Chapter 8: The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Peter read the message again.
FOUND THE CHILDREN.
The words were simple.
Almost too simple.
But the next line made his hands shake.
COME ALONE.
And the final sentence was the one that broke something inside him.
THEY WANT THEIR FATHER BACK.
Peter stared at the phone screen.
Aaron.
Alive.
Dead.
Missing.
A ghost moving through the shadows.
Every possibility seemed impossible.
Yet somehow every impossible thing had already happened.
A hidden daughter.
A secret room.
A fake investigation.
A brother who had apparently known he was in danger.
And now someone had taken the children.
Again.
“Peter.””
Hale's voice pulled him back.
Peter looked up.
The detective was watching him carefully.
“Who was that?””
Peter didn't answer.
Not immediately.
Because he knew what would happen if he showed them.
Hale would tell him not to go.
Emma would tell him it was a trap.
The police would take control.
And while they were making plans, Drew, Lily, and Ava would still be somewhere with someone who wanted them.
Peter turned the phone around.
Hale read the message.
His expression changed.
“No.””
Peter looked at him.
“What?””
“You can't go.””
Peter almost smiled.
“That's your first response?””
“Yes.””
“My niece and nephew are missing.””
“And walking into a situation controlled by an unknown person is exactly what they want.””
Peter stepped closer.
“They took children.””
“I know.””
“Then stop talking to me like this is a chess game.””
Hale's jaw tightened.
“Because it is.””
Peter looked at him.
“What?””
“It has always been a chess game.””
Hale pointed toward the files on the table.
“Aaron knew someone was moving pieces around him. Reena. Thomas. Whoever else was involved.””
He looked at Peter.
“And now you're the piece they moved.””
Peter hated that he knew the detective was right.
But being right didn't make him less angry.
“Where are my children?””
The words surprised him.
Not because they were untrue.
Because he meant them.
Drew and Lily weren't his children.
Not biologically.
But after everything they had been through, Peter couldn't think of them as anything else.
Hale looked away.
“We find them.””
Peter shook his head.
“No.””
Hale frowned.
“No?””
“You find them.””
Peter held up his phone.
“I get them back.””
Emma stepped forward.
“Peter.””
He looked at her.
“You know where they're taking you.””
She nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
Hale turned.
“Emma?””
She looked uncomfortable.
“Reena has one place she always goes when she wants someone to disappear.””
Peter waited.
“Where?””
Emma hesitated.
Then:
“The old Calder property.””
Peter frowned.
“What property?””
Emma looked at him.
“The land Aaron inherited from your father.””
Peter felt a strange emptiness.
His father had owned several properties before he died.
One old farmhouse outside town.
Nobody had used it in years.
Peter had forgotten about it completely.
“How do you know?””
Emma looked down.
“Because that's where Aaron took me when he found out about Reena.””
Hale's eyes narrowed.
“He hid you there?””
“No.””
Emma shook her head.
“He hid something there.””
Peter remembered Aaron's letter.
Three parts.
Three locations.
The clues.
“The farmhouse.””
Emma nodded.
“Yes.””
Hale immediately pulled out his phone.
“I'll send units.””
Peter stopped him.
“No.””
Hale looked at him.
“You don't get to decide that.””
“I do if you want those children alive.””
The room went quiet.
Peter continued.
“They told me to come alone.””
“Which is exactly why we won't.””
“They'll see you coming.””
“Not if we do it correctly.””
Peter looked at the detective.
“You don't understand.””
Hale's expression hardened.
“Then explain.””
Peter held up the phone.
“They don't want me because they need leverage.””
He looked toward the photograph of Aaron.
“They want me because Aaron trusted me.””
Emma nodded.
“She’s right.””
Everyone turned.
Emma spoke quietly.
“Reena always believed Peter was the last person Aaron couldn't control.””
Peter frowned.
“What does that mean?””
“She thought Aaron told you everything.””
Peter laughed sadly.
“He didn't.””
“No.””
Emma looked at him.
“But he wanted to.””
Peter looked away.
That hurt more than he expected.
Because he had spent years thinking Aaron chose silence.
Maybe he had been wrong.
Maybe Aaron had been trying to protect him from a war Peter didn't know existed.
Hale put his phone away.
“Fine.””
Peter looked at him.
“Fine?””
“I won't send anyone ahead.””
Peter was surprised.
“But?””
“But I follow.””
Peter shook his head.
“No.””
“Yes.””
“Hale—”
“You need someone watching your back.””
Peter stared at him.
After everything.
After the secrets.
After the photograph.
He still didn't know if he trusted Hale.
But he knew one thing.
Hale wanted the children found.
That mattered.
Emma picked up the old phone from the table.
“Take this.””
Peter looked at it.
“Why?””
“Aaron recorded things.””
“On this?””
“Yes.””
“It doesn't turn on.””
Emma looked at Hale.
“He knows how.””
Hale took the phone.
For several seconds, he studied it.
Then he removed the back cover.
Inside was a hidden memory card.
Peter stared.
“How did you know?””
Hale looked uncomfortable.
“Because Aaron taught me.””
Peter looked away.
Again.
Another secret.
Another piece.
Within thirty minutes, they were driving toward the old farmhouse.
The sky had darkened.
Rain began tapping against the windshield.
Peter sat silently in the passenger seat.
Hale drove.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Peter broke the silence.
“Were you there when Aaron died?””
Hale kept his eyes on the road.
