My hands went cold the moment I saw Rachel’s phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a message open on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn’t from my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn’t from a stranger, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was from someone I knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continue reading on next page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Someone I had never suspected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stared at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Who sent you that?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She locked her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That’s what I was afraid of.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My heart started pounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Rachel, tell me what happened.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She looked around the sidewalk before answering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Your father didn’t do anything wrong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Then why did you disappear?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Because I discovered something about the women he dated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rachel hesitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They weren’t disappearing because they didn’t like him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sentence made absolutely no sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Then why did every single one of them leave?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rachel took a deep breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Because someone was contacting them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Who?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Rachel.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t know,” she repeated. “But I think whoever it is has been doing it for years.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What did they say to you?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rachel unlocked her phone again and showed me several messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first one had arrived shortly after her date with my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The second came an hour later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask him why his wife really died.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I stopped breathing for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel scrolled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask him about the night your mother died.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask him what he promised her.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And finally:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you care about yourself, walk away.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Did my father send these?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “How do you know?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Because I called him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n That surprised me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You called Dad?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Yes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What did he say?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel looked toward the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “He said he had no idea what I was talking about.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn’t know what to believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father had spent twelve years grieving my mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had watched him struggle through holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries without her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had never known him to lie about her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But suddenly, a question I’d never allowed myself to ask was sitting between us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What had really happened the night my mother died?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I shook my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No. This can’t be connected.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel didn’t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, she opened another message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This one contained a photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was an old picture of my parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My mother was standing beside my father, smiling at the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recognized the photograph immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It had been taken several months before she died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there was something strange about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman stood in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel zoomed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Do you recognize her?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at the woman’s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, I didn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then something clicked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Wait.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leaned closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’ve seen her before.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Where?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I searched my memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “At Dad’s house.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel’s expression changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You’re sure?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Yes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “How?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There’s a photograph in the hallway. My father keeps it in an old frame. I thought she was one of Mom’s friends.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel slowly lowered the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “She’s one of the women your father dated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt a chill run through me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Yes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That’s impossible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Because that photograph was taken before my mother died.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel stared at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither of us spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly, the entire situation looked different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father’s recent relationships might not have been random at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe these women had some connection to my mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe someone had been watching my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or maybe someone had been watching me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I called my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He answered after the second ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Hey, sweetheart.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Dad, where are you?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “At home. Why?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I need to ask you something.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n His voice changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What happened?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I swallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Do you know a woman named Elaine?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not a normal pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A long, heavy silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father finally said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Where did you hear that name?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My heart dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Who is she?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Please don’t get involved in this.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That’s not an answer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Listen to me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n His voice sounded more frightened than angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Whatever you’ve heard, leave it alone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was watching me carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Dad, every woman you’ve dated has disappeared after one date.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Rachel went out with you too. Someone sent her threatening messages.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father breathed heavily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What did they say?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They mentioned Mom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then my father said something that made my blood run cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Come home.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Because I think someone knows you’ve started asking questions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The call ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel stared at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What did he say?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I told her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She immediately shook her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We’re not going to your father’s house.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Rachel\u2014”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No. If someone is watching him, they could be watching you too.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to dismiss her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I couldn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For twelve years, I had thought my father’s loneliness was simply part of his grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I wondered whether there had been something else behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We decided to meet my father somewhere public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An hour later, he arrived at a quiet caf\u00e9 near the center of town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Older than he had that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He sat down across from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Tell me everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel placed her phone on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father read the messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His face went pale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I was afraid this would happen.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leaned forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Afraid of what?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Your mother.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt my chest tighten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Mom?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Not because she did anything wrong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then what are you talking about?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father looked down at his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Your mother discovered something shortly before she died.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel asked quietly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What did she discover?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father didn’t answer immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Someone had been using her identity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What does that mean?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “My wife found financial accounts and documents connected to her name that she had never opened.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father explained that my mother had initially believed it was an administrative mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then she discovered that several other people were involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She had planned to report it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But before she could fully understand what was happening, she died unexpectedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “And you think her death was connected?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n His answer came quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t believe anyone caused her death. The doctors were clear about what happened.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt some of the tension leave my body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then why are you acting like this is a secret?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Because after she died, I received a warning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What kind of warning?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Someone told me to stop asking questions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why didn’t you tell me?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Because you were a child.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I almost laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’m not a child anymore.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n His voice softened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That’s why I’m worried.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel looked at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Who were the women you dated?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That’s the strange part.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I didn’t know they were connected.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Connected how?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They all told me almost the same story.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leaned closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What story?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They had been contacted by someone who claimed to know me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What did the person say?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That I wasn’t who I claimed to be.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I frowned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What does that even mean?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They were told I had secrets. That I was dangerous. That they should stay away.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Exactly what happened to me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Yes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “So someone has been sabotaging your relationships.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Apparently.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “But why?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father didn’t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, he reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He placed it on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I received this yesterday.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My name was written across the front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why is my name on it?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I picked it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside was a single sheet of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were only two sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your father isn’t the only person they’ve been watching.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask him what happened to your mother’s missing journal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father had gone completely still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Where is Mom’s journal?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You don’t know?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Your mother kept a journal for years.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then where is it?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He hesitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “After she died, I couldn’t find it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel leaned forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Did anyone else know about it?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father slowly nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Elaine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name hung in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Who was Elaine to Mom?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father looked toward the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Her closest friend.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything suddenly made sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman in the old photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman who had appeared in my father’s house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman who had apparently dated him years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman whose name had made my father go silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there was still one question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why would Mom’s best friend date you?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel whispered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Maybe she wasn’t trying to date him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father turned toward her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What do you mean?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel looked at the photograph again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Maybe she was trying to get close enough to find something.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I thought about all those women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six sudden disappearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe they weren’t being rejected by my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe someone had been testing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waiting to see how close they became to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I remembered something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Dad.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Where’s the photograph of Elaine?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n His expression changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What photograph?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The one in the hallway.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stared at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There isn’t a photograph of Elaine in the hallway.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My heart skipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Yes, there is.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’ve seen it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father stood abruptly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Show me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n We drove to his house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside, I hurried toward the hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The photograph was still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father stared at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His face went pale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’ve never seen this.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I turned toward him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed at the frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That’s not Elaine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then who is she?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father didn’t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He carefully removed the photograph from the frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind it was a folded piece of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel gasped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father unfolded it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was written in my mother’s handwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recognized it immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My hands began shaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father read the first line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What does it say?” I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And for the first time in twelve years, I saw tears in my father’s eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Your mother wrote this shortly before she died.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Read it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He swallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he handed me the paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I read the first sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re reading this, someone has finally started asking the right questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then back at my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next line was even more unsettling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t trust the person who tells you they are protecting you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because suddenly, the mystery wasn’t about the women who had disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn’t even about Elaine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was about someone who had been close to our family for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone who had known exactly what my mother had discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone who had apparently been watching my father ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And at the bottom of the page, my mother had written one final sentence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The person you should be looking for is the one who has never needed a date with your father to get close to him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then Rachel slowly whispered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Your father’s dating history isn’t the real mystery.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n She pointed toward the front window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A car was parked across the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It had been there when we arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now, as we stood watching, the engine started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father stepped toward the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His voice was barely audible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I know that car.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Whose is it?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He didn’t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The car slowly pulled away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father turned toward me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the look on his face told me that whatever happened next was going to change everything we thought we knew about my mother’s final days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My hands went cold the moment I saw Rachel’s phone. There was a message open on the screen. It wasn’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8258,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8257\/revisions\/8258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/benetv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}