{"id":7701,"date":"2026-09-08T10:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T10:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=7701"},"modified":"2026-09-08T10:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T10:55:25","slug":"part-9-the-address-was-the-home-i-had-forgotten-and-inside-it-we-found-the-evidence-my-mother-had-risked-everything-to-protect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=7701","title":{"rendered":"PART 9 \u2013 The Address Was the Home I Had Forgotten, and Inside It We Found the Evidence My Mother Had Risked Everything to Protect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The address David gave me stayed on the screen long after everyone else had stopped speaking. I knew the street. I knew the number. I knew the narrow brick house at the end of it because I had lived there once, during the first year after my mother moved us north.<\/p>\n<p>What I didn&#39;t know was why my mother had apparently returned there years later.<\/p>\n<p>Liam stood beside me, reading the address again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was your old apartment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHouse,\u201d I said. \u201cIt was a rental. We stayed there for less than a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy would Grandma have a house there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe didn&#39;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked toward the window.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I turned on him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said it was where she lived before she died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor six months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn&#39;t I know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause you weren&#39;t supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt the old anger rise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#39;re going to have to stop saying things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. You don&#39;t. Every answer you give me creates another question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI deserve that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe sat quietly at the kitchen table, staring at the floor.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa was already packing the documents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to leave before someone realizes Richard&#39;s arrest doesn&#39;t end this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople whose names are in the blue ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre they dangerous?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word came without hesitation.<\/p>\n<p>Liam picked up the laptop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we should go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David remained near the door.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#39;ll give you the address again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe house isn&#39;t registered under Carol&#39;s name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSarah Mitchell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy name again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince when?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwenty-two years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-two years.<\/p>\n<p>The same number that appeared on my mother&#39;s hospital records.<\/p>\n<p>The same year she had supposedly begun hiding from Richard.<\/p>\n<p>The same year my identity had somehow become attached to a property I didn&#39;t know existed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did my mother do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen tell me what you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe bought it after the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith what money?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoney from the settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe seven-point-eight million?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. A small portion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy hide it under my name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe believed Richard would search for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he searched for me instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#39;s why the name mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#39;t answer.<\/p>\n<p>Liam came to stand beside me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom, let&#39;s go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We left before sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>The drive toward Massachusetts took hours. Nobody slept. Melissa sat in the passenger seat with the blue ledger in a sealed bag. Liam drove first, then I took over. David followed in another vehicle, but we agreed he would remain several minutes behind us.<\/p>\n<p>We didn&#39;t know whether Richard had accomplices.<\/p>\n<p>We didn&#39;t know whether the people listed in the ledger knew what had happened.<\/p>\n<p>We didn&#39;t even know whether the old house was still standing.<\/p>\n<p>The uncertainty was exhausting.<\/p>\n<p>Near noon, my phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>A federal investigator.<\/p>\n<p>He introduced himself as Daniel Brooks.<\/p>\n<p>He said Richard was being held.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs he cooperating?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he ask for a lawyer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHas he mentioned my name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There was a pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeveral times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My hands tightened around the steering wheel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat you have something he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Melissa.<\/p>\n<p>She heard me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat, then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother&#39;s statement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes he know where it is?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don&#39;t believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why is he confident?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he knows the pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat pattern?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother didn&#39;t leave one piece of evidence in one place. She divided everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought of the two keys.<\/p>\n<p>The blue ledger.<\/p>\n<p>The recipe box.<\/p>\n<p>The hospital records.<\/p>\n<p>The house.<\/p>\n<p>Everything had been divided.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also found something in Richard&#39;s office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA list.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf names?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMine?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My throat tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeside your name was a date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat date?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The call ended shortly afterward.<\/p>\n<p>I pulled onto the shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>Liam looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I told him.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa closed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTomorrow is the anniversary of your mother&#39;s death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I had forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>Or perhaps I had deliberately stopped remembering the exact date.