Chapter 10 - THE FATHER IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Seeing my father alive should have been the happiest moment of my life.
Instead, it terrified me.
He was seventy now.
Older than the man frozen in every childhood memory I had.
But I recognized him instantly.
The same slightly crooked nose.
The same deep-set eyes.
The same way he stood with one shoulder higher than the other.
Mom touched the screen.
“David.”
Detective Ruiz began making calls.
The photograph’s metadata had been removed, but investigators were able to compare the house with the most recent forwarding address.
It matched.
My father was in Vermont.
And whoever sent the picture knew exactly where he lived.
“I’m going,” I said.
Ruiz shook her head.
“Not until we secure the location.”
“He’s my father.”
“And someone is using him to control you.”
Julian suddenly looked toward the bank’s security camera.
“Martin.”
“What?”
“He knew we’d open the box.”
“How?”
“Because he knew the key existed. The music box wasn’t a gift. It was bait.”
The realization hit me.
Martin had dropped it at Mom’s house deliberately.
He wanted to see whether we understood its importance.
Then he watched what we did next.
Detective Ruiz immediately requested security footage from the parking lot.
Within an hour, they found a familiar vehicle.
The dark SUV from across Mom’s house.
Registered to a company Martin controlled.
Mom closed her eyes.
There was no defending him anymore.
That afternoon, federal agents reached my father’s Vermont house.
He was gone.
No signs of violence.
No forced entry.
Just a coffee mug still warm on the kitchen counter.
I felt panic rise.
Then one agent found a note beneath the mug.
It was addressed to me.
Claire,
If they finally found you, don’t follow Martin.
He wants you to think he has me.
He doesn’t.
I left before he arrived.
There is one place Sarah will remember.
Tell her:
The first place we became a family.
Mom read the message.
Her face changed.
“I know where he went.”
“Where?”
She grabbed her coat.
“The cabin where we spent our honeymoon.”
May you like
Then she looked at Julian.
“And Martin knows about it too.”
