{"id":13750,"date":"2026-10-04T19:30:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=13750"},"modified":"2026-10-04T19:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:30:49","slug":"part-9-rachel-remembered-the-childhood-riddle-our-father-left-behind-leading-us-to-a-safe-nobody-had-opened-since-the-night-he-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=13750","title":{"rendered":"PART 9 \u2013 Rachel Remembered the Childhood Riddle Our Father Left Behind, Leading Us to a Safe Nobody Had Opened Since the Night He Died"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rachel was asleep when I returned to her room.<\/p>\n<p>For a moment I stood in the doorway and watched her breathe.<\/p>\n<p>The woman in the hospital bed was my best friend. My half sister. A person who had entered my life deliberately, concealed the most important fact about herself, then risked her life trying to protect me from a husband who had helped poison our father.<\/p>\n<p>There was no emotion large enough to hold all of that at once.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Harris stayed near the door while I crossed to the bed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRachel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her eyes opened slowly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel talked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The change in her face was immediate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe put something in our father\u2019s whiskey the night he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe says Richard gave it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel pushed herself higher against the pillows despite the pain that crossed her face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichard Vale?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her expression became strange.<\/p>\n<p>Not shocked.<\/p>\n<p>Afraid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know the name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn\u2019t what I asked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She glanced at Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Then back at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother used to call him the shadow brother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel rubbed her thumb against her bare wrist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was little, sometimes Mom would get letters without return addresses. She burned most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Richard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe never said. But once, after drinking too much wine, she told Evan that our father had a brother nobody was supposed to know existed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father\u2019s half brother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she know Richard was that man?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy keep it from you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe kept everything from us if she thought knowing could get us hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sat beside the bed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel said Richard stole from the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s eyes closed briefly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat would explain Evan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvan believed the missing company money was connected to Mom\u2019s settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExplain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe thought our father used the settlement to hide money from Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOr to protect it from him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRachel, everyone is chasing Victor and Richard. I think that\u2019s deliberate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone sent me a message telling me to choose which hostage to find first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her face tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichael.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re sure?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen who else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The name settled heavily.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Reed.<\/p>\n<p>The brother Rachel had buried, then rediscovered under another identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s been sending me messages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProbably some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich ones?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s becoming everyone\u2019s favorite answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She flinched.<\/p>\n<p>I regretted it immediately but did not apologize.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDad wrote that he wanted to speak to both of us,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s eyes changed at the word.<\/p>\n<p>Dad.<\/p>\n<p>I had never shared it with her before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wanted both of us present.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore he died. In the letter from the storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her breathing slowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe never told me that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said Victor shouldn\u2019t control the records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds like him near the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe stopped trusting Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Harris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo weeks before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe blue house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe gave me something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot a document. A phrase.