<\/p>\n<p>It was tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-two years since the accident.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-two years since my mother supposedly died.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-two years since she had begun building a trail back to me.<\/p>\n<p>We continued driving.<\/p>\n<p>The old house looked smaller than I remembered.<\/p>\n<p>A narrow two-story brick property with faded green shutters and a maple tree leaning over the front walk.<\/p>\n<p>I parked across the street.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody moved.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized the front steps.<\/p>\n<p>The railing.<\/p>\n<p>The crooked mailbox.<\/p>\n<p>Memories came back unexpectedly.<\/p>\n<p>My mother carrying laundry.<\/p>\n<p>Me sitting on those steps with a textbook.<\/p>\n<p>A winter afternoon when she had cried in the kitchen and refused to explain why.<\/p>\n<p>I had thought those memories were ordinary.<\/p>\n<p>Now they felt staged by someone who had known I would eventually return.<\/p>\n<p>David stopped behind us.<\/p>\n<p>He didn&#39;t get out.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him through the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou stay here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>Liam and I crossed the street with Melissa.<\/p>\n<p>The key was already in my hand.<\/p>\n<p>The front door wasn&#39;t locked.<\/p>\n<p>That frightened me.<\/p>\n<p>I pushed it open.<\/p>\n<p>Dust covered the floor.<\/p>\n<p>The house had been empty for years.<\/p>\n<p>But beneath the dust, the furniture remained.<\/p>\n<p>A dining table.<\/p>\n<p>A bookshelf.<\/p>\n<p>My mother&#39;s old writing desk.<\/p>\n<p>I walked into the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>The room looked exactly as I remembered.<\/p>\n<p>The old white cabinets.<\/p>\n<p>The cracked tile.<\/p>\n<p>The narrow window above the sink.<\/p>\n<p>I touched the counter.<\/p>\n<p>Liam watched me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is where Grandma made the cobbler?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I opened a cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Another.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then I saw a small red mark beneath the shelf.<\/p>\n<p>A painted number.<\/p>\n<p>Seven.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa crouched beside it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon&#39;t touch anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother was careful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We searched the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>The numbers appeared in strange places.<\/p>\n<p>Seven beneath the cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>Three behind a drawer.<\/p>\n<p>One underneath the sink.<\/p>\n<p>Nine inside the pantry.<\/p>\n<p>They matched the sequence from the recipe card.<\/p>\n<p>Liam wrote them down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeven, three, one, nine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are more,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>We searched.<\/p>\n<p>Six.<\/p>\n<p>Four.<\/p>\n<p>Two.<\/p>\n<p>Eight.<\/p>\n<p>The sequence was complete.<\/p>\n<p>73196428.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother&#39;s birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Melissa shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Liam entered it into the laptop.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>I looked around the room.<\/p>\n<p>Then I remembered something.<\/p>\n<p>The old telephone.<\/p>\n<p>It had been mounted beside the pantry.<\/p>\n<p>I lifted it from the wall.<\/p>\n<p>Behind it was a small metal plate.<\/p>\n<p>A keyhole.<\/p>\n<p>I inserted the brass key.<\/p>\n<p>The panel opened.<\/p>\n<p>Inside was a narrow compartment.<\/p>\n<p>A cassette.<\/p>\n<p>A photograph.<\/p>\n<p>And a handwritten note.<\/p>\n<p>I picked up the note.<\/p>\n<p>My mother&#39;s handwriting.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah,<\/p>\n<p>You will think this house belongs to you.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#39;t.<\/p>\n<p>It belongs to the truth.<\/p>\n<p>I swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>Below that was another line.<\/p>\n<p>Do not listen to the recording until you have found the person in the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>I lifted the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>It showed my mother.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn.<\/p>\n<p>And a fourth person.<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#39;t recognize him.<\/p>\n<p>David entered the room.<\/p>\n<p>I turned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>His face drained of color.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He didn&#39;t answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDavid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father&#39;s brother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe died before I met you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwenty-two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the photograph again.<\/p>\n<p>He stood beside my mother.<\/p>\n<p>On the back was a name.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at David.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy was he with my mother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he was the one who helped her escape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Richard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why did Richard say your mother stole the money?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Thomas knew where the original accounts were.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe night of the crash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room went silent.<\/p>\n<p>Liam looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I knew.<\/p>\n<p>The photograph wasn&#39;t simply proof that my mother had known Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>It connected the accident to the disappearance of another Mitchell family member.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa picked up the cassette.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the recording.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen let&#39;s hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause your mother told you to find the person in the photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#39;ve found him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She pointed to the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at the background.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I studied it.<\/p>\n<p>Behind Thomas was a sign.<\/p>\n<p>A marina.<\/p>\n<p>I could make out part of the name.<\/p>\n<p>Harbor Point.<\/p>\n<p>Liam searched it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#39;s still operating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorth Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart sank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s where Mom came from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Melissa looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother didn&#39;t hide the evidence here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe hid the location.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the note.<\/p>\n<p>The house was only another map.<\/p>\n<p>We drove south that afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>David insisted on coming.