Chapter 6 - What Sarah Carter Was Hiding
Emily didn't open the door.
After the break-in, Sarah had made the rule absolute.
No strangers.
No exceptions.
Emily stood silently behind the locked door.
Daniel Voss knocked again.
"I know you're there, Emily."
She backed away.
Something about hearing her name frightened her more than the knock.
"Your mother knows me."
Emily moved toward the stairs.
"Mom."
Daniel heard.
"Sarah?"
Footsteps rushed overhead.
Sarah descended carrying Noah.
The moment she looked through the peephole, her face changed.
"Go upstairs."
"Is that Daniel Voss?"
Sarah spun toward Emily.
"How do you know that name?"
Emily held up the photograph.
Sarah looked at it.
Then closed her eyes.
"Where did you get this?"
"It fell out of the album."
Another knock.
"Sarah," Daniel called. "I only want to talk."
Sarah whispered, "Upstairs. Now."
Emily obeyed this time.
Sarah waited until she heard Emily's bedroom door close.
Then she spoke through the locked front door.
"What do you want?"
"It's been a long time."
"Leave."
"Your daughter contacted Lorenzo."
Sarah's breath caught.
"So?"
"So old friendships create old questions."
"I don't know anything."
"I believe you."
"Then go."
Daniel sighed.
"Michael caused a great deal of trouble before he died."
Sarah closed her eyes.
"Don't talk about him."
"He left things unfinished."
"I said leave."
"I'd like to help you."
Sarah nearly laughed.
"Help me?"
"I understand money has been difficult."
He knew.
Of course he knew.
Daniel continued.
"Your mortgage. Utility bills. Childcare."
Sarah's hand tightened around the doorknob.
"Stay away from my children."
"Nobody wants to hurt your family."
"Then stop watching us."
A pause.
That confirmed everything.
Sarah whispered, "You had someone break into my house."
"No."
"You're lying."
"What I'm telling you is that certain documents Michael took belong to people who would prefer them returned."
"I don't have them."
"Then perhaps Emily does."
Sarah unlocked the door.
She opened it only enough to stand in the gap.
Daniel smiled.
He was in his early sixties, silver-haired, expensive coat, polished shoes.
He looked like the sort of man who appeared at hospital fundraisers.
Not someone Michael had feared.
"If you ever say my daughter's name again," Sarah said, "I will call the police."
"Call them."
Daniel's smile didn't disappear.
"I'll tell them I came to offer financial assistance to the widow of an old employee."
"Michael never worked for you."
"Everyone works for someone."
Sarah slammed the door.
Her hands shook violently.
Upstairs, Emily had heard enough.
She called Lorenzo.
He answered immediately.
"Emily?"
"Daniel Voss is at our house."
Silence.
Then Lorenzo's entire tone changed.
"Where are you?"
"Upstairs."
"Door locked?"
"Yes."
"Your mother?"
"Downstairs."
"I'm calling police."
"He says he only wants to talk."
"Emily."
Lorenzo's voice softened.
"Do not go near him."
Ten minutes later, Daniel Voss was gone.
Police arrived.
So did Lorenzo.
Sarah didn't argue with him this time.
She showed the photograph.
Lorenzo read the message on the back.
Never trust Daniel Voss.
"Why didn't I know about this?" Sarah asked.
Lorenzo looked at her.
"I could ask you the same question."
Sarah sat at the table.
Emily stood beside her.
Noah slept in a carrier.
Sarah looked exhausted.
"I knew Daniel's name."
Emily stared.
"Mom."
"I didn't know what he had done."
"But you knew Dad was afraid of him?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because Michael made me promise."
Emily stepped back.
"So all these promises are more important than us knowing why strangers are coming to our house?"
Sarah's face tightened.
"No."
"Then tell me everything."
"Emily—"
"No."
The girl looked from her mother to Lorenzo.
"I am tired of everybody deciding what I can handle."
Lorenzo spoke carefully.
"Your mother has been trying to protect you."
"From what?"
Neither answered.
Emily's voice cracked.
"That's exactly the problem."
She walked upstairs.
Sarah started after her.
Lorenzo stopped her gently.
"Give her a minute."
"Don't tell me how to parent."
"I'm not."
Sarah glared.
Then sat again.
"I hate this."
"So do I."
"I spent eleven years keeping all of this away from her."
"Maybe you didn't."
Sarah looked at him.
"Maybe you just postponed it."
She knew he was right.
That hurt more.
Sarah opened the metal box.
She removed everything.
Photographs.
Michael's letter.
Old bank papers.
A key.
Lorenzo picked it up.
"What's this?"
"No idea."
"Michael gave it to you?"
"It was inside his coat pocket after he died."
"Why didn't you mention it?"
"Because I forgot."
Lorenzo examined the key.
Small.
Brass.
A stamped number: 317.
"Safety-deposit box?"
"Maybe."
Emily stood at the bottom of the stairs.
She had returned silently.
"Or a locker."
Sarah looked up.
Emily wiped her face.
"Dad used to work at the train station, didn't he?"
Sarah frowned.
"For about six months."
"Then maybe it's a locker key."
Lorenzo stared at the number.
Detroit's old train terminal had undergone changes over the years.
But Michael had once rented storage space near a freight facility.
Lorenzo remembered.
"Your father kept tools in a storage warehouse."
"Where?"
"Near Corktown."
Sarah immediately said, "We're not going."
"Agreed."
Emily crossed her arms.
"I didn't ask."
Lorenzo almost smiled despite himself.
"You really are Michael's daughter."
"People keep saying that."
"You should take it as a compliment."
The police advised Sarah and the children to stay somewhere else temporarily.
Sarah refused Lorenzo's home.
She refused his hotel.
Eventually she agreed to stay with Aunt Lisa.
That evening, Lorenzo drove to the old storage facility accompanied only by an independent attorney and a retired detective he trusted outside the Moretti network.
Locker 317 still existed.
The key worked.
Inside were no weapons.
No cash.
No sensational secrets.
Just a dusty toolbox.
A stack of papers.
And an old digital voice recorder.
Lorenzo pressed play.
Static filled the small room.
Then Michael Carter's voice spoke for the first time in eleven years.
"Lorenzo, if you found this, then Sarah gave you the key."
Lorenzo stopped breathing.
Michael continued.
"I need you to understand something. Vincent isn't the person you should fear most."
The attorney beside Lorenzo glanced at him.
The recording continued.
"Daniel Voss built everything by using men like Anthony. But there's something even Daniel doesn't know."
Michael paused.
Then said the words that changed the entire story.
"Sarah was never supposed to know this."
Another pause.
"Emily isn't in danger because she's my daughter."
May you like
Lorenzo's hand tightened around the recorder.
"She's in danger because of what I put in her name."
