By morning, we had found Daniel.
Or what we believed was him.
The medical examiner confirmed that the unidentified man from the coffin was Daniel Mercer.
His fingerprints matched an old military record.
Frank's half-brother was dead.
And someone had dressed him in Frank's clothes.
The discovery changed everything.
Daniel could no longer be the man from the storage footage.
Which meant someone else had worn Frank's identity.
Reed arranged for the security footage to be enhanced.
The man entered the storage unit with confidence.
He knew where the red folder was.
He knew the cameras existed.
He also knew enough about Frank to imitate his clothing and mannerisms.
That narrowed the possibilities.
Someone close.
Someone who had watched Frank for years.
Diane suggested Ross.
Ross exploded.
“I would never do that.”
“You helped transfer Dad's money.”
“I did.”
“You forged documents.”
“I didn't forge the hospital papers.”
“You knew about the property transfer.”
“I knew about the money.”
Reed stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Ross sank into a chair.
Then he admitted something.
Three months before Frank died, he had received a message from an unknown number.
The sender claimed to be Margaret.
She offered him money in exchange for access to Frank’s records.
Ross refused.
Then she sent him a photograph of Diane.
She threatened to expose her birth identity.
Ross panicked.
“What did you give her?”
“Nothing.”
Diane looked at him.
“You're lying.”
Ross closed his eyes.
“I gave her the storage key.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
That explained the break-in.
But not the coffin.
Joanna had been examining Frank’s financial records again.
She discovered a series of payments to a private nursing service.
The payments began six weeks before Frank's death.
The company had no employees.
Its registered address was an abandoned office.
Reed contacted the bank.
The account was linked to another name.
Evan Harper.
My father's name.
I stared at the document.
“My father died in 1985.”
“I know,” Reed said.
“So someone revived his identity.”
“Yes.”
We traced the account.
It had been used to pay for surveillance.
It had also paid the hospital transport company.
My father's name had been used to create a false trail.
Margaret had spent years constructing identities around our family.
The next clue came from Frank's old desk.
Aaron returned to the house with a locksmith.
The desk had a hidden compartment beneath the bottom drawer.
Inside was a cassette, three photographs, and a small brass key.
The tape was labeled:
FOR EILEEN — AFTER THE FIRST LIE.
I played it.
Frank's voice sounded closer this time.
He explained that he had known Margaret was alive for years.
He had even met her.
But he hadn't told me because she had threatened Diane.
Margaret claimed she could destroy Diane's life by proving the adoption records were fraudulent.
Frank knew she couldn't.
But Diane didn't.
Fear had made her obedient.
Then Frank said something that hurt more than the deception.
“I should have trusted you with the truth.”
I whispered, “Yes.”
He admitted that he had made another mistake.
He had staged his own death.
I stopped the tape.
Everyone stared at me.
“What?”
I rewound it.
Frank repeated himself.
He had staged his death.
Not because he wanted to abandon me.
Because he believed Margaret's people were preparing to kill him.
He had arranged a substitute body.
But the plan had gone wrong.
Someone had intercepted the substitute.
The body had been replaced again.
The funeral had happened before Frank could return.
I stared at the speaker.
“Where is he?”
The tape continued.
“I'll be at the place where you first told me you loved me.”
I knew immediately.
The old lake house.
The one we had sold twelve years earlier.
Or so I thought.
I called the realtor who had handled the sale.
He told me the property had been transferred to a private trust.
The trust belonged to Frank.
He had never sold it.
He had lied.
The lake house still existed.
And Frank might be there.
Reed refused to let me go without police protection.
We drove together.
Diane came too.
Ross stayed behind under supervision.
The road to the lake was almost deserted.
Fog hung between the trees.
When we reached the house, the front door was unlocked.
Inside, everything looked preserved.
Our old kitchen table.
The blue curtains I had hated.
Frank's fishing rods.
A framed photograph of our first anniversary.
I touched it.
Then heard a noise upstairs.
Reed drew his weapon.
We moved slowly.
The bedroom door stood open.
The room was empty.
But the bed was warm.
Someone had been there minutes earlier.
On the pillow lay a note.
Red.
I knew you would come.
My eyes filled with tears.
Frank's handwriting.
The note said he had never intended to deceive me forever.
He wanted me to know that he had been alive during the funeral.
He had watched from a distance.
He had seen Diane label the furniture.
He had seen Ross measure the television.
He had seen me stand beside his coffin.
He had wanted to come home.
But someone had threatened to kill Diane if he did.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
The person threatening her isn't Margaret.
I looked at Diane.
She was standing in the doorway.
Frank's note continued.
It is someone you trust.
The floorboard creaked.
Diane turned.
Ross was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
He had followed us.
“You weren't supposed to come here,” Reed said.
Ross looked at me.
“I had to.”
“Why?”
He looked toward Diane.
“Because I know who threatened her.”
Diane stepped forward.
“Who?”
Ross's face collapsed.
“You.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“Margaret told me the truth.”
He pulled out his phone.
A message was open.
A photograph showed Diane speaking to Margaret six months earlier.
The caption beneath it read:
SHE KNOWS.
Diane shook her head.
“I don't understand.”
Ross looked at me.
“She wasn't blackmailing Diane.”
He swallowed.
“She was working with her.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: Diane Finally Admitted Why She Had Followed Margaret, but the Secret She Protected Could Destroy the Only Family Frank Ever Built
An Hour After Frank Was Buried, His Children Started Claiming My Furniture—and Then a Stranger Arrived Exactly on Schedule
Part 7 of 12
