Mara reached the hospital entrance just as the gray-haired man disappeared around the corner. She ran after him, pushing through the automatic doors into the cold morning air.
By the time she reached the parking lot, he was gone.
Only an empty space remained where a dark sedan had been parked.
Thomas came out behind her.
“Don't chase him.”
Mara turned sharply.
“You knew he was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“You saw him.”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept quiet.”
Thomas stopped several feet away.
“I didn't know where he was.”
“You knew enough.”
He accepted that without arguing.
Jonathan came outside carrying the cassette recorder. Daniel followed, his expression troubled.
Eleanor was last.
She stood beneath the hospital entrance, looking toward the road as though she expected someone to return.
Mara walked toward her.
“Who was he?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“My brother.”
“What was his name?”
“Elias.”
Mara waited.
“Elias Bennett.”
The name sounded strangely ordinary for a man who had apparently spent decades disappearing from his own family.
“Why did everyone think he was dead?”
Eleanor looked at Thomas.
“He made sure they did.”
“Why?”
“Because our father was killed.”
Mara frowned.
“Your father?”
Eleanor nodded.
“He had discovered Elias was taking money from the family business.”
“So Elias killed him?”
“No.”
Her mother's voice became quieter.
“He framed someone else.”
Mara looked at Thomas.
“Who?”
“My father,” Thomas said.
Mara stared.
The pieces shifted again.
Her grandfather had supposedly died of natural causes. Yet Eleanor's father had been blamed privately for financial misconduct. That accusation had fractured the family long before Mara was born.
Elias had disappeared afterward.
Thomas continued.
“Your grandfather was preparing to expose Elias. Before he could, Elias created evidence suggesting he had stolen from the business.”
“And everyone believed it?”
“Enough people did.”
Jonathan added, “Elias built his entire life around controlling information.”
Mara looked at the cassette.
“Then why leave a recording?”
Thomas answered.
“Because he knew someone would eventually find it.”
Mara frowned.
“That's not what I mean. Why did you have it?”
“I didn't.”
She looked at him.
“The recording was made by me.”
Mara's expression hardened.
“You made it?”
“Six years ago.”
“Before you disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you leave it here?”
“Because I knew I might not survive.”
Mara looked at the hospital building.
“You expected to die.”
“I expected them to try.”
Daniel suddenly pointed toward the road.
“There.”
A vehicle was moving slowly past the hospital.
The same black sedan from the farmhouse.
Thomas stepped forward.
“Stay here.”
Mara ignored him.
They watched the sedan turn at the intersection.
Then disappear.
Jonathan exhaled.
“He wanted us to see him.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
“To make sure you knew he was still alive.”
The answer unsettled her.
They returned to the records room.
Mara placed the second ledger beside the cassette recorder.
The newest entries were written in different ink.
Several payments had been made only months earlier.
She traced one line with her finger.
“Elias was still receiving money.”
Thomas nodded.
“From whom?”
“Holt.”
Mara looked up.
The captain had disappeared from the hospital.
Daniel checked his phone.
“He isn't answering.”
Mara turned toward Jonathan.
“Where is Holt?”
“I don't know.”
A notification appeared on Mara's phone.
An unknown number.
A photograph.
The hospital records room.
Taken moments earlier.
Mara stared.
Someone had photographed them from outside.
Another message appeared.
*You found the tape. Now find the house.**
Mara frowned.
“The house?”
Thomas looked at the message.
His face changed.
“Not the Bennett house.”
“What house, then?”
Thomas looked at Eleanor.
She whispered, “The first house.”
Mara felt a chill.
“Which one?”
Eleanor finally answered.
“The house where Elias grew up.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“I can find the property records.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“No need.”
He reached into his coat and removed a folded deed.
Mara opened it.
The property was still registered to an old family trust.
The address was less than ten miles from the Bennett house.
Thomas looked toward the door.
“We need to go before Elias does.”
Mara folded the deed.
“For once, Dad, we're going together.”
Thomas nodded.
Outside, thunder rolled in the distance.
None of them noticed the man watching from across the street.
Elias Bennett stood beside the black sedan.
He held a second cassette recorder in his hand.
And on its label were three words.
*For Mara, Alone.**
Click here to continue reading: PART 18: Elias Had Left a Message Meant Only for Mara, and Its First Sentence Forced Her to Question Who Had Really Started the Betrayal
The Key Turned in the Lock, and the Woman Behind the Door Knew Exactly Who Had Betrayed Her
Part 17 of 20