<\/p>\n<p>This time I let him.<\/p>\n<p>The marina was almost deserted when we arrived.<\/p>\n<p>An elderly man sat behind the office counter.<\/p>\n<p>I showed him the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>His expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarol. Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere they here together?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe night before the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart pounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey argued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid they leave together?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho left first?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere did he go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The man pointed toward the docks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat boat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He gave us the name.<\/p>\n<p>The same name appeared in the blue ledger.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Heron.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Melissa.<\/p>\n<p>She went pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe company wasn&#39;t named after the bird,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was it named after?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe boat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The marina owner continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas said he was taking evidence somewhere safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he come back?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas my mother here?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter he left?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she say anything?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The old man thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe asked me if I had children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told me to keep them away from the Mitchell family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>The same warning.<\/p>\n<p>The same fear.<\/p>\n<p>My mother had spent her final years trying to protect me from a family she knew could destroy people without leaving obvious fingerprints.<\/p>\n<p>Then the marina owner remembered something.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe left a box.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat box?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSmall metal one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pointed toward an old storage shed.<\/p>\n<p>We opened it.<\/p>\n<p>Inside was a rusted locker.<\/p>\n<p>The second key fit.<\/p>\n<p>I opened the locker.<\/p>\n<p>A blue folder sat inside.<\/p>\n<p>Not the blue ledger.<\/p>\n<p>A second copy.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas&#39;s handwriting filled the first page.<\/p>\n<p>I read the heading.<\/p>\n<p>ORIGINAL BENEFICIARIES.<\/p>\n<p>Underneath were names.<\/p>\n<p>Some I recognized.<\/p>\n<p>Some I didn&#39;t.<\/p>\n<p>Then I saw mine.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>And beneath it:<\/p>\n<p>Liam Mitchell \u2014 successor beneficiary.<\/p>\n<p>My heart stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The trust wasn&#39;t simply an inheritance.<\/p>\n<p>It had been structured around protecting stolen assets from the people who stole them.<\/p>\n<p>Then I saw the final name.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>Beside it was a note.<\/p>\n<p>Witness to Richard&#39;s threats.<\/p>\n<p>Alive.<\/p>\n<p>My hands began to shake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat can&#39;t be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Melissa looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour uncle was never confirmed dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou told me he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard had told him.<\/p>\n<p>The same man who had told us everything else.<\/p>\n<p>The old marina owner suddenly looked toward the road.<\/p>\n<p>A black vehicle had stopped outside.<\/p>\n<p>The driver didn&#39;t get out.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa closed the folder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe leave now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We rushed outside.<\/p>\n<p>The vehicle remained still.<\/p>\n<p>Then its headlights turned on.<\/p>\n<p>Liam started the car.<\/p>\n<p>David got in beside him.<\/p>\n<p>I climbed into the back with Melissa and the evidence.<\/p>\n<p>The black vehicle followed.<\/p>\n<p>We turned left.<\/p>\n<p>It followed.<\/p>\n<p>Right.<\/p>\n<p>Still there.<\/p>\n<p>Then another vehicle appeared behind us.<\/p>\n<p>Gray SUV.<\/p>\n<p>The same model from the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Liam accelerated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need the police.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I called Daniel Brooks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#39;re being followed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I gave him the location.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo not stop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>We drove toward the highway.<\/p>\n<p>The black vehicle came closer.<\/p>\n<p>Then the gray SUV pulled alongside us.<\/p>\n<p>I saw the driver.<\/p>\n<p>Not Richard.<\/p>\n<p>Not David.<\/p>\n<p>A woman.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized her.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn.<\/p>\n<p>I lowered the window.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvelyn!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>Then at the black vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>She mouthed two words.<\/p>\n<p>KEEP DRIVING.<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#39;t understand.<\/p>\n<p>Then the black vehicle suddenly turned away.<\/p>\n<p>The gray SUV followed.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn remained behind us.<\/p>\n<p>We reached the highway.<\/p>\n<p>My phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you safe?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have someone in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe man using Thomas Mitchell&#39;s identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the blue folder.<\/p>\n<p>The name.<\/p>\n<p>The witness.<\/p>\n<p>The missing man.<\/p>\n<p>Everything had just become more complicated.<\/p>\n<p>Then Daniel said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSarah, there&#39;s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe man we arrested says he isn&#39;t Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichard&#39;s accountant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Melissa.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe claims Thomas Mitchell is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=7702\">Click here to continue reading: PART 10: The Man Everyone Thought Was Dead Was Still Connected to the Ledger, and His Story Forced Me to Question Which Family Member Had Been Lying<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The address David gave me stayed on the screen long after everyone else had stopped speaking. I knew the street. I knew the number. I knew the narrow brick house &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7701","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\/7701","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=7701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7725,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions\/7725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}