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat phrase?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel stared toward the window as though trying to see through twenty years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said if anything happened to him, I should remember how Claire found the rabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I blinked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe rabbit?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what he said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes that mean anything?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At first, no.<\/p>\n<p>Then memory came.<\/p>\n<p>Not from adulthood.<\/p>\n<p>From summer heat and scraped knees.<\/p>\n<p>I was ten or eleven, wandering behind the blue house while my father argued with someone inside. I found a wooden rabbit nailed to a fence post near the old orchard.<\/p>\n<p>It had been painted white once, though most of the paint had peeled away.<\/p>\n<p>I turned it because I thought it was loose.<\/p>\n<p>The entire post opened.<\/p>\n<p>Inside was a metal tube containing spare keys.<\/p>\n<p>My father had caught me.<\/p>\n<p>He had been furious.<\/p>\n<p>Not because I had touched the rabbit.<\/p>\n<p>Because I had discovered the hiding place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere used to be a carved rabbit behind the blue house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris was already reaching for his phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould it still be there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe orchard was removed years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about the fence?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel grabbed my hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018What a child finds, a thief overlooks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt cold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was telling you where something was hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you go look?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter his funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you find?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fence was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris called the officers still processing the property.<\/p>\n<p>I pictured the blue house from that morning.<\/p>\n<p>Garage.<\/p>\n<p>Overgrown garden.<\/p>\n<p>Neglected trees.<\/p>\n<p>A modern privacy fence on one side.<\/p>\n<p>But behind the garage\u2014<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was an old stone wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris paused mid-call.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe orchard fence was removed, but one of the original posts might have been reused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father reused everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I could almost hear him complaining about waste.<\/p>\n<p>When the orchard was cleared, he had used old timbers in the garage.<\/p>\n<p>Shelves.<\/p>\n<p>Workbenches.<\/p>\n<p>Supports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe garage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris relayed the instruction.<\/p>\n<p>Search for a carved rabbit.<\/p>\n<p>Every wooden beam.<\/p>\n<p>Every shelf.<\/p>\n<p>Every post.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel watched me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it\u2019s still there\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur father hid things for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Our father.<\/p>\n<p>The words hurt and comforted simultaneously.<\/p>\n<p>We waited.<\/p>\n<p>Harris received updates from the teams searching for Victor and Richard.<\/p>\n<p>Neither had been located.<\/p>\n<p>The address associated with Victor\u2019s hostage image was empty.<\/p>\n<p>The room in the photograph had been staged.<\/p>\n<p>Blood on the chair was real.<\/p>\n<p>Victor\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>But Victor was gone.<\/p>\n<p>Michael\u2019s known properties were equally empty.<\/p>\n<p>Richard had disappeared after the photograph sent to my phone.<\/p>\n<p>Three men hidden inside three overlapping games.<\/p>\n<p>At last Harris\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>He answered.<\/p>\n<p>His expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey found the rabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s hand tightened around mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMounted beneath an old workbench.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas anything inside?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris listened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA key.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My disappointment must have shown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust a key?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd a brass tag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He repeated the engraved words.<\/p>\n<p>WINDHAM 214.<\/p>\n<p>I knew Windham.<\/p>\n<p>The old train station downtown had once housed private railway lockers.<\/p>\n<p>My father had used them when he traveled frequently.<\/p>\n<p>The station was now a museum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould a locker still exist there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris was already checking.<\/p>\n<p>Within fifteen minutes, we had an answer.<\/p>\n<p>Most original lockers had been removed during renovation.<\/p>\n<p>But a locked basement storage section still contained several dozen.<\/p>\n<p>Number 214 was among them.<\/p>\n<p>Harris looked at Rachel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re staying here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She started to object.<\/p>\n<p>I said, \u201cHe\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re agreeing with police now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTemporarily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re going?