Chapter 8 - THE INVESTIGATOR WHO WASN'T DEAD
Daniel Whitaker had been missing for six years.
Now security footage showed him entering a storage facility with the man who had spent three years controlling my life.
I stared at the photograph.
"He's working with Trent?"
Victor shook his head.
"We don't know."
"But they're together."
"That doesn't tell us whether he's cooperating willingly."
I wanted to scream.
Every answer created another question.
Every person I'd trusted seemed connected to a secret I wasn't supposed to discover.
The police obtained the facility's records and opened an investigation into the contents of unit 47.
Inside, they found an empty metal cabinet.
Several broken file boxes.
And a handwritten note.
The ledger is gone.
I looked toward Victor.
His expression darkened.
"Martin Hayes."
The officer shook his head.
"We don't know who took it."
Then he continued examining the room.
A small camera was hidden above the doorway.
Its internal storage had not been removed.
The footage showed Trent entering first.
He searched the cabinet.
Then Whitaker appeared.
The older man approached cautiously.
Trent seemed surprised to see him.
They argued.
There was no audio.
Then Trent shoved Whitaker against the wall.
My stomach tightened.
"He's hurting him."
Victor leaned forward.
Whitaker struggled.
Then he reached inside his coat and removed something small.
A USB drive.
Trent grabbed it.
A moment later, Whitaker collapsed.
The footage ended when Trent disconnected the camera.
I covered my mouth.
"Oh, God."
The officer immediately requested medical and missing-person checks.
Hours later, investigators located Whitaker at a private clinic.
He was alive.
Injured.
But conscious.
When detectives interviewed him, he confirmed he'd spent years hiding after receiving threats connected to the Hayes family.
He had recently returned to recover Elena's original evidence.
But Trent reached the storage unit first.
"What was on the USB?" the investigator asked.
Whitaker looked exhausted.
"Copies of financial records."
"Anything else?"
He hesitated.
"A video."
Victor leaned forward.
"What video?"
Whitaker's expression changed.
"Elena recorded a meeting with Martin Hayes."
My heart pounded.
"What happened in that meeting?"
Whitaker looked toward me.
"Your aunt confronted Martin about the stolen charity funds."
I swallowed.
"And?"
He closed his eyes.
"Martin threatened her."
Victor's fists tightened.
Whitaker continued.
"But there's something you need to understand."
We waited.
"Elena wasn't the only person who knew about the money."
I felt cold.
"Who else?"
Whitaker looked directly at me.
"Your mother."
The room went silent.
Then he added something even worse.
"Catherine was the person who first discovered the fraud."
My heart stopped.
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"And Martin Hayes believed she had kept a second copy of the evidence."
Suddenly, Trent's three years of questions about my childhood made perfect sense.
