map showed the Willow Creek property.<\/p>\n
But beneath the house was another marked location.<\/p>\n
Not the cellar.<\/p>\n
Not the hidden room.<\/p>\n
The creek.<\/p>\n
A small red circle had been drawn beside the water.<\/p>\n
Jonah studied it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an old mill.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered it.<\/p>\n
The abandoned mill had stood near the creek for decades.<\/p>\n
It had burned down when I was young.<\/p>\n
Or so I had been told.<\/p>\n
Evelyn looked at the map.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah entered the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have another problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police found evidence that Cole left the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToward Willow Creek.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the map.<\/p>\n
The mill.<\/p>\n
The trust.<\/p>\n
The missing person.<\/p>\n
The final evidence.<\/p>\n
Everything seemed to point toward the same place.<\/p>\n
Then my phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n
I heard water.<\/p>\n
Then a man's voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've been looking in the wrong place.\u201d<\/p>\n
I froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want the truth about Anthony?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to the mill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
I looked at Sarah.<\/p>\n
She had heard every word.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't go.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Ella.<\/p>\n
At Jonah.<\/p>\n
At Lily.<\/p>\n
Then at Evelyn.<\/p>\n
For decades, people had hidden behind fear.<\/p>\n
They had allowed threats to decide where they went and what they said.<\/p>\n
I wasn't going to do that anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe go together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
The police prepared to follow.<\/p>\n
Matthew remained in custody.<\/p>\n
The ledger was secured.<\/p>\n
The birth register was secured.<\/p>\n
The family had finally been brought together.<\/p>\n
But the final truth about Anthony was still waiting.<\/p>\n
And somewhere beside the old creek, someone was claiming to know exactly what had happened to him.<\/p>\n
Matthew was brought into the interview room again that evening. This time, I was waiting for him. He looked at me through the glass before entering. When he sat down, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16183","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\/16183","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=16183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16210,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183\/revisions\/16210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}