I searched my memory.
She had told me she was shopping.
Buying groceries.
A birthday gift for Lily.
She’d been gone almost four hours.
I had never questioned it.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“We don’t know.”
I pushed the folder away.
“You’re wrong.”
“I hope so.”
Another agent knocked on the door.
“Ellis.”
She stepped outside.
Their voices were low.
Urgent.
Then Ellis returned.
Her face had changed.
“What?”
She looked directly at me.
“We found your mother.”
Relief flooded through me.
“Thank God.”
Ellis didn’t smile.
“She wasn’t at your house.”
My relief vanished.
“Where?”
“An abandoned church.”
“Was she hurt?”
Ellis hesitated.
“She refused to leave.”
“Why?”
“She said…”
Ellis swallowed.
“…she’s waiting for your father.”
The words echoed inside my head.
Waiting.
For my father.
Alive.
Without another word I reached into my jacket.
The second flash drive.
The one labeled:
ONLY AFTER YOU SEE HIM.
Ellis noticed.
“It’s time.”
She inserted it into her laptop.
A new video appeared.
The timestamp read…
Recorded Yesterday.
Yesterday.
One day after my father’s supposed death.
He appeared on the screen wearing different clothes.
No injuries.
No coffin.
No funeral.
Alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Julian.”
“If you’re seeing this…”
“…then you’ve reached the safe house.”
He smiled sadly.
“I’m proud of you.”
I felt tears burning behind my eyes.
“Dad…”
“There isn’t much time.”
“If Nora is beside you…”
“…then something has gone terribly wrong.”
Ellis lowered her head.
He continued.
“I need you to do something very difficult.”
“Before this ends…”
“…someone you love will betray you.”
My chest tightened.
“You’ll want to believe they’re innocent.”
“You’ll remember birthdays…”
“…Christmas dinners…”
“…family vacations…”
He paused for several seconds.
“But memories are not evidence.”
His eyes filled with pain.
“I learned that too late.”
Then his expression softened.
“Your mother never betrayed me.”
The room became completely silent.
“But someone else did.”
He reached toward the camera.
Almost as if trying to touch me.
“When you finally see me again…”
“…don’t call me Dad.”
“Call me David.”
“Someone will be listening.”
The screen went black.
No one spoke.
Finally I whispered,
