Chapter 12: The Person We Never Suspected
The video stopped.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The name Patricia said remained hanging in the air.
Michael looked at me.
I looked back at him.
Neither of us wanted to say it.
Because saying it would make it real.
“Play it again,” Michael whispered.
Laura pressed the button.
The audio repeated.
Patricia’s voice.
Clear.
Cold.
“She’ll be easier to control now.””
Then the name.
Again.
This time, louder.
Michael stood up.
“No.””
I looked at him.
“You know that person?””
He didn’t answer.
“Michael.””
His face was pale.
“That’s my father.””
The room went silent.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
His father had been dead for eight years.
I had only met him through photographs.
But Patricia had said his name.
“Maybe she was talking to someone else,” I said.
Michael shook his head.
“No.””
“How do you know?””
“Because that was his name.””
He walked away from the table.
His hands went through his hair.
“My father was gone.””
Laura looked confused.
“Are you sure?””
Michael turned.
“What?””
“About when he died.””
The question made him stop.
“What are you saying?””
Laura looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know.””
Michael stared at her.
“Laura.””
She sighed.
“Patricia told everyone different things.””
My stomach tightened.
“What things?””
“That he was sick.””
“That he had problems.””
“That he left because of his health.””
Michael looked at the floor.
“I was seventeen.””
“And?””
“I was told not to ask questions.””
Nobody spoke.
Because suddenly, we understood.
Patricia had been controlling the story for years.
Maybe decades.
Michael picked up his phone.
“I need to check something.””
“What?””
“My father’s old records.””
Laura looked worried.
“Michael, be careful.””
He looked at her.
“Why?””
“Because if Patricia hid this…”
She paused.
“She’ll do anything to keep it hidden.””
My phone buzzed.
I looked down.
Another message.
From Patricia.
This time, there was no picture.
Only words.
*You’re digging into things you don’t understand.*
Then another message appeared.
*Ask Michael why his father really disappeared.*
I looked up.
Michael was already staring at his own phone.
Because he had received the same message.
For the first time since this started, Patricia wasn’t trying to separate us.
She was trying to scare both of us.
Michael looked at me.
“We need to find out what happened.””
I nodded.
But before we could leave, Laura picked up the folder she had brought.
There was one document at the bottom.
A document she had not shown us before.
She placed it on the table.
“I forgot about this.””
Michael looked at it.
“What is it?””
Laura’s face was pale.
“It’s the last thing Patricia gave me before my marriage ended.””
Michael opened the paper.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
“What?””
He handed it to me.
I read the first line.
And my hands began to shake.
Because it wasn’t a letter.
It wasn’t a threat.
May you like
It was a signed confession.
With Patricia’s name at the bottom.
