The envelope stayed on my bedside table overnight.
I couldn't bring myself to open it.
Every time I looked at it, I thought about the cage.
I thought about the old phone.
I thought about Rebecca's warning.
If I disappear, look below.
Those four words had led investigators to Elena.
They had also shown me that Marcus's secrets were older than my marriage.
The next morning, Detective Reyes returned.
He carried a thick folder and looked as though he had slept even less than I had.
“Elena is alive,” he said.
I nodded.
“How is she?”
“Stable enough to speak, but confused about dates and locations.”
“Does she remember Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
My heart tightened.
“What does she remember?”
Reyes sat down.
“She remembers working with Rebecca.”
“For Marcus?”
“No.”
“For the same company.”
I looked at Natalie.
Reyes opened the folder.
“Rebecca discovered financial records that didn't make sense.”
“Marcus was stealing money?”
“Millions, according to the preliminary records.”
The number seemed unreal.
Marcus had questioned every grocery receipt.
He had criticized me for spending too much on coffee.
He had demanded explanations for ordinary purchases.
Meanwhile, he had apparently been moving enormous amounts of money through falsified accounts.
Rebecca discovered it.
Elena helped her collect evidence.
Then Marcus found out.
“What happened to Rebecca?” I asked.
“We don't know everything yet.”
“But Elena knows something.”
“She says Marcus took Rebecca somewhere the night she disappeared.”
“Where?”
“She doesn't know.”
“Why?”
Reyes looked at the floor.
“Marcus attacked Elena before he left.”
I closed my eyes.
The picture was becoming clearer.
Rebecca had survived.
Elena had survived.
But both had been trapped in different ways.
And Marcus had spent years making sure no one connected the pieces.
Then I remembered Daniel.
“What about him?”
Reyes's expression hardened.
“We're still searching.”
“You said he helped Rebecca.”
“We believe he did.”
“Then why did he help Marcus?”
Reyes hesitated.
“We don't know.”
I looked at the envelope.
“Maybe he was afraid.”
“Of Marcus?”
“Or of what Marcus knew about him.”
Reyes nodded slowly.
“That is possible.”
Natalie finally spoke.
“What did Daniel mean when he said Rebecca wasn't dead?”
Reyes looked at her.
“He also said something else.”
“What?”
“He said the recordings on your phone were never Rebecca's insurance policy.”
My skin prickled.
“What did he mean?”
“We're still determining that.”
I looked at the old phone inside its evidence bag.
“Daniel said they were his.”
Reyes nodded.
“He claimed he gave the phone to Rebecca.”
“Why?”
“He said he knew Marcus was dangerous.”
I stared at the phone.
That meant the device had passed through several hands before Marcus gave it to me.
I had thought it was worthless.
Maybe that was why it survived.
Marcus forgot it existed.
The same mistake he had made with me.
Reyes's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed while he listened.
“What?”
He stood.
“Say that again.”
He listened.
Then ended the call.
“What happened?”
“They found another set of documents in the basement.”
“What documents?”
“Financial records.”
My stomach tightened.
“Anything about Rebecca?”
“Some.”
“And my father?”
Reyes looked at me.
“Not directly.”
That frightened me more than if he had said yes.
Natalie opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
She placed it on the bed.
My father stood in the center.
Beside him was another man.
Marcus.
Much younger.
And behind them stood two women.
One was Rebecca.
The other was Elena.
I stared at the image.
“I've seen this photograph before.”
Natalie shook her head.
“No. You saw another copy.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Dad kept this one hidden.”
“Why?”
She pointed to the bottom corner.
A date.
Six months before I met Marcus.
I felt the room become very still.
Marcus had known my father before I ever knew Marcus.
Not casually.
Not by accident.
They had been connected.
I looked at Reyes.
“Why did my father never tell me?”
“That is something we need to determine.”
Then the phone on the evidence table began ringing.
Unknown number.
Again.
Reyes stared at it.
Nobody moved.
He answered.
