Chapter 5 - THE FIRST LIE
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Helena leaned forward.
“Where is my sister?”
The caller laughed.
“You had nineteen years to ask.”
“Who are you?”
“Walk away.”
“Not happening.”
A pause.
Then—
“Your father was smarter than you.”
The call ended.
Anna immediately tried Evelyn’s number.
Straight to voicemail.
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
“We’re going to the police.”
Helena blocked him.
“No.”
“Someone threatened Evelyn.”
“Using Bell’s name after somebody with B-E-L on their plate burned down my father’s cabin.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You think the cops are involved?”
“I think my father spent thirty years drinking with them.”
Nobody argued.
Daniel locked the garage.
They drove to Helena’s house.
Inside, she spread everything across the dining table.
The report.
Evelyn’s letter.
The photograph.
The key.
Daniel stared at the picture of Evelyn for a long time.
“She was scared that night.”
Helena looked at him.
“Of Bell?”
“Of your father.”
He sat down.
“When Richard found out she was pregnant, he lost his mind. Said I was trash. Said Evelyn was throwing away her future.”
“That sounds like him.”
“No, Helena. You don’t understand.”
Daniel met her eyes.
“He hit her.”
Helena froze.
“Our father never hit us.”
Daniel said nothing.
That silence hurt worse than an argument.
Anna whispered, “Mom has a scar behind her left ear.”
Helena turned.
“She told me she fell down stairs when she was twenty-two.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“She didn’t fall.”
Helena felt sick.
She remembered Evelyn showing up to breakfast one morning wearing her hair down when she always wore it tied back.
She remembered her father saying Evelyn had “learned some respect.”
She had been sixteen.
She had believed him.
Daniel continued.
“The night we tried to leave, Caleb picked us up. Bell followed us. Your father was in Bell’s cruiser.”
“What?”
“I saw him.”
Helena shook her head.
“No.”
“They chased us because Richard wanted Evelyn back.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“When the truck flipped, I crawled out. Bell was standing over Caleb.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing.”
Daniel’s voice went flat.
“My brother was still breathing.”
Anna whispered, “Oh my God.”
“I begged him to call an ambulance. Bell told me to shut up.”
Daniel looked at Helena.
“Your father dragged Evelyn into the cruiser.”
Helena couldn’t move.
“Caleb died waiting for help?”
“Yes.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Then Richard told Evelyn that if she said I’d been driving drunk, he would get me probation and let us both live.”
“But you went to prison.”
“Eight years.”
Anna’s eyes flashed.
“And my mother still disappeared?”
Daniel nodded.
“She testified against me from somewhere else. Signed statement. Never appeared in court.”
Helena’s anger began burning through the shock.
“My father lied to her too.”
“Probably.”
Anna stood suddenly.
“So everybody lied. Evelyn lied. Richard lied. Bell lied.”
Her voice broke.
“And I’m standing here finding out my entire life came from some nightmare nobody bothered to tell me about.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you my father?”
He went silent.
Anna’s eyes filled.
“Answer me.”
“If Evelyn was pregnant with my child when she left…”
“Then?”
Daniel’s face broke.
“Then yes.”
Anna walked out.
Helena followed her onto the porch.
Anna was crying.
“My mother told me my father died before I was born.”
Helena sat beside her.
“She may have been trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Before Helena could answer, she noticed an envelope wedged beneath her windshield wiper.
No stamp.
No address.
Just her name.
She opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Evelyn.
Taken recently.
Her hands were tied to a chair.
May you like
On the back, someone had written:
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
