Chapter 11 - The False Daniel
The revelation changed everything.
Michael stared at the photograph again.
The teenage Daniel had dark hair.
A narrow face.
A small scar above his left eyebrow.
The Daniel Reeves Michael had employed for eight years had blond hair and blue eyes.
“Who the hell is my CFO?”
Jonathan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Thomas immediately opened his laptop.
He accessed Carter Dynamics’ personnel records.
Daniel Reeves’ employment file appeared normal.
University records.
Previous employers.
Tax documents.
Passport.
Everything existed.
Jonathan pointed toward the graduation year.
“Check the university yearbook.”
Thomas searched.
No Daniel Reeves.
He checked archived commencement records.
Nothing.
Michael felt sick.
“Eight years.”
Thomas looked at him.
“This identity was built carefully.”
Jonathan picked up the cassette.
“Your father’s network specialized in that.”
Michael stared at him.
“Fake identities?”
“Shell companies.”
“Passports?”
“Sometimes.”
Michael looked toward the steel box.
“Play the tape.”
The cabin still had an old cassette player.
Jonathan inserted it.
Static filled the room.
Then Samuel Bennett’s voice emerged.
“If Michael is hearing this, then I failed to finish what Christopher started.”
Michael stopped breathing.
Samuel continued.
“Christopher Carter discovered that his father was laundering money through three construction companies.”
“He made copies.”
“He gave one set to his friend Daniel.”
Michael looked at the photograph.
Samuel’s voice continued.
“Three days later, Christopher died.”
“Daniel disappeared the following month.”
Michael felt cold.
“The Carter family told everyone his parents had moved.”
“They had not.”
Thomas whispered.
“Jesus.”
The tape continued.
“I later discovered that Daniel had been placed into witness protection.”
Michael stared at the recorder.
“If he is still alive, he may possess the only surviving evidence linking Victor Carter directly to Christopher’s death.”
Michael closed his eyes.
Victor.
His father.
Samuel continued.
“I spent twenty years protecting Michael from the consequences of his father’s crimes.”
“But I made one mistake.”
“I believed Victor’s organization died with him.”
“It did not.”
The tape clicked.
Then Samuel said one final sentence.
“The person running it now is inside Michael’s family.”
Silence.
Michael looked at Jonathan.
“My mother.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“I never believed that.”
“Sophia?”
“I suspected her.”
“But?”
“She’s too reckless.”
Michael remembered the staircase.
The lies.
The deleted footage.
Jonathan continued.
“Sophia is involved.”
“But she isn’t running this.”
Thomas closed the laptop.
“There’s another possibility.”
Michael looked at him.
Thomas hesitated.
“Your brother didn’t die.”
Michael stared at him.
“What?”
“Think about it.”
Thomas pointed toward the records.
“False identities.”
“Witness protection.”
“People disappearing.”
Michael shook his head.
“I went to Christopher’s funeral.”
“You were six.”
“I saw the coffin.”
“Did you see the body?”
Michael opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
He remembered rain.
His mother crying.
His father holding his shoulder.
A closed white coffin.
Thomas continued.
“What if Christopher survived?”
Jonathan looked disturbed.
“That would mean Samuel lied.”
Michael looked toward the cassette.
“Or Samuel didn’t know.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Thomas reached for his weapon.
The cabin door stood open.
A man stepped inside.
Gray hair.
Weathered face.
A scar near his temple.
Michael stared.
The man looked at the photograph in Michael’s hand.
Then at Michael.
“You still bite your lower lip when you’re scared.”
Michael’s entire body went cold.
Only one person had ever teased him about that.
The stranger closed the door.
“Hello, Mikey.”
May you like
Michael whispered.
“Christopher?”