“Detective Reyes.”
Daniel's voice came through.
“She's there.”
Reyes looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Then put her on.”
Reyes shook his head.
“She can't talk.”
Daniel laughed softly.
“You're a bad liar.”
I leaned toward the phone.
“Daniel.”
The line went quiet.
Then he said my name.
“You should never have found that photograph.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“You knew about it.”
“I knew Marcus was looking for it.”
“Why?”
“Because your father kept something from him.”
“What?”
Daniel didn't answer.
“Where is Rebecca?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“You keep asking the wrong question.”
I gripped the blanket.
“What is the right one?”
“What did Marcus steal?”
Reyes stepped closer.
“Daniel, you're running out of time.”
“I know.”
His voice sounded exhausted.
“I helped Rebecca escape.”
Natalie stared at me.
Daniel continued.
“Marcus found out.”
“So you disappeared her?”
“No.”
“You said you made her disappear.”
“I protected her.”
“Then where is she?”
Silence.
Daniel finally said, “Safe.”
“Where?”
“I can't tell you yet.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus isn't the only person involved.”
The room went cold.
Reyes's eyes narrowed.
“Who else?”
Daniel ignored him.
“Rebecca discovered the money.”
“I know.”
“She also discovered what your father knew.”
I looked at the photograph.
“What did my father know?”
“That Marcus had been using other people's identities to move money.”
I swallowed.
“And my father?”
“He tried to stop him.”
“Did Marcus kill him?”
Daniel went silent.
“Daniel?”
“I didn't say that.”
“You didn't have to.”
He exhaled.
“You need to understand something. Marcus didn't lock you in that basement because he simply hated you.”
My voice dropped.
“Then why?”
“Because he believed you had something Rebecca had been searching for.”
“The photograph?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“The records.”
“What records?”
“The originals.”
I stared at Reyes.
“Where are they?”
Daniel said one word.
“Safe.”
Then the call broke apart.
Reyes immediately began tracing the number.
Daniel spoke again before the connection disappeared.
“Ask Natalie what your father left behind.”
The call ended.
Natalie looked at me.
“I told you about the photograph.”
“There's more.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
“What?”
She reached into her purse again.
This time she removed a small key.
My father's handwriting was taped to it.
One word.
HOME.
I stared at it.
Reyes took the key carefully.
“Do you know what it opens?”
Natalie shook her head.
“Dad gave it to me with the photograph.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Marcus asked about it.”
My blood ran cold.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I didn't know anything.”
I looked at the key.
Then at the photograph.
Then at my sleeping daughter.
A lifetime of small things suddenly seemed connected.
My father's warning.
Marcus's interest.
Rebecca's disappearance.
Elena's imprisonment.
Daniel's fear.
The hidden chamber.
The old phone.
The safe.
The missing records.
Then Reyes's radio crackled.
“Detective.”
He grabbed it.
“Yes?”
“We found the safe.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“In the house.”
“Open it.”
There was a pause.
“We already did.”
Reyes frowned.
“What's inside?”
Another pause.
“Nothing.”
My stomach dropped.
“What do you mean nothing?”
The officer's voice came through.
“The safe had been opened before we arrived.”
“Any sign of forced entry?”
“No.”
“Then who opened it?”
Silence.
Reyes stared at me.
The officer finally answered.
“We don't know.”
The room went quiet.
Then another message came through.
“There was one thing left.”
Reyes lifted the radio.
“What?”
“A photograph.”
My heart began pounding.
“Whose photograph?”
The officer hesitated.
“Your father.”
I looked at Natalie.
She was already crying.
Then Reyes asked the question that made all of us freeze.
“What was written on the back?”
The answer came slowly.
Three words.
“YOU WERE NEXT.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 5: The photograph marked “YOU WERE NEXT” forced me to confront the possibility that my father had known Marcus would eventually come for me
Beneath the laughter of a dinner party, I realized my husband had planned one final cruelty for the night I went into labor
Part 4 of 10
