Chapter 15 - The Man in the Photograph
The darkness lasted only a few seconds.
When the emergency lights returned, the photograph was gone.
Nobody knew who had taken it.
The warehouse doors were still locked.
The police searched every room.
Nothing.
Then Emma noticed something on the floor beside the old security system.
A tiny red light.
Recording.
Detective Mason picked up the device.
Officer Mason: “This wasn't here before.”
Emma stared at it.
Emma: “Play it.”
He pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice emerged.
Father: “Emma.”
She froze.
Father: “If you're hearing this, you've found the recordings.”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
Father: “I'm sorry.”
The recording continued.
Father: “There are things your mother doesn't know.”
Diane looked stunned.
Father: “There are things Daniel doesn't know.”
Emma leaned closer.
Father: “And there is one person I trusted with everything.”
The recording suddenly became distorted.
Then another voice appeared.
Not her father's.
A woman's voice.
Woman: “Stop the recording.”
The device went silent.
Emma looked at Detective Mason.
Officer Mason: “Who was that?”
Diane's face had gone completely white.
Emma: “Mom?”
Diane whispered:
Diane: “I know that voice.”
Emma: “Who is it?”
Diane looked toward the warehouse entrance.
Diane: “Your grandmother.”
Emma stared at her.
Her grandmother had been dead for eight years.
Nobody spoke.
Then the warehouse doors slowly opened.
A figure stood outside.
Tall.
Motionless.
Wearing the same gray coat from the security footage.
The figure lifted his head.
Emma saw his face.
Her heart stopped.
He looked exactly like her father.
But before anyone could speak, the man said one sentence.
Man: “Emma, don't believe everything your mother told you.”
The police raised their weapons.
Diane stepped backward.
Tyler began to cry.
And Emma realized the truth she had been chasing might be far more dangerous than the lie she had believed.
The man reached into his coat.
Everyone froze.
Then he pulled out a photograph.
He held it toward Emma.
On it was Emma as a child.
Standing beside her father.
And beside him was another man.
Daniel.
But there was something written on the back.
A date.
A date from before Emma was born.
Emma stared at it.
Then she looked at the man in the doorway.
Emma: “If you're really my father…”
The man smiled faintly.
Man: “Then ask yourself why your mother never told you about the night you were born.”
The warehouse fell silent.
Emma looked at Diane.
May you like
Diane couldn't meet her eyes.
And somewhere behind them, the recovered camera began recording again.
