CHAPTER 5 — “The Voice on the Phone Changed Everything”
The wedding guests had barely left when the elderly woman’s phone rang again.
Unknown number.
She hesitated.
Then answered.
A distorted voice whispered only six words.
“Don’t trust Adrian. He remembers everything.”
The call ended.
She stared at the screen, frozen.
Adrian noticed her expression.
“What happened?”
Instead of answering, she slowly backed away with the little girl.
For the first time since the truth came out…
She looked afraid of Adrian.
Hours later, detectives escorted Adrian to police headquarters to give his statement.
Everyone believed he was finally helping uncover the truth.
But halfway through the interview…
An investigator placed an old security photo on the table.
“Have you ever seen this before?”
Adrian looked down.
His breathing stopped.
The photo showed a parking garage eight years earlier.
A young woman—Emily, the little girl’s mother—was carrying a baby toward her car.
Standing in the shadows nearby…
Was Adrian.
The timestamp was just minutes before Emily disappeared forever.
“You told us you never saw Emily again after she left the hospital,” the detective said quietly.
“So why are you here?”
Adrian rubbed his forehead.
“I… I don’t remember.”
The detective slid another file across the table.
“There’s more.”
Inside was a medical report from eight years ago.
It revealed Adrian had suffered a severe head injury in a car crash the very same night Emily vanished.
The trauma caused partial memory loss.
He genuinely couldn't remember the final hours before the disappearance.
But someone else clearly could.
Because every page of the investigation file containing Adrian’s last statement had been removed.
Not lost.
Removed.
By someone with access to the police evidence room.
Back at the hotel, the little girl suddenly woke up screaming.
“I remember!”
She clutched her stuffed rabbit tightly.
“There was another man…”
“He wasn't Grandpa.”
“He wore black gloves…”
“And Mommy kept calling him…”
"...Uncle Marcus."
The room fell silent.
The elderly woman slowly closed her eyes.
She had spent eight years blaming Edward Cross.
But there had always been another name…
One she had been too terrified to speak.
Marcus Kane.
The family lawyer.
May you like
The man who had handled every Cross family secret for over twenty years.
END OF CHAPTER 5...
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