“No.””
“Were you supposed to be?””
“Yes.””
“What happened?””
Hale's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“I received a message from Aaron.””
“What did it say?””
“Meet me at the house. Bring the evidence.””
“And?””
“I went.””
“And?””
“I found the car.””
Peter turned.
“Aaron's car?””
“Yes.””
“Empty?””
“Yes.””
“What did you do?””
“I searched.””
“And?””
Hale's voice became quieter.
“I found blood.””
Peter felt sick.
“But no body?””
“No.””
“Then why did everyone think he died?””
Hale didn't answer immediately.
“Because Reena arrived before police.””
Peter frowned.
“What?””
“She told everyone Aaron had collapsed inside.””
“But you said you found blood.””
“Yes.””
“So why wasn't there an investigation?””
Hale laughed bitterly.
“Because Thomas Voss was already controlling the paperwork.””
Peter looked out the window.
The rain blurred the road.
“Aaron was alive.””
“Maybe.””
Peter looked at him.
“You don't believe that?””
Hale was silent.
Finally:
“I believe Aaron survived that day.””
Peter felt a chill.
“Then where has he been?””
Hale shook his head.
“I don't know.””
The farmhouse appeared ahead.
Old.
Dark.
Abandoned.
Exactly the kind of place nobody would look.
They parked away from the road.
Peter got out.
The air smelled like wet earth.
Hale checked his weapon.
“Stay behind me.””
Peter ignored him.
They approached the house.
The front door was open.
That was wrong.
Very wrong.
Hale raised his hand.
They stopped.
Inside, a light was on.
Someone was waiting.
Peter stepped inside.
“Aaron?””
No answer.
Only silence.
They moved through the rooms.
Empty.
Until they reached the kitchen.
A table sat in the center.
Three chairs.
Three plates.
Three glasses.
Peter froze.
Hale looked around.
“What is this?””
Then Peter saw the wall.
Photographs.
Hundreds.
Drew.
Lily.
Ava.
Aaron.
And Peter.
Pictures of Peter taken over years.
At his house.
At work.
Driving.
Shopping.
Living.
Peter stepped backward.
“Someone was watching me.””
Hale stared.
“Not someone.””
Peter looked at him.
“What?””
Hale pointed.
On the wall was a photograph.
A recent one.
Taken outside Peter's porch.
The day Drew crawled to him.
Peter's blood went cold.
“Who took this?””
A voice answered from behind them.
“Your brother.””
Peter spun around.
A man stood in the doorway.
Older.
Gray hair.
Calm.
Holding no weapon.
But Peter recognized him immediately.
Thomas Voss.
The man everyone thought disappeared.
The man who controlled Aaron's legal life.
The man who might have helped destroy everything.
Peter stepped forward.
“Where are the children?””
Thomas looked at him.
“They're safe.””
“Where?””
“Somewhere your brother prepared.””
Peter's fists clenched.
“You kidnapped them.””
Thomas shook his head.
“No.””
“Then what do you call taking three children from a hospital?””
“Protecting them.””
Peter laughed.
“Protecting them?””
Thomas looked toward the photographs.
“You still think Aaron was the victim.””
Peter froze.
“What?””
Thomas walked closer.
“You think Reena destroyed him.””
Peter stared.
“Didn't she?””
Thomas looked almost sad.
“No.””
He whispered:
“Your brother destroyed himself.””
Peter felt anger explode.
“Don't talk about him.””
“Why?””
“Because you didn't know him.””
Thomas smiled faintly.
“I knew him better than you did.””
The words hurt because they sounded exactly like what Reena had said.
Peter stepped closer.
“Where is Aaron?””
Thomas looked at him.
And for the first time, something like fear crossed his face.
“You really don't know.””
Peter's heart stopped.
“Know what?””
Thomas whispered:
“Aaron isn't hiding.””
The room became silent.
“He's running.””
Peter stared.
“From who?””
Thomas looked directly at him.
“From himself.””
Before Peter could answer, a sound came from the back room.
A child crying.
Peter turned.
“Drew?””
He ran.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
Empty.
Except for a recording device on the floor.
It clicked on.
Aaron's voice filled the room.
Older.
Tired.
Broken.
“Peter.””
Peter stopped breathing.
His brother's voice.
After three years.
“If you're hearing this, then I failed.””
Peter's eyes filled.
The recording continued.
“I need you to understand something.””
A pause.
Then Aaron whispered:
“Reena was never the person I was afraid of.””
Peter looked at Thomas.
The man's face had gone pale.
Aaron's voice continued.
“The person I feared was the person I trusted to save my family.””
A long silence.
Then:
“Peter... don't trust Thomas Voss.””
Thomas closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“Because he knows where I am.””
Peter looked at Thomas.
The old man didn't move.
Then Aaron said the final words.
“And if Thomas is with you...””
The recording crackled.
“...it means I'm already dead.””
The device clicked off.
Nobody spoke.
Peter stared at Thomas.
Thomas stared back.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
And his face changed.
“What?””
A pause.
Then he looked at Peter.
“They found him.””
Peter's heart stopped.
“Who?””
Thomas slowly lowered the phone.
“The police.””
Peter stepped forward.
“Who did they find?””
Thomas whispered:
“Aaron.””
Peter couldn't breathe.
Then Thomas said the words that changed everything.
“They found your brother alive.””
A silence followed.
May you like
And then:
“They arrested him for the murder of Reena Voss.””
