Chapter 4 - THE SECRET IN THE WALL
Michael drove through Denver without waiting for his driver.
Eleanor sat beside him.
Neither spoke.
The rain had stopped, but the roads were slick and dark.
“Where are we going?” Eleanor finally asked.
“Daniel's old house.”
“He hasn't lived there for months.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because if Emily left something behind, that's where we'll find it.”
The house sat at the edge of the city.
Dark.
Abandoned.
Michael parked outside.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, everything had been stripped.
Furniture gone.
Paintings gone.
Computers gone.
But Michael knew his brother.
Daniel never left without taking something valuable.
He also never destroyed evidence unless he knew it existed.
Michael walked through the house.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Eleanor asked.
Michael pointed toward the staircase.
“There.”
A tiny scratch marked the wooden floor.
Something heavy had been dragged.
They followed the marks into the basement.
At the end of the basement stood a wall covered in shelves.
Michael moved one.
Nothing.
Another.
Nothing.
Then Eleanor noticed something.
“Sir.”
A small red thread was caught behind the shelf.
Emily used red thread to mark important pages in her notebooks.
Michael pulled the shelf forward.
Behind it was a metal door.
Locked.
He took out the brass key.
It fit.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
Files covered the walls.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
Medical records.
Company documents.
Michael stepped inside.
Then he saw Emily's handwriting.
His breath caught.
“Sarah Monroe.”
He grabbed the file.
Inside were medical records.
Sarah had been diagnosed with a rare heart condition.
But the records contained something else.
Payments.
Large payments.
From Hartman Mining.
Michael's eyes narrowed.
“Why was my company paying Sarah?”
Eleanor whispered:
“Maybe Emily found out.”
Michael continued searching.
Then he found a photograph.
Sarah.
Standing beside a little girl.
Lily.
Michael stared.
There was something familiar about the child's face.
Something he couldn't explain.
He opened another file.
The top page contained a DNA test.
Michael's hands went cold.
He read the first line.
Then stopped.
“No…”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Michael couldn't answer.
The test had been ordered six months earlier.
The results were conclusive.
Sarah Monroe was not Lily's biological mother.
Michael read the name of the biological father.
His own name.
Michael Hartman.
He stumbled backward.
“No.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“No…”
Michael looked again.
The report clearly stated that he was Lily's biological father.
His mind raced.
Impossible.
He had never met Sarah.
At least, he didn't remember meeting her.
Then another photograph fell from the file.
Emily.
Sarah.
And a newborn baby.
Michael picked it up.
On the back Emily had written:
“She deserves to know her father.”
His knees nearly gave out.
“Why didn't Emily tell me?”
Eleanor cried softly.
“Maybe she tried.”
Michael shook his head.
“She knew about Lily.”
“Yes.”
“She knew I was her father.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she die without telling me?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Maybe she never got the chance.”
Michael stared at the photograph.
Then he saw a second line beneath Emily's handwriting.
“Daniel knows.”
The room suddenly felt freezing.
Michael closed his eyes.
His brother knew.
Daniel had known Lily existed.
Daniel had known Michael was her father.
And somehow, Lily had been living on the streets.
Michael's phone rang.
This time it was the police.
He answered.
“Mr. Hartman?”
“Yes.”
“We found your security guard.”
“Where?”
“Two miles from your property.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
Michael exhaled.
“What about the girl?”
Silence.
“No sign of her.”
Michael closed his eyes.
Then the officer said:
“But we found something.”
“What?”
“A man's wallet.”
“Whose?”
The officer hesitated.
“Daniel Hartman's.”
Michael looked at Eleanor.
“Daniel was at my house tonight.”
“No,” the officer said.
“He wasn't.”
Michael frowned.
“Then whose wallet is this?”
The officer's voice became quieter.
“That's the problem.”
Michael waited.
“We ran the fingerprints.”
“And?”
“They don't belong to Daniel.”
Michael's blood ran cold.
“Whose do they belong to?”
The officer answered:
“Sarah Monroe.”
Michael stared at the wall.
Sarah was supposed to be dead.
May you like
But suddenly, everything he thought he knew about Emily's death began collapsing.
And somewhere in Denver, a little girl named Lily was being hunted by someone who desperately wanted her silenced.
