Chapter 4: The Photograph Proved Daniel Had Been Lying Too
Chapter 4: The Photograph Proved Daniel Had Been Lying Too
Nobody spoke.
Victor was still standing outside Ryan’s house, holding the photograph against the glass.
His eyes never left mine.
I felt Madison’s hand trembling beside me.
Claire slowly turned toward me.
“Daniel.”
I couldn’t answer.
“What does he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Victor smiled.
Then he turned around and disappeared back inside the house.
Claire immediately reached for the door handle.
“Stay here.”
I stopped her.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I need to know what that photograph was.”
“So do I.”
I got out of the car.
Madison followed.
Claire cursed under her breath before climbing out too.
We crossed the street together.
Ryan’s front door was unlocked.
That frightened me more than if it had been locked.
I pushed it open.
“Ryan?”
No answer.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
The living room looked almost untouched.
But the folder was gone.
So was Victor.
And Ryan.
Madison walked toward the table.
“Everything’s gone.”
Claire pointed toward the floor.
“No.”
A single sheet of paper remained underneath the table.
She picked it up.
It was a copy of an old company registration document.
My name appeared at the top.
Underneath it was a date.
Seven years earlier.
I stared at it.
“That can’t be right.”
Claire looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t know Ryan seven years ago.”
Madison slowly turned toward me.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How sure?”
I looked at her.
“I met him after you introduced us.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“Then explain the photograph.”
“I can’t.”
A sound came from upstairs.
We all froze.
Someone was walking.
One step.
Then another.
Claire whispered:
“There’s someone here.”
I motioned for them to stay behind me.
We climbed the stairs.
The hallway was dark.
A bedroom door stood slightly open.
I pushed it.
Empty.
Then I noticed the closet.
Its door was open.
Inside were several boxes.
Claire walked over.
“These weren’t here before.”
Madison pulled one down.
Dust covered the lid.
But the lock looked brand new.
She opened it.
Inside were dozens of files.
All with names.
Ryan.
Claire.
Madison.
Mine.
My stomach tightened.
“Why does he have these?”
Claire opened my file.
The first page was a copy of my driver’s license.
The second was my employment history.
The third made me stop breathing.
It was a photograph of me.
Taken seven years earlier.
I was standing outside an office building.
Next to me was Ryan.
And between us stood the same unidentified man from Victor’s photograph.
Madison stared at it.
“You knew him.”
“No.”
“You’re standing beside him.”
“I don’t remember this.”
Claire looked at the date.
“September 14.”
She looked at me.
“Seven years ago.”
I shook my head.
“That was the year I moved to Ohio.”
Claire froze.
“You moved here that year?”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“Richmond.”
Her expression changed.
“What?”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“You said you grew up in Ohio.”
“I did.”
“Then why did you move to Richmond?”
I felt confused.
“I didn’t.”
Claire pointed at the file.
“Your employment history says you worked in Richmond for eighteen months.”
I took the document from her.
The company name meant nothing to me.
But the address did.
I knew that building.
It was the warehouse from the coordinates.
My hands started shaking.
“That isn’t possible.”
Madison whispered:
“What happened to your memory?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire looked at me carefully.
“Daniel, did you ever have an accident?”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“Hospitalization?”
“No.”
“Any period of your life you can’t clearly remember?”
I opened my mouth.
Then stopped.
There was one.
I had always assumed it was because I was young.
A six-month period after my twenty-second birthday.
I remembered moving.
I remembered returning home.
But everything in between was strangely blurred.
I had never thought much about it.
Until now.
Madison sat down on the edge of the bed.
“You never told me.”
“Because I didn’t know.”
Claire turned another page.
“This is dated seven years ago.”
It was a bank statement.
An account had been opened under my name.
Money had been transferred through it.
The total was enormous.
But the account holder’s photograph wasn’t mine.
It was the unidentified man.
I stared at the picture.
“That isn’t me.”
“No,” Claire said.
“But they used your identity.”
Madison suddenly looked up.
“Then Ryan didn’t create the account.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“Who did?”
Nobody answered.
Then we heard a phone ringing downstairs.
I ran down the stairs.
My phone wasn’t ringing.
Neither was Madison’s.
Claire checked hers.
Nothing.
The ringing continued.
It was coming from the kitchen.
I followed the sound.
A phone sat on the counter.
An old-fashioned burner phone.
I picked it up.
The screen displayed one word.
DANIEL.
I answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then a man’s voice spoke.
“You finally found the file.”
I froze.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t remember me?”
“No.”
A quiet laugh.
“You were very good at forgetting.”
My grip tightened.
“What do you want?”
“I want the truth.”
“Then tell me who you are.”
The voice became colder.
“You already know.”
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Madison came downstairs.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire looked at the burner phone.
“Give it to me.”
I handed it over.
She examined the screen.
Then her eyes widened.
“What?”
“There was a tracking application running.”
“Can you trace it?”
“Maybe.”
She connected it to her laptop.
A location appeared.
Not Ryan’s house.
Not the warehouse.
A hospital.
I stared at the screen.
“Why would someone be tracking that phone from a hospital?”
Claire didn’t answer.
Madison suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Daniel.”
I looked at her.
“There is something you need to remember.”
“What?”
“When I started investigating Ryan, he showed me something.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
“Of me?”
She nodded.
“But it wasn’t this photograph.”
“What did it show?”
“You.”
My heart sank.
“Doing what?”
Madison swallowed.
“Standing beside Victor.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What?”
“You were handing him a briefcase.”
Claire stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
“Because I thought it was fake.”
“And now?”
Madison looked at me.
“Now I’m not sure.”
I stepped backward.
My mind raced.
The missing months.
The Richmond warehouse.
The account.
Ryan.
Victor.
The unidentified man.
And now this.
I looked at the file again.
There was one final page.
A handwritten note.
I picked it up.
Only one sentence had been written.
Daniel was never the victim.
Madison covered her mouth.
Claire stared at me.
Then the hospital location on the laptop suddenly disappeared.
Claire looked confused.
“It moved.”
“What?”
“The tracker.”
The screen refreshed.
The location was no longer at the hospital.
It was moving.
Toward us.
A vehicle icon appeared on the map.
Three blocks away.
Then two.
Then one.
I looked through the window.
Headlights turned onto the street.
A black SUV slowed outside the house.
The same SUV from the photograph.
The driver’s door opened.
A man stepped out.
He looked directly at the window.
Then he raised his phone.
Mine buzzed.
One message appeared.
You wanted to know who I am.
Another followed.
Look behind you.
I slowly turned.
There was someone standing at the top of the stairs.
Victor.
He wasn’t holding a weapon.
He wasn’t smiling.
He simply looked at me and said:
“Daniel, before you accuse me of anything…”
He placed another photograph on the table.
“…you need to remember what happened seven years ago.”
I looked down.
The photograph showed me.
But this time, I wasn’t standing beside Ryan.
I was standing beside the man outside.
And behind us was someone else.
Someone I recognized immediately.
My father.
