Daniel dropped the phone.
It struck the stone floor.
The call remained connected.
Ella's voice came faintly through the speaker.
"Daniel?"
He picked it up.
"Are you saying my grandfather is alive?"
"Yes."
Evelyn backed against the wall.
"No."
Mara looked at her.
"You knew."
"I knew the death certificate was real."
"That isn't what she said."
Evelyn shook her head.
"I never saw him."
Clara descended the last step.
"Then we need to leave."
Daniel looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because if Samuel is alive, this house isn't safe."
"Where would we go?"
"Somewhere he can't predict."
Ella spoke through the phone.
"Don't go anywhere."
Everyone froze.
Daniel held the phone closer.
"Why?"
"Because he wants you moving."
"How do you know?"
"Because that's how he finds people."
Daniel looked at the ledger.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Stay with Mara."
"Why?"
"She has something you need."
Mara frowned.
"What?"
Ella's voice was quiet.
"The original trust seal."
Mara stared at the cabinet.
"No."
Daniel looked at her.
"What seal?"
"The one Samuel used to authenticate the transfers."
"Where is it?"
Mara hesitated.
"With me."
"Where?"
She touched the chain around her neck.
A small metal pendant rested beneath her collar.
She pulled it free.
The pendant bore the same number.
19.
Daniel stared.
"That's it."
"Yes."
"Why would you keep it?"
"Because my father told me never to surrender it."
"Jonah?"
Mara nodded.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"How many things did Dad leave behind?"
"Too many."
Ella spoke again.
"The seal proves the original trust existed."
Daniel asked, "Can't the ledger do that?"
"Not by itself."
"Why?"
"Because the people who control the current records claim the ledger is incomplete."
Mara said, "The seal proves the original document was authenticated."
Daniel looked at the payment.
"Then the five thousand dollars was meant to activate the trust."
"Yes."
"Why now?"
Ella hesitated.
"Because someone discovered Daniel."
He looked at Evelyn.
"Who?"
"Not me."
"Then who?"
Ella said, "Samuel."
Evelyn's knees weakened.
Daniel caught her.
"Mom."
She looked at him.
"I didn't know he was alive."
"Do you know where he is?"
"No."
Mara took the phone.
"Ella, how do you know?"
"Because I spoke to him."
Daniel's eyes widened.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Where?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because he followed me."
Mara's voice hardened.
"Are you safe?"
"For now."
Daniel asked, "What did he say?"
"He said the family had made a mistake."
"What mistake?"
"Letting Jonah live."
The words silenced the cellar.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Daniel looked at the photograph of his father.
Ella continued.
"He said Jonah should have remained dead."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Where is Samuel now?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do we find him?"
"You don't."
Daniel looked at Mara.
Ella said, "You find the fourth record."
"What fourth record?"
"The one that proves what happened to us."
Daniel opened the ledger.
"Where?"
"St. Agnes."
"Those records are in the county archive."
"No."
Ella's voice became urgent.
"The county archive only has copies."
"Then where are the originals?"
"With the person who created them."
Daniel understood.
"Samuel."
"Yes."
Mara took a step back.
"Then we need him."
"No," Ella said. "You need what he has."
"What?"
"A photograph."
Daniel looked at Mara.
"The photograph in Clara's house?"
"No."
Ella's voice lowered.
"The photograph taken the night Jonah escaped."
Daniel remembered the image he had seen.
Three children.
Marjorie behind them.
But perhaps that wasn't the important photograph.
"Where is it?"
Ella said, "Samuel kept it."
"Why?"
"Because someone else was in the picture."
Daniel's heart began beating faster.
"Who?"
Ella didn't answer immediately.
Then she said:
"Your mother."
Evelyn went completely still.
Daniel stared at her.
"You were there?"
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"I was."
"With the children?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Before you were born."
"Why?"
"I was trying to get them out."
Mara's face softened.
"You never told me."
"I was afraid."
"You were there the night Jonah escaped."
"Yes."
"Then you know what happened."
Evelyn looked at Mara.
"I know what I thought happened."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What did you think?"
"That Jonah took you and Ella away."
Mara shook her head.
"He didn't."
Evelyn's face tightened.
"Then who did?"
Mara looked at the phone.
Ella was silent.
Daniel asked again.
"Who took them?"
Evelyn whispered the answer.
"Your grandfather."
Daniel stared.
"But you said you were trying to get them out."
"I was."
"What happened?"
"He found us."
"Samuel?"
"Yes."
"Then why did Jonah escape?"
"Because Clara came back."
Clara closed her eyes.
Daniel turned toward her.
"You were there."
"Yes."
"What did you do?"
"I got Jonah out."
"And Mara and Ella?"
Clara's voice broke.
"I couldn't get all three."
Mara looked at her.
"I know."
"You don't."
"I remember enough."
Daniel looked between them.
"Then what happened to the girls?"
Clara said nothing.
Mara answered.
"Samuel took us."
"Where?"
"Separate homes."
"Why?"
"To keep the trust divided."
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"And Jonah?"
"Your father escaped."
"With Clara."
"Yes."
"Then why did Dad come back?"
Evelyn swallowed.
"Because he wanted to find his sisters."
Daniel looked at the pendant.
"The trust seal."
Mara nodded.
"Jonah gave it to me years later."
"Why?"
"Because he knew someone would eventually come looking."
Daniel looked at the ledger.
The five-thousand-dollar transfer.
The hidden account.
The missing sisters.
His father's altered identity.
His own concealed place in the trust.
Everything was beginning to connect.
Then Clara's phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
"Who is it?"
She did not answer.
Daniel watched her.
The caller ID displayed a single name.
*Samuel.**
Clara answered.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then an elderly man's voice came through.
"Clara."
She closed her eyes.
"Samuel."
"You have my grandchildren."
Daniel's blood ran cold.
Clara looked at him.
"No."
Samuel's voice remained calm.
"You have all of them now."
Mara moved closer.
Samuel continued.
"Bring them to the house where Jonah died."
Daniel's voice rose.
"Why?"
There was a pause.
Then Samuel answered.
"Because the last record belongs to Daniel."
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Daniel looked at the others.
"What house?"
Evelyn knew immediately.
Her face drained of color.
"Your father's house."
Daniel stared.
"The house where I grew up?"
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
She pointed toward the ceiling.
"The other one."
Daniel remembered the locked room.
The hidden papers.
The house his father had never discussed.
Evelyn whispered:
"The house Jonah bought before you were born."
Click here to continue reading: PART 13: The Other House Had Been Empty for Years, Yet Jonah Left Behind Evidence That Someone Was Still Using It
The Transfer That Should Have Arrived Quietly, But Instead Opened a Door Neither of Us Knew Existed
Part 12 of 25