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not chasing Richard or Victor. I\u2019m following the one instruction Dad left that neither of them was supposed to control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her eyes softened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe careful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost said something warm.<\/p>\n<p>Something sisterly.<\/p>\n<p>The words did not come yet.<\/p>\n<p>I settled for, \u201cDon\u2019t disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her mouth twisted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI already tried that once.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The joke was so Rachel that I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Harris drove.<\/p>\n<p>The Windham station stood at the edge of downtown, red brick darkened by rain and age. The public museum had been closed because of the police activity, and a curator waited beside an officer at the entrance.<\/p>\n<p>The basement smelled of stone and old metal.<\/p>\n<p>Locker 214 sat near the rear wall.<\/p>\n<p>Small.<\/p>\n<p>Unremarkable.<\/p>\n<p>The brass key fit.<\/p>\n<p>Harris stopped me before I opened it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvidence protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>Photographs first.<\/p>\n<p>Gloves.<\/p>\n<p>Video.<\/p>\n<p>Then the locker door swung open.<\/p>\n<p>Inside was one wooden box.<\/p>\n<p>No documents.<\/p>\n<p>No money.<\/p>\n<p>A wooden box with a metal clasp.<\/p>\n<p>My father\u2019s initials had been burned into the lid.<\/p>\n<p>R.C.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Carter.<\/p>\n<p>I had seen the box before.<\/p>\n<p>It sat on his desk when I was a child.<\/p>\n<p>I thought he used it for cigars.<\/p>\n<p>Harris opened it.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were three cassette tapes.<\/p>\n<p>A small notebook.<\/p>\n<p>A sealed envelope addressed:<\/p>\n<p>CLAIRE AND RACHEL.<\/p>\n<p>I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s name had been written beside mine by our father.<\/p>\n<p>Not hidden in legal language.<\/p>\n<p>Not disguised with initials.<\/p>\n<p>Simply Rachel.<\/p>\n<p>Harris looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can take this somewhere secure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He considered the envelope.<\/p>\n<p>Then handed me gloves.<\/p>\n<p>I opened it.<\/p>\n<p>The letter inside was shorter than the one from the storage unit.<\/p>\n<p>If you are reading this together, I have either found courage too late or lost the chance entirely.<\/p>\n<p>I swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>The next lines were addressed to us separately.<\/p>\n<p>To Claire: I allowed you to believe you were my only child because that lie was easier for me.<\/p>\n<p>To Rachel: I allowed you to believe you were unwanted because cowardice cost me less than honesty.<\/p>\n<p>My eyes blurred.<\/p>\n<p>I continued.<\/p>\n<p>My father wrote that the settlement had never merely been about money.<\/p>\n<p>It was a safeguard.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence.<\/p>\n<p>An insurance policy against Richard.<\/p>\n<p>Richard had begun stealing from Carter Industries years before my father understood the scale of it.<\/p>\n<p>Victor helped reconstruct the records.<\/p>\n<p>At first.<\/p>\n<p>Then Victor discovered how much power the hidden transactions gave him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew both of them were compromised,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>Harris read over my shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>The letter explained that my father created two sets of records.<\/p>\n<p>One legal.<\/p>\n<p>One private.<\/p>\n<p>The private books documented shell companies, diverted funds, bribed auditors, and unauthorized transfers.<\/p>\n<p>Richard had orchestrated most of it.<\/p>\n<p>Victor had concealed portions of it.<\/p>\n<p>My father intended to go to federal investigators.<\/p>\n<p>That matched Daniel\u2019s account.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the line that changed everything again.<\/p>\n<p>Richard knows I have the records but does not know where they are. Victor knows where they were kept, but not where I moved them.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the notebook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris opened it.<\/p>\n<p>The pages contained dates and numbers.<\/p>\n<p>At first they looked like accounting entries.<\/p>\n<p>Then I recognized my father\u2019s habit.<\/p>\n<p>He loved ciphers.<\/p>\n<p>Simple ones.<\/p>\n<p>He used dates as page references, birthdays as keys.<\/p>\n<p>My mother hated it.<\/p>\n<p>I had once spent an entire Christmas morning solving clues to find a bicycle.<\/p>\n<p>The first page contained two names.<\/p>\n<p>CLAIRE.<\/p>\n<p>RACHEL.<\/p>\n<p>Below each was a number.<\/p>\n<p>Mine: 17.<\/p>\n<p>Hers: 23.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do those numbers mean?\u201d Harris asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cassette tapes were labeled A, B, and C.<\/p>\n<p>A portable recorder had been placed beneath them.<\/p>\n<p>My father had planned for old technology to survive.<\/p>\n<p>Harris inserted Tape A.<\/p>\n<p>Static.<\/p>\n<p>Then my father\u2019s voice filled the basement.<\/p>\n<p>I had not heard it in nine years.<\/p>\n<p>My knees almost gave way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Claire and Rachel are hearing this, then I failed to tell them together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I covered my mouth.<\/p>\n<p>His voice continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am recording this because paper can be altered, signatures copied, and lawyers persuaded. A voice is harder to mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>I could not look back.