Chapter 8 - The First Crack
Walter did not tell Ethan about the recording.
Not yet.
He needed to know whether Vanessa was involved.
But every instinct told him something was wrong.
Meanwhile, Ethan began searching through his mother's belongings.
He found an old storage key.
It belonged to a facility twenty miles outside town.
He went there alone.
The storage unit was small.
Inside were boxes covered in dust.
Most contained clothes.
One contained letters.
Ethan opened the first.
It was from his mother.
The letter was dated three months before her death.
Ethan read it slowly.
She wrote that she had finally learned the truth.
She wrote that Walter had never betrayed her.
She wrote that she had made a terrible mistake.
Ethan's hands began shaking.
At the bottom was a sentence that made him stop.
If anything happens to me, ask Walter about the house.
Ethan looked at the storage unit around him.
The house.
The same house his father had just bought.
Why?
He found another envelope.
Inside was a property deed.
The name on it was Margaret Hayes.
But the transfer date was strange.
The property had been transferred shortly after Michael disappeared.
To a company called Carter Financial.
Ethan's heart pounded.
Carter.
His wife's family.
He took photographs of everything.
Then he heard footsteps.
Someone was outside the unit.
Ethan froze.
The footsteps stopped.
He quietly closed the box.
“Hello?”
No answer.
The storage door rattled.
Ethan backed away.
Then it stopped.
He waited.
A minute passed.
He opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
But on the floor was a folded piece of paper.
He picked it up.
Don't look for Michael.
Ethan stared at the message.
Then another sentence appeared beneath it.
Look at Vanessa.
He immediately called Walter.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Ethan drove home.
Vanessa was in the kitchen.
She smiled.
“Where have you been?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Storage.”
“Why?”
“Looking for Mom's things.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Did you find anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Ethan stepped closer.
“A letter.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“What did it say?”
“That Dad never betrayed her.”
Vanessa stared.
“Ethan.”
“And that the house matters.”
Vanessa's hands began trembling.
“What house?”
“The one across the street.”
She turned away.
Ethan watched her.
“Why are you scared?”
“I'm not.”
“You are.”
“No.”
“Vanessa.”
She looked at him.
And for the first time in their marriage, Ethan saw fear in her eyes.
Not anger.
Not manipulation.
Fear.
May you like
Then she whispered,
“Your father should never have bought that house.”
