Chapter 12 

They escaped.

Richard didn’t.

For two days, Daniel and Clara waited.

Then the police arrived.

Walter had been arrested.

Richard was alive.

Barely.

Before they could speak to him, a nurse gave Daniel an envelope.

“It was found in his coat.”

Daniel opened it.

His father’s handwriting.

Another letter.

This one was older.

Daniel,

If Richard ever gives you this, forgive him.

He made the wrong choice because he was afraid.

I made mine because I was afraid too.

Daniel read on.

I wanted to come home.

Every day.

But the people watching us knew about you.

They knew where you went to school.

They knew who your friends were.

If I returned, they would use you to reach me.

Daniel’s hands shook.

So I stayed away.

I watched from a distance.

I saw you grow up.

I saw you become the man I hoped you would become.

I’m sorry you thought I abandoned you.

Daniel couldn’t read the rest.

Clara finished it silently.

The final sentence was simple:

The treasure was never what I wanted you to find. I wanted you to find the truth without losing yourself along the way.

Daniel closed his eyes.

For three years, he had hated his father for leaving.

Now he understood.

Thomas hadn’t left him.

He had protected him from a distance.

But there was still one question.

Where was Thomas?