<\/p>\n<p>My father explained the first tape concerned the family.<\/p>\n<p>The second concerned the company.<\/p>\n<p>The third concerned his death if his death came before he could meet investigators.<\/p>\n<p>His death.<\/p>\n<p>He had expected it.<\/p>\n<p>Tape A contained an apology.<\/p>\n<p>Not an excuse.<\/p>\n<p>That distinction mattered.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted abandoning Elaine emotionally while paying her financially.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted keeping Rachel away from me because my mother discovered the affair when I was twelve.<\/p>\n<p>I froze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tape continued.<\/p>\n<p>My mother had demanded that Rachel never enter our lives.<\/p>\n<p>Not because she hated a child.<\/p>\n<p>Because she feared losing me.<\/p>\n<p>She believed my father\u2019s scandal would destroy the family and that Richard would use it to attack the company.<\/p>\n<p>The photograph outside the blue house had been taken the day my mother discovered Rachel existed.<\/p>\n<p>I suddenly remembered that summer.<\/p>\n<p>My mother crying behind her bedroom door.<\/p>\n<p>My father sleeping in his study for weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody had explained why.<\/p>\n<p>I had thought adults simply became sad sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>Tape A ended with my father saying:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire, do not punish Rachel for choices made before either of you understood them. Rachel, do not punish Claire for receiving what I denied you. If you become sisters, let it be because you choose it, not because I deserve forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tape clicked off.<\/p>\n<p>I sat silently.<\/p>\n<p>Harris gave me time.<\/p>\n<p>Then he inserted Tape B.<\/p>\n<p>My father\u2019s voice became different.<\/p>\n<p>Businesslike.<\/p>\n<p>He named Richard.<\/p>\n<p>Victor.<\/p>\n<p>Several accountants.<\/p>\n<p>Two auditors.<\/p>\n<p>A banker.<\/p>\n<p>Transactions.<\/p>\n<p>Dates.<\/p>\n<p>Amounts.<\/p>\n<p>Enough information to support a federal case if corroborated.<\/p>\n<p>Then he said something unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor has asked me to delay contacting authorities. I believe he is afraid Richard will expose Victor\u2019s own participation. Victor insists he was protecting the company. I no longer know whether that is true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris wrote quickly.<\/p>\n<p>My father continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Richard is listening, you know what you did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are my brother by blood. You ceased being my brother by choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So Daniel had told the truth.<\/p>\n<p>Richard really was family.<\/p>\n<p>Tape B ended.<\/p>\n<p>Harris reached for Tape C.<\/p>\n<p>My phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>Unknown number.<\/p>\n<p>We both stared at it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnswer,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n<p>I did.<\/p>\n<p>No voice.<\/p>\n<p>Only breathing.<\/p>\n<p>Then a man spoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou found the tapes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not Michael.<\/p>\n<p>Not Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized him now.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Evan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew where they were.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew there was a key.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you the one who sent the messages?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich ones?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn\u2019t important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou should leave before you play the third tape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Richard knows where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris immediately signaled the officers outside.<\/p>\n<p>I looked toward the basement stairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the station security system belongs to a company he controls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did you take him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he knows who killed your father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel poisoned him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word came instantly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel gave him something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it didn\u2019t kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I gripped the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I was there afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need Tape C.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just told me not to play it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you not to play it there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A noise came from upstairs.<\/p>\n<p>A shout.<\/p>\n<p>Then the lights flickered.<\/p>\n<p>Harris drew his weapon.<\/p>\n<p>The line went silent for one second.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas whispered, \u201cHe found you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The station lights went out.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=13751\">Click here to continue reading: PART 10: The Final Tape Revealed My Father Survived Daniel\u2019s Drug\u2014Then Someone Tried to Burn the Evidence Before We Could Hear Who Finished Him<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rachel was asleep when I returned to her room. For a moment I stood in the doorway and watched her breathe. The woman in the hospital bed was my best &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13793,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750\/revisions\/13793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}