The footsteps stopped outside the office door.<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
Richard stood beside the desk, one hand raised, signaling us to stay quiet. Claire's fingers were wrapped around my wrist so tightly that I could feel her pulse.<\/p>\n
Another step.<\/p>\n
Then another.<\/p>\n
The old staircase creaked beneath someone's weight.<\/p>\n
I slipped the memory card into the inside pocket of my jacket.<\/p>\n
The office door moved.<\/p>\n
A thin line of hallway light appeared.<\/p>\n
Then it disappeared again.<\/p>\n
Someone was standing directly outside.<\/p>\n
A man's voice came through the darkness.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard?\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard's shoulders relaxed for half a second.<\/p>\n
Then they tightened again.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no answer.<\/p>\n
Instead, the handle turned.<\/p>\n
Richard grabbed the nearest chair and shoved it against the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack window,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n
Claire looked toward the rear of the office.<\/p>\n
There was only one window, and it opened onto the narrow alley behind the building.<\/p>\n
I moved toward it.<\/p>\n
Another impact struck the door.<\/p>\n
The chair jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo,\u201d Richard said.<\/p>\n
Claire climbed onto the sill first.<\/p>\n
She lowered herself carefully onto the fire escape.<\/p>\n
I followed.<\/p>\n
Before I stepped through, I looked back.<\/p>\n
Richard was still standing beside the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll be right behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn't an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn't argue.<\/p>\n
I dropped onto the metal platform.<\/p>\n
Claire was already moving down the ladder.<\/p>\n
I followed her.<\/p>\n
The sound of splintering wood came from upstairs.<\/p>\n
Richard appeared at the window.<\/p>\n
He climbed through just as the office door burst open.<\/p>\n
We ran.<\/p>\n
The alley was wet from an earlier rain.<\/p>\n
Our shoes slapped against the pavement as we crossed toward the next street.<\/p>\n
Nobody followed immediately.<\/p>\n
That frightened me more than a chase would have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey're letting us go,\u201d Claire said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Richard replied.<\/p>\n
He looked behind us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey're trying to see where we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
We reached his car.<\/p>\n
He unlocked it.<\/p>\n
I climbed into the passenger seat.<\/p>\n
Claire got in the back.<\/p>\n
Richard started the engine.<\/p>\n
Only after we were two blocks away did he speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you keep the card?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was at the door?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought it was Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you recognized the voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard didn't answer.<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did.\u201d<\/p>\n
He kept his eyes on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI've heard that voice before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt your father's office.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose voice?\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
Claire leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard glanced at her in the mirror.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was your mother's attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn's attorney?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard Hale?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin Voss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name meant nothing to me.<\/p>\n
But Claire reacted.<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned around.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to the house after Dad died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe handled some of Mom's private business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was never officially retained by the estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why was he there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's what we need to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned back.<\/p>\n
The memory card pressed against my chest through my jacket.<\/p>\n
Everything my father had hidden seemed to be converging on the same people.<\/p>\n
Evelyn.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
Martin Voss.<\/p>\n
And my biological mother, alive somewhere in Canada.<\/p>\n
There was another question I couldn't ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mom was sending money to my biological mother, why did she tell everyone she was dead?\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard's hands tightened on the wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if the woman were known to be alive, your father's entire explanation for the adoption would collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the adoption may not have been an adoption in the ordinary sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means your father may have arranged your legal adoption as a protective measure.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my mother gave me up?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about the photograph.<\/p>\n
My biological mother beside my father.<\/p>\n
Alive six years after the date I'd been told she died.<\/p>\n
Someone had spent years making sure I believed a lie.<\/p>\n
We drove in silence.<\/p>\n
Then Richard's phone rang.<\/p>\n
He looked at the screen.<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
The phone rang again.<\/p>\n
Finally he accepted the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
A woman's voice came through the speaker.<\/p>\n
I couldn't make out every word.<\/p>\n
But I recognized the voice.<\/p>\n
Evelyn.<\/p>\n
Richard's face became rigid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
She said something.<\/p>\n
Richard looked at me.<\/p>\n
Then at Claire.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
He turned the speaker off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the lake house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe says she has something that belongs to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wouldn't say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you go somewhere they tell you to go, something happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen don't.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Richard.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we trust her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we trust you?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked almost offended.<\/p>\n
Then he nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou shouldn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I've kept things from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch as?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father's final instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat instructions?\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard pulled the car to the side of the road.<\/p>\n
He reached into the glove compartment.<\/p>\n
He removed a sealed envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you give me that before?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was waiting for the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't get to decide that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed it to me.<\/p>\n
The envelope was dated six years earlier.<\/p>\n
I opened it.<\/p>\n
My father's handwriting appeared again.<\/p>\n
My daughter,<\/p>\n
If Richard gives you this letter, then the investigation has reached the point where secrecy is no longer protecting you.<\/p>\n
There was more.<\/p>\n
Do not go to Canada until you understand what happened at the lake house.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
Richard was watching me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep reading.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
My father wrote that my biological mother had witnessed the original theft.<\/p>\n
But she had also witnessed something else.<\/p>\n
A confrontation between Evelyn and Daniel.<\/p>\n
A confrontation that had occurred the night before my father's death.<\/p>\n
I looked at Claire.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you here?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Think.\u201d<\/p>\n
She closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Then she whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard shouting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween Mom and Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did they say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pressed her fingers to her temple.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad said, \u2018You don't understand what you've done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom said something about the girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat girl?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there was a crash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom came upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw him again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words hung in the car.<\/p>\n
I looked at Richard.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father's death wasn't natural.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you think it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard looked toward the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe medical report was incomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original report was replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt my stomach drop.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin Voss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Claire whispered, \u201cMom's attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard nodded.<\/p>\n
The same man whose voice we had heard outside the office.<\/p>\n
The same man connected to Evelyn.<\/p>\n
I looked down at my father's letter.<\/p>\n
One final paragraph remained.<\/p>\n
I read it.<\/p>\n
If I am dead and Evelyn tells you I died naturally, ask why Martin Voss changed the medical report.<\/p>\n
I looked at Richard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen that's where we start.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need the original report.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the lake road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen ask Evelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
We turned the car around.<\/p>\n
When we reached the lake house, the gate was open.<\/p>\n
Too open.<\/p>\n
No guard.<\/p>\n
No lights.<\/p>\n
The front door stood unlocked.<\/p>\n
Richard stopped the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped out.<\/p>\n
Claire followed.<\/p>\n
The house was silent.<\/p>\n
We entered.<\/p>\n
The living room was empty.<\/p>\n
Then I heard something from the kitchen.<\/p>\n
A glass breaking.<\/p>\n
We rushed toward it.<\/p>\n
Evelyn was standing beside the counter.<\/p>\n
Her face was bruised.<\/p>\n
Her dress was torn at the shoulder.<\/p>\n
And in her hand was a thick brown envelope.<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father was murdered.\u201d<\/p>\n
I froze.<\/p>\n
She extended the envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin Voss has the original medical report.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn looked toward the windows.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows you have the card.\u201d<\/p>\n
A vehicle engine started outside.<\/p>\n
Evelyn's expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey're coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI finally refused to lie for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The front door slammed.<\/p>\n
Richard turned.<\/p>\n
Then Evelyn whispered the words that changed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father didn't die because of the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died because he found out who your biological father really was.\u201d<\/p>\n
The footsteps stopped outside the office door. Nobody moved. Richard stood beside the desk, one hand raised, signaling us to stay quiet. Claire's fingers were wrapped around my wrist so … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6278,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266\/revisions\/6278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}