Chapter 4: Lauren Finally Revealed Why She Was Really In Dallas
Chapter 4: Lauren Finally Revealed Why She Was Really In Dallas
I stared at the photograph until the edges began to blur.
Lauren stood beside me in the picture.
Not beside the man I remembered.
Beside me.
Six years before our first date.
Six years before she supposedly knew my name.
Six years before she had ever walked into my life.
I slowly turned the phone toward her.
“Explain.”
Lauren didn’t speak.
“Explain it.”
Her lips parted.
Then closed again.
Brandon stepped backward.
“This isn’t how it was supposed to happen.”
I looked at him.
“You knew about this photograph?”
He didn’t answer.
That was enough.
I grabbed his shirt.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Lauren suddenly shouted.
“Stop!”
Everyone around the pool went silent.
I released him.
Lauren wiped her eyes.
“Not here.”
“You’ve had six years to tell me.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you weren’t supposed to remember.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
She looked at me.
“You don’t understand what happened to you.”
“Then make me understand.”
She glanced toward the road.
The black sedan was gone.
But she still looked afraid.
“Inside,” she whispered.
We moved into the house.
The party had effectively ended.
People were collecting their phones and leaving without asking questions.
No one wanted to get involved.
Once the door closed behind the last guest, Lauren walked into the kitchen.
She stood with both hands against the counter.
“I met you in Dallas.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
She turned around.
“The man you remember from Redwood wasn’t the man you thought he was.”
I frowned.
“Ethan?”
She nodded.
“Ethan discovered that Redwood wasn’t simply moving money.”
“What was it doing?”
“Buying silence.”
I stared at her.
She continued.
“Companies were being pressured into signing contracts they didn’t understand. Employees who questioned the numbers suddenly lost their jobs. People who tried to expose it were threatened.”
“And you were involved?”
“No.”
Her answer came too quickly.
I noticed.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was investigating them.”
I looked at Brandon.
He had followed us inside.
“You too?”
Brandon nodded.
“I worked with Ethan.”
“Then why did you pretend we barely knew each other?”
“Because after Dallas, everyone was told to forget you.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone who wanted to stay alive.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“You weren’t supposed to survive the crash.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
I looked at her.
“What?”
“The night of the crash, Ethan was going to give you evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“A ledger.”
Brandon answered this time.
“A list of payments, names, shell companies, everything.”
I remembered a black folder.
I remembered holding it.
“What happened to it?”
Brandon looked at Lauren.
She nodded.
“It’s still somewhere.”
My heart started beating faster.
“Where?”
Lauren reached into her handbag.
She pulled out an old key.
Small.
Brass.
Attached to a faded plastic tag.
There was one word written on it.
DALLAS.
I stared at it.
“You kept that?”
“I was told to.”
“By whom?”
She hesitated.
“Ethan.”
That name changed everything.
“Ethan was supposed to be dead.”
“He was.”
“Then how did he give you the key?”
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears.
“He gave it to me the night before he died.”
I stepped closer.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because after the crash, you lost your memory.”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t lose all of it.”
“I know.”
She looked directly at me.
“That was the problem.”
Brandon interrupted.
“Noah, you need to understand something. The people behind Redwood didn’t care about the money anymore.”
“Then what did they want?”
“You.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because you were the only person who could identify everyone involved.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Me.
Brandon.
Ethan.
Lauren.
Four people in a parking garage.
Four people connected to something I couldn’t remember.
Then another detail caught my attention.
The photograph had a timestamp.
October 14, 2020. 11:42 PM.
I looked at Lauren.
“What happened at 11:42?”
She went pale.
Brandon whispered,
“The crash.”
I felt a sharp pressure behind my eyes.
Then another memory surfaced.
A phone ringing.
Ethan answering it.
His expression changing.
Then he looked at me.
“It’s too late.”
A gunshot.
I opened my eyes.
My breathing had become uneven.
Lauren stepped toward me.
“Noah?”
“I remember.”
She froze.
“What?”
“I remember the phone call.”
Brandon’s face changed.
“What phone call?”
I looked at him.
“The call Ethan received before the crash.”
“Who was it?”
I swallowed.
“Marcus Hayes.”
Brandon went completely silent.
Lauren whispered,
“No.”
I continued.
“He told Ethan someone had found the ledger.”
Brandon shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus was supposed to be the one protecting it.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Brandon looked toward the window.
Then his phone buzzed.
One new message.
He didn’t want to read it.
I took the phone from him.
The message was from Marcus Hayes.
You finally remembered.
A second message appeared.
Now ask Lauren what she did with the ledger.
I looked at my wife.
She wasn’t crying anymore.
She was staring at me with an expression I’d never seen before.
Not fear.
Not guilt.
Something closer to resignation.
Then she slowly reached into her bag again.
This time, she pulled out a folded piece of paper.
She placed it on the table.
“That’s the last page.”
I unfolded it.
There were seven names.
Six had been crossed out.
The seventh had been circled.
My own name.
Underneath it was a handwritten sentence.
If Noah remembers Dallas, eliminate the final witness.
I looked at Lauren.
“Who wrote this?”
She didn’t answer.
Brandon did.
“Ethan.”
I looked down at the handwriting.
And suddenly I knew something was wrong.
Because I had seen that handwriting before.
Recently.
Not six years ago.
This morning.
On the note someone had left beneath my windshield.
I looked toward the front door.
Someone was standing outside.
And they were holding a gun.
