Chapter 5 - A Photograph Hidden for Seven Years
By midnight, police had confirmed that the false janitor was named Raymond Pike.
He had worked for Victor Shaw.
The discovery transformed Noah from a runaway into a potential witness.
It also transformed Lily’s disappearance into something darker.
The following morning, DNA samples were collected from Ethan and Noah.
Results would take time.
Neither needed them emotionally.
When Ethan finally sat across from Noah, he struggled to speak.
“I knew your mother.”
Noah studied him.
“She knew you?”
“Yes.”
“Were you friends?”
Ethan’s eyes glistened.
“We were more than friends.”
Noah looked at Caroline.
Then back at Ethan.
Something passed through his expression.
A possibility.
“Are you my dad?”
Ethan couldn’t lie.
“I think I might be.”
Noah’s face hardened.
“My dad is dead.”
“That’s what Lily told you.”
“My mom doesn’t lie.”
“I’m not saying she did it to hurt you.”
Noah stood.
“You’re lying.”
He ran from the room.
Ethan started after him.
Caroline stopped him.
“Give him a minute.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Be patient.”
“I lost seven years.”
“So did he.”
That silenced Ethan.
Later, Emily found Noah sitting beneath a tree outside the child-services building.
She sat beside him without speaking.
After several minutes, Noah asked, “What if he is my dad?”
Emily shrugged.
“Then he’s your dad.”
“What if I don’t want him?”
“Then maybe you don't have to want him today.”
Noah looked at her.
Emily continued.
“My mom says people can’t demand feelings from you.”
Noah almost smiled.
Inside, Caroline and Ruiz examined Lily’s photograph again.
Behind its cardboard backing, they discovered a second picture.
Lily.
Ethan.
And Victor in the background.
Written beneath Victor’s image was a date.
Beside the date:
He knows.
Caroline remembered that night.
A charity dinner.
Ethan had proposed to Lily afterward.
Lily disappeared three days later.
Victor had learned about Noah.
Everything connected.
The false death.
The disappearance.
The threats.
The trust.
And perhaps Willow Street.
Ruiz received authorization to search the abandoned house.
Inside they found almost nothing.
Dust.
Broken furniture.
Empty rooms.
Then Caroline noticed scratches beneath the staircase.
A loose panel.
Behind it sat a metal box.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
Every one addressed to Ethan.
Every one written by Lily.
Every one unopened.
Victor had intercepted them.
Ethan read the first.
Then the second.
By the fourth, he was crying.
Lily had tried to tell him.
Again and again.
Ethan, Noah is alive.
Ethan, please don't believe what they told you.
Ethan, I'm trying to get back to you.
The final letter was dated eleven months earlier.
It contained only six words.
If I disappear, Victor finally knows.
Beneath the letters lay a key.
Ruiz examined its stamped number.
“Storage facility.”
Caroline turned it over.
A label had been taped to the back.
Everything needed to prove what happened.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Ruiz immediately raised one hand.
Silence.
Another footstep.
May you like
Someone was inside the house.
And Caroline realized they had not come alone.
