She Found a Forgotten Case File at Work — Then Realized the Recent Murders Were Following Its 20-Year-Old List
Chapter 12
The voice belonged to Ethan Reed.
He stepped into the light.
He looked almost exactly like Daniel.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Older.
Harder.
Mara stared.
“You killed them.”
Ethan nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they killed our fathers.”
Daniel raised his gun.
“You killed innocent people.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice remained calm.
“They were never innocent.”
“You murdered them.”
“I gave them twenty years.”
Daniel’s face twisted with anger.
“You killed my father.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Mercer did.”
“Then why didn’t you kill Mercer?”
Ethan smiled.
“Because he was never on the list.”
Mara understood.
The list was not about revenge.
It was evidence.
Ethan had been using the murders to force the truth into the open.
But there was one thing he hadn’t expected.
Mara.
Ethan looked at her.
“Your father hid the final evidence.”
“Where?”
“He never told me.”
Mara looked at Jonathan.
Her father was still alive.
Barely.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
Jonathan whispered:
“She has it.”
Mara froze.
“What?”
Jonathan looked at his daughter.
“I hid it where nobody would search.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
Jonathan smiled weakly.
“In her.”
Mara touched her necklace.
It had belonged to her father.
She had worn it since she was nine.
She pulled it off.
Daniel noticed the small metal pendant.
“Open it.”
Mara twisted the back.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a memory card.
Ethan stared.
Jonathan whispered:
“The entire investigation.”
Ethan lowered his weapon.
For the first time, he looked defeated.
Then sirens filled the street.
Daniel looked at Mara.
“Who called them?”
Mara smiled faintly.
“Me.”
She had sent the evidence to every major news organization twenty minutes earlier.
The truth was already spreading.
Ethan slowly lowered his gun.
But before police entered, he looked at Mara.
“You think this ends here?”
Mara frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Ethan smiled.
“Mercer wasn’t the highest name.”
Then he disappeared through the rear exit.
