Released at 24, She Went Back to Her Father’s Old Body Shop — Under the Lift Sat a Welded Trunk
Chapter 11
The photograph destroyed Claire’s last certainty.
She had always believed her father had protected her from the criminal world.
But the photograph suggested she had been closer to it than she realized.
Ethan examined the image.
“That’s definitely you.”
“I know.”
“Do you remember this?”
“No.”
Claire took it to Rachel.
Her aunt immediately started crying.
“You remember,” Claire said.
Rachel shook her head.
“You were seven.”
“What happened?”
“Your father took you to the shop.”
“Why?”
“To show you something.”
“What?”
Rachel looked terrified.
“A car.”
Claire frowned.
“Which car?”
“A blue Chevrolet.”
Rachel explained that Thomas had discovered stolen cars were being moved through the shop.
One vehicle had contained something unexpected.
A child.
A little girl who had been reported missing.
Thomas had rescued her.
Victor wanted the girl returned.
Thomas refused.
Claire remembered a fragment.
A little girl.
A red jacket.
Her father telling her:
“Never tell anyone what you saw.”
Claire’s breathing stopped.
The girl had been missing for decades.
Victor had been involved in human trafficking.
The stolen vehicles were only part of the operation.
Claire looked at Rachel.
“How many children?”
Rachel whispered:
“Seven.”
Claire felt sick.
Her father’s real investigation had been far darker than she imagined.
He had not simply discovered stolen cars.
He had discovered children being transported across state lines.
And he had tried to stop it.
Victor had killed people to keep it hidden.
Claire looked at Ethan.
“We need the police.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Who do we trust?”
Claire looked at the evidence.
Then at Sheriff Reed.
“We trust the one who finally told the truth.”
Reed nodded.
But before they could leave, his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at Claire.
“The missing girl from your father’s case…”
He swallowed.
“She was found alive.”
Claire stared.
“Where?”
Reed whispered:
“In a hospital in Ohio.”
