Chapter 12 - A Dead Man’s Voice
Daniel stood so quickly his chair nearly fell.
“My father has been dead seventeen years.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t say insane things.”
“I heard Henry Whitmore speak hundreds of times when I was younger.”
Nora looked frightened.
“It sounded like him.”
Marcus, who had been observing through the glass, entered.
“Could it have been a recording?”
“Yes.”
“Or generated audio?”
Nora nodded.
“But the message included details nobody outside the family should know.”
Daniel’s anger shifted into dread.
“What details?”
“The speaker called you Danny.”
Daniel went silent.
Only two people had consistently called him Danny.
His mother.
And his father.
Both were dead.
The voice had also mentioned a fishing cabin Henry once owned in Wisconsin.
A property never listed under the family name.
Marcus began searching old records.
Two hours later, he discovered the cabin still existed.
Ownership had been transferred through a private holding company after Henry’s death.
That company was linked to one of the same shell entities used in Project Evergreen.
Daniel, Marcus, and Rebecca drove there before sunrise.
Police were notified but stayed at a distance because Daniel feared whoever was inside would flee.
The cabin looked abandoned.
But the lock was new.
Marcus entered first.
Inside, they found no one.
They found computers.
Old videotapes.
Family photographs.
Copies of Daniel’s signatures.
Recordings of his voice.
Recordings of Henry’s voice.
Hundreds of them.
Someone had built an archive of the Whitmore family.
Rebecca whispered.
“This is where they created the calls.”
Daniel felt sick.
Then Marcus found a wall covered with photographs.
Daniel.
Rachel.
Lily.
Ethan.
Nora.
Rebecca.
Charles.
Margaret.
Lines connected their pictures.
Dates were written beneath each.
Rachel’s picture had a red X through it.
Daniel stepped closer.
Underneath his own photograph was a date.
September 8.
Tomorrow.
Nora’s name appeared beside it.
Then another photograph was pinned beneath Daniel’s.
Lily.
Under Lily’s picture was a handwritten phrase.
FINAL LEVERAGE.
Daniel ripped it from the wall.
“No.”
Marcus immediately called the security team at the house.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Daniel grabbed his phone and called Lily’s nanny.
Straight to voicemail.
They were ninety minutes away.
Daniel ran for the door.
Halfway to the car, his phone rang.
The caller ID displayed his home number.
He answered.
“Lily?”
A woman spoke.
“Hello, Daniel.”
He knew the voice from old Christmas dinners.
Board meetings.
Childhood memories.
Margaret Sloan.
“If you want your daughter alive, you will stop driving.”
Daniel’s foot froze above the accelerator.
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“If you touch her—”
“You should have listened to Rachel.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“You killed her.”
Margaret laughed quietly.
“No.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“Rachel made the same mistake you’re making now.”
“What mistake?”
“She thought I was in charge.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“Who is?”
Margaret’s answer came softly.
“Come to the old Whitmore estate tomorrow night and you can ask him yourself.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
Lily sat on a chair holding her stuffed rabbit.
She looked frightened but unharmed.
Behind her was a portrait Daniel had not seen since childhood.
His father’s portrait.
May you like
The old Whitmore estate.
And reflected faintly in the glass behind Lily was the silhouette of a man.
