Chapter 13 - The Grave
The cemetery was silent.
Carter arrived alone.
Chloe waited near the gates.
“You shouldn't have come.”
“You told me to.”
“I didn't.”
Carter stopped.
“Then who did?”
Chloe looked at the note.
“I never wrote this.”
Carter looked around.
A man stepped from behind a stone wall.
Victor.
Carter stared.
“You.”
Victor shook his head.
“I didn't take Eleanor.”
“Then where is she?”
Victor looked toward the oldest section of the cemetery.
“Where your father was supposed to be buried.”
They walked together.
Carter stopped at the grave.
The name on the stone was Robert Hayes.
But the dates were wrong.
Carter touched the stone.
“He wasn't buried here.”
Victor nodded.
“No.”
“Then why is his name here?”
“Because someone needed you to believe he was.”
Carter looked at Victor.
“Where is my father?”
Victor didn't answer.
Instead, he pointed to another grave.
A grave with no name.
The stone had been recently cleaned.
Carter saw a small mark carved into the bottom.
The same symbol from his father's letter.
He touched it.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a flash drive.
Carter inserted it into his phone.
A video appeared.
Robert Hayes sat in a dark room.
He looked directly at Carter.
“My son.”
Carter couldn't breathe.
“If you're watching this, the plan has failed.”
Robert continued.
“Your mother is alive because she knows the location.”
“The location of what?”
“The original company records.”
Carter stared.
“The records prove that the Hayes empire was built on a lie.”
The video paused.
Then Robert said something that Carter never expected.
“Your uncle did not betray me.”
Carter's eyes widened.
“He tried to save me.”
The video ended.
Carter looked at Victor.
“Where is my uncle?”
Victor answered:
“Closer than you think.”
Carter turned.
A man stood behind him.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Alive.
Carter stared.
His uncle looked at him.
“I've waited six years for you to ask the right question.”
Carter's voice trembled.
“What happened to my father?”
His uncle looked toward Chloe.
Then toward Victor.
Then toward the road.
“We have very little time.”
A black car appeared at the cemetery entrance.
Carter watched it approach.
May you like
His uncle whispered:
“They know you're here.”
