Mara stared at the photograph until her thumb went numb against the edge of her phone. The motel sign behind her mother was unmistakable. So was the man standing beside Eleanor.
Her father.
Thomas Bennett had been buried beneath a stone bearing his name six years ago.
Mara zoomed in on the image. The man's face remained partly shadowed beneath the motel's red awning, but there was no mistaking the crooked line of his nose, the silver at his temples, or the old brown jacket he had worn during the final winter of his life.
She looked at Daniel.
“Who sent this?”
“I don't know.”
“Who took it?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
Daniel stood slowly. “I know your mother was frightened. I know someone wanted her to believe Thomas was alive. And I know she gave them money.”
Mara pushed the phone toward him.
“Three days ago.”
He nodded.
“You knew about this?”
“I knew there was a photograph. I didn't know the date until now.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I got close to an answer, someone moved the evidence.”
Mara stood and walked toward the window. Across the street, the neighbor's porch light had come on. The ordinary scene felt almost insulting.
“What motel?”
Daniel gave her the address.
Mara entered it into her phone.
It was outside the city, near an old highway lined with warehouses, repair shops, and cheap motels that rented rooms by the week.
“I'm going there.”
Daniel immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“You don't get to tell me where I can go anymore.”
“You don't know who's waiting.”
“My mother might be there.”
“She isn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I checked.”
Mara turned.
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
“You went there?”
Daniel nodded.
“And?”
“The room was empty.”
Mara looked at the photograph again.
Something bothered her.
The image had been taken from across the parking lot. Whoever photographed Eleanor and the man had deliberately kept distance between themselves and the pair.
“Why would someone send this to me?”
Daniel's answer came quietly.
“To make you chase the wrong person.”
Mara lowered the phone.
“Or to make me find the right one.”
Neither spoke.
Then Mara noticed a detail in the photograph that she had overlooked.
The man beside Eleanor was holding something.
A small metal box.
Mara enlarged the image again.
The box had a distinctive dent across its lid.
She knew it.
Her father had kept important papers in a battered steel cash box. After his death, Mara had searched for it with her mother.
It had disappeared.
She looked at Daniel.
“That box belonged to my father.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“You're sure?”
“I watched him carry it for twenty years.”
Mara grabbed her coat.
Daniel caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
She pulled free.
“Don't touch me.”
“I need you to understand something. If Thomas really is alive, then everything we think happened six years ago is wrong.”
Mara's anger faltered.
“That isn't possible.”
“I hope you're right.”
He released her.
Mara looked toward the hallway, where her mother's empty bedroom waited like a wound.
Then her phone buzzed again.
Another message from the unknown number.
This time there were only four words.
*The box contains proof.**
Mara stared at the screen.
Daniel read the message over her shoulder.
Neither of them spoke.
A moment later, Mara picked up the storage key.
“We're going.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he reached for his jacket.
“Together.”
Mara didn't answer.
She only locked the front door behind them.
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: The Storage Locker Held More Than Old Family Papers, and Mara Realized Her Mother Had Been Preparing for Something
The Key Turned in the Lock, and the Woman Behind the Door Knew Exactly Who Had Betrayed Her
Part 5 of 20
