Chapter 6 - THE HOUSE THAT PAID
Richard Vance had always treated a ringing phone like an insult.
He answered on his schedule.
People waited.
David called him six times from the station parking lot.
On the seventh, Richard picked up.
“You’ve made a terrible mistake.”
David almost laughed.
“Where are you?”
“Your sister is sick.”
“Where are you?”
“I spent years trying to get her help.”
“Did you know where Leo was?”
“Be careful what you accuse me of.”
David could hear road noise.
“Pull over.”
“You don’t give me orders.”
“My son was locked underground.”
“And now he’s safe. You should be focused on that.”
There it was.
The family rule.
The damage mattered less than the noise people made about it.
David had spent his childhood learning to swallow anger so his father could call the house peaceful.
He wouldn’t teach Leo the same lesson.
“Don’t call Sarah,” he said. “Don’t come near my children.”
“Everything you have—”
David ended the call.
Inside, Reyes was reviewing information sent by investigators in Texas.
“The deed to Elena’s house lists an LLC connected to your father,” she said.
“He bought it?”
“It appears his company funded the purchase.”
David sat slowly.
Four months earlier, Elena had bragged about starting over.
New house. New town. New life.
At the time, Richard had told David he couldn’t keep paying for private search efforts.
“We have to be realistic,” his father had said.
David repeated those words now.
Reyes watched him.
“He stopped funding the search the same month he bought the house.”
“We’ll compare the dates.”
David covered his face.
He remembered defending his father to Sarah.
He remembered saying the man was grieving too.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Sarah.
LEO ASKED IF YOU LEFT BECAUSE HE TOLD.
David was on his feet before Reyes finished reading it.
At the hospital, he entered quietly.
Leo lay turned toward the wall.
David sat beside him.
“I left to talk to the police. I came back because this is where I want to be.”
Leo picked at a loose thread on his blanket.
“Aunt Elena said telling makes people leave.”
David felt something inside him split.
“She lied.”
“What if I remember more?”
“Then I’ll still be here.”
“What if it’s bad?”
“Still here.”
Leo turned his head.
“There was a house before this one.”
David kept his face steady.
“A house with a red door.”
Reyes, standing just outside, heard the last sentence.
May you like
David knew that door.
It belonged to his father’s old hunting cabin.
