PART 4 — MY DEAD FATHER WALKED INTO THE POLICE STATION
For three seconds, I couldn't move.
I stared at Laura.
Then at Daniel.
Then back at Laura.
“My father is dead.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
“No.”
My voice cracked.
“He died twelve years ago. I was at his funeral.”
Laura didn't argue.
Instead, she pulled out her phone and showed me a photograph.
A man stood inside a police station.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A small scar above his right eyebrow.
My knees almost gave out.
I knew that scar.
When I was eight, my father had fallen from a ladder while repairing our roof.
He'd laughed when I cried.
“Don't worry, Lizzie. Your father is harder to break than that.”
I remembered that face.
That scar.
Those eyes.
I whispered:
“That's him.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Elizabeth…”
I held up my hand.
“Don't.”
Laura put her phone away.
“He contacted the authorities approximately twenty minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“He says he has evidence concerning your father's death.”
I stared at her.
“Where is he now?”
“At the station.”
“I want to see him.”
Laura nodded.
“You can.”
Daniel immediately said:
“I'm coming.”
I turned toward him.
“No.”
“Elizabeth, whatever this is—”
“No.”
He stopped.
“You lied to me about everything.”
His eyes filled with panic.
“I didn't know he was alive.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at Charles.
“But your father knows.”
Charles lowered his head.
Laura turned toward him.
“Mr. Mercer, you're coming with us.”
Charles didn't resist.
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“Charles!”
He looked at her.
“I think it's time.”
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
The investigators escorted him outside.
Daniel remained standing in the dining room.
For the first time since I'd met him, he looked completely lost.
I walked toward the door.
He followed.
“Elizabeth.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“I swear I never knew.”
I studied his face.
“Then why did your father just tell everyone you were at the warehouse?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“I wasn't.”
I showed him the photograph.
He stared at it.
His face became pale.
“That isn't me.”
I frowned.
“Look.”
He pointed to the photograph.
“The jacket.”
I looked closer.
The man beside my father wore a dark coat.
Daniel's face was partly hidden.
But there was something else.
A watch.
A silver watch with a black dial.
Daniel slowly removed his watch.
“This one belonged to my father.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then who was wearing it?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
We drove to the police station separately.
I sat in the back of my attorney's car, staring through the window.
My mind was racing.
My father alive.
Daniel photographed beside him.
Charles lying about the night of the fire.
Seven million dollars missing.
The company collapsing.
And someone sending me evidence from an unknown number.
None of it made sense.
When we arrived, Laura met me at the entrance.
“He's waiting.”
I followed her through a long hallway.
Then she stopped in front of a small interview room.
My hand trembled on the door handle.
“Are you ready?”
“No.”
She gave me a sympathetic look.
“You don't have to be.”
I opened the door.
The man inside stood slowly.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
He looked older.
Much older.
But he was unmistakably my father.
I whispered:
“Dad?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Elizabeth.”
I couldn't breathe.
I wanted to run toward him.
I wanted to hit him.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I stood there frozen.
“You're alive.”
He nodded.
“I am.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“No choice?”
My voice rose.
“I buried an empty coffin!”
He lowered his head.
“I know.”
“My mother died believing you were dead.”
His eyes closed.
“I know.”
“You watched me grieve you for twelve years!”
“I watched from a distance.”
I stepped backward.
“You watched?”
He nodded.
“Every birthday.”
Every word felt like a knife.
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because if they knew I was alive, you would have been next.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the observation window.
“Charles wasn't working alone.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who else?”
My father hesitated.
Then he said:
“Someone much closer to you.”
I stared at him.
“Who?”
He reached into his coat and placed a small envelope on the table.
“Before I tell you, you need to understand what happened that night.”
I sat down.
He continued.
“I discovered that Charles had been stealing from the company.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
He shook his head.
“What I discovered was much bigger.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
I recognized the man immediately.
My father's voice became quiet.
“Charles was only moving the money.”
I looked at the photograph.
“Then who was receiving it?”
He pointed to the man.
“Your husband's grandfather.”
I stared at him.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“He built the original company.”
“And?”
“He used the company to move money for powerful people.”
My father's expression hardened.
“I found the records.”
“And Charles?”
“He helped hide them.”
I swallowed.
“What about Daniel?”
My father looked at me for a long moment.
“That is the part I was afraid to tell you.”
He pulled another photograph from the envelope.
This one showed Daniel.
Not twelve years ago.
Not as a child.
It had been taken only three months earlier.
Daniel stood outside a private bank.
Beside him was a man I had never seen before.
My father pointed at the man.
“He is the person who has been controlling your husband.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Who is he?”
My father leaned closer.
“His name is Victor Hale.”
I froze.
Because that name was familiar.
It was the same name printed on one of the offshore documents I had discovered.
My father whispered:
“And Elizabeth…”
“Yes?”
“Victor isn't the person you should be afraid of.”
He looked toward the observation window.
“Because he works for someone else.”
The door suddenly opened.
Laura rushed inside.
“Elizabeth, we have a problem.”
“What happened?”
She looked at my father.
Then at me.
“Charles disappeared.”
I stood.
“How?”
“He was being escorted to another room.”
Laura's face was tense.
“Someone inside the station helped him escape.”
My father suddenly stood.
“No.”
Laura looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at the hallway.
“They've found us.”
A loud crash echoed through the station.
Then the lights went out.
In complete darkness, I heard my father's voice beside me.
“Elizabeth…”
“Yes?”
“Don't trust Daniel.”
I turned toward him.
But he was gone.
And from somewhere in the darkness…
I heard Daniel's voice.
“Elizabeth, run.”
