Chapter 7 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The man stood across the street.
He did not move.
He simply watched the house.
Ethan felt a chill.
“That's Michael?”
Walter nodded.
“But the records say he died.”
“I know.”
The man raised his hand.
Not waving.
Warning.
Then he walked away.
Ethan rushed outside.
“Wait!”
Walter grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because we don't know who he is.”
“You just said his name.”
“I said he looks like him.”
Ethan pulled free.
The man was already getting into a dark sedan.
The car disappeared around the corner.
Ethan returned.
“Who was he?”
Walter stared at the street.
“If that was Michael, everything I believed for forty years is wrong.”
Vanessa quietly picked up the documents.
Walter saw her.
“Put those down.”
She froze.
“I just want to understand.”
“No.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Why?”
Vanessa turned.
“I need air.”
She walked outside.
Ethan followed.
“Vanessa.”
She stopped.
“You knew him.”
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
“I don't.”
“You recognized him.”
Vanessa looked at Ethan.
Her eyes were wet.
“I recognized the car.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“My father used to have one like it.”
That night, Vanessa did not sleep.
She sat alone in the kitchen.
At 3:17 a.m., her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
A man's voice spoke.
“You should have stopped him.”
Vanessa's face went pale.
“Who is this?”
“You know.”
She ended the call.
The phone rang again.
She ignored it.
A message appeared.
You were warned.
Vanessa deleted it.
Then another message appeared.
Look across the street.
She slowly turned toward the window.
Walter's house was dark.
But something moved behind the upstairs curtain.
A shadow.
Vanessa stepped back.
The next morning, Walter found an envelope beneath his front door.
No stamp.
No address.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Margaret.
Standing beside Michael.
On the back were three words.
She knew everything.
Walter sat down.
For decades he had believed Margaret had died thinking he betrayed her.
Now he wondered whether she had discovered the truth before her death.
He opened another drawer.
Inside was an old cassette tape.
Margaret had recorded it in 1986.
Walter had never listened.
He inserted it into an old player.
Static filled the room.
Then Margaret's voice.
“Walter, if you hear this, it means I couldn't tell you myself.”
Walter stopped breathing.
Her voice continued.
“I found out who took the money.”
The recording crackled.
Then the voice became faint.
“And it wasn't Michael.”
Walter leaned closer.
“What happened next?”
The tape went silent.
Then Margaret whispered one final sentence.
“Don't trust the person closest to Ethan.”
May you like
Walter looked toward the window.
Across the street, Vanessa was standing perfectly still.
