Mara didn't speak for nearly a minute.
Daniel looked at the floor.
“Who received the money?”
He shook his head.
“Daniel.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“You don't understand what you're dealing with.”
“Then make me understand.”
He walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.
Mara followed.
The rain had stopped outside, but water still slid from the roof into the gutters.
Daniel stared at his hands.
“Your mother was desperate.”
“For what?”
“Your father's old debts.”
Mara frowned.
“My father died six years ago.”
“I know.”
“He left no debts.”
“Not everything was settled.”
Daniel's voice was barely audible.
Mara sat across from him.
“What did he owe?”
Daniel looked up.
“Nothing.”
The answer made no sense.
“You just said—”
“I said your mother believed he owed someone.”
Mara waited.
Daniel finally continued.
“She received letters.”
“What kind?”
“Threats.”
“From whom?”
“I never saw the name.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because I saw your mother give them money.”
“How much?”
Daniel swallowed.
“More than once.”
Mara's mind raced.
She remembered her mother becoming secretive during the previous year. She had blamed it on medical bills. Mara had believed her.
Daniel reached into his jacket.
He removed a small brass key.
“I found this after she disappeared.”
Mara stared at it.
“What is it?”
“Storage locker.”
“Which company?”
Daniel gave her the address.
Mara recognized it.
It was the same company listed on the receipt.
She took the key.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was trying to find out who was behind it.”
“And did you?”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“I found a name.”
Mara waited.
He whispered it.
“Eleanor's attorney.”
Mara's breath caught.
“My mother's attorney?”
“He handled the transfer.”
“That doesn't mean he stole anything.”
“I didn't say he did.”
Daniel pulled another paper from his pocket.
It was a photocopy of a bank statement.
Mara studied it.
A large payment had left her mother's account two days after the supposed property transfer.
The recipient wasn't the attorney.
It was a company Mara had never heard of.
She searched the company name on her phone.
Her face changed.
The business address belonged to a building downtown.
But the company itself had been dissolved eight years earlier.
Mara looked at Daniel.
“This account is fake.”
“I know.”
“Then who made the transfer?”
“I don't know.”
Her phone buzzed again.
Another message.
This time, there was an attachment.
A photograph.
Mara opened it.
Her mother stood outside a motel.
Beside her was a man.
Mara recognized him immediately.
Her father.
Impossible.
He had been dead for six years.
Mara stared at the photograph until the screen blurred.
Daniel whispered, “Now you understand why your mother told you not to trust anyone.”
Mara looked at the date printed beneath the image.
It had been taken three days earlier.
Click here to continue reading: PART 5: The Photograph Changed Everything, but Mara Still Had One Question No One in the Room Was Willing to Answer
The Key Turned in the Lock, and the Woman Behind the Door Knew Exactly Who Had Betrayed Her
Part 4 of 20
