Tyler stared at Samuel as if the man's words had physically struck him.
“What does that mean?”
Samuel's smile faded.
“Your father believed fires could erase evidence. He also believed fires could reveal it.”
Amanda felt a memory stirring.
The warehouse.
The blue house.
The smell of smoke.
The red fabric caught on Tyler's helmet.
All of it seemed connected.
Samuel continued.
“Daniel taught Tyler to notice what burned differently. Which beams collapsed first. Which rooms heated too quickly. Which accelerants left almost nothing behind.”
Tyler shook his head.
“He taught me fire behavior.”
“He taught you how to read a crime scene.”
Tyler's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because he knew someday you'd see one.”
Anna stepped closer.
“Samuel, stop.”
He ignored her.
“Your father knew the department had been compromised. He couldn't trust investigators. So he trained his own son without telling him why.”
Amanda looked at Tyler.
“That explains the warehouse.”
Tyler nodded slowly.
“I noticed the west stairwell because the fire pattern didn't make sense.”
Samuel smiled.
“Exactly.”
Amanda suddenly remembered the note.
Don't let Tyler reach the second floor.
It hadn't been about Lily.
Not entirely.
They were afraid Tyler would recognize the fire.
“He would have known the warehouse fire was staged,” Amanda whispered.
Samuel looked at her.
“Now you're beginning to understand.”
Reyes asked, “Who ordered it?”
Samuel looked toward the trees.
“I never knew the final name.”
Anna laughed bitterly.
“You always knew.”
Samuel's eyes hardened.
“You're still protecting him.”
“Because you still don't understand what he did.”
Amanda looked between them.
“Who are you talking about?”
Neither answered.
Then Tyler spoke.
“My father.”
Samuel nodded.
“Daniel Morgan.”
Tyler closed his eyes.
“You said he was behind it.”
“I said he started it.”
Amanda's stomach dropped.
Samuel continued.
“Daniel built the first network to protect witnesses. He created false identities because the official system was compromised.”
Reyes stared.
“Then why did it become this?”
“Because Daniel died.”
Anna shook her head.
“He didn't.”
Everyone looked at her.
Amanda felt her heartbeat stop.
“What did you say?”
Anna's voice was barely above a whisper.
“Daniel didn't die eight years ago.”
Tyler stepped toward her.
“My father died.”
“The funeral was real.”
Tyler's face went blank.
“But?”
Anna looked at Amanda.
“He disappeared.”
Amanda remembered the voice beneath the house.
The man changing identities.
The false Daniel.
The warnings.
The voice in the stairwell.
She suddenly understood why the impersonator had sounded so convincing.
“He's alive.”
Samuel looked furious.
“No.”
Anna nodded.
“He is.”
Reyes lowered his weapon.
“Where?”
Anna looked toward the black sedan.
“Not here.”
The sedan's headlights turned on.
Samuel backed away.
A second vehicle appeared behind it.
Then a third.
Men stepped out.
Not firefighters.
Not police.
Amanda recognized one of them.
The fake Reyes.
He was wearing a dark coat.
Beside him stood the false Amanda.
Amanda felt Tyler's hand close around hers.
“We need to go.”
Anna nodded.
Michael pointed toward the road.
“There.”
A motorcycle appeared at the far end.
Evan ran toward it.
“Get on!”
They moved.
Amanda climbed behind Evan while Tyler helped Lily and Claire onto the second motorcycle. Reyes climbed onto the third with Anna.
Samuel shouted after them.
“You can't outrun this!”
Evan started the engine.
Amanda looked back.
The false Amanda stood beside Samuel.
She raised her hand.
The black-stone ring on her finger reflected the headlights.
Then Amanda noticed something.
The ring wasn't identical.
The stone on the false woman's ring was cracked.
Anna's wasn't.
Amanda leaned forward.
“Evan!”
“What?”
“The ring.”
“What about it?”
“The cracked stone.”
Evan glanced back.
His face changed.
“That means she isn't the original.”
Amanda looked toward Anna.
“Then who is?”
Evan accelerated.
“The original ring was buried with your mother.”
Amanda felt a chill.
Her mother.
The woman who had supposedly died eight years ago.
The woman whose signature appeared on the transfer.
The woman who had protected Anna.
Tyler's mother.
Amanda suddenly saw the shape of the final secret.
Their mothers had been connected.
Maybe the signatures were never forged.
Maybe the person everyone believed dead had never been the one who died.
The motorcycles disappeared into the darkness.
Behind them, the blue house began to burn.
Amanda watched the flames rise.
Samuel had set it on fire.
Again.
This time, there was no child trapped inside.
But Amanda knew something important had been left behind.
The original records.
PART 38 END
Click here to continue reading: PART 39: THE ORIGINAL RECORD:
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 38 of 40
