She Found a Forgotten Case File at Work — Then Realized the Recent Murders Were Following Its 20-Year-Old List
Chapter 5
Daniel found Mara sitting outside her house twenty minutes later.
Police had searched the property.
Nothing had been stolen.
No fingerprints.
No forced entry.
Only one thing had changed.
A photograph had appeared on Mara’s bedroom floor.
It showed her father.
Standing beside a young woman.
The woman was Mara’s mother.
But they were not alone.
Between them stood Robert Voss.
On the back, someone had written:
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHAT HAPPENED IN ROOM 12.
Daniel stared at the picture.
“Room 12.”
“What?”
“That’s where the original investigation was conducted.”
“At the courthouse?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“At an abandoned county hospital.”
Mara felt a chill.
“Why?”
“Because the four witnesses were taken there after the original murders.”
“Why would witnesses be hospitalized?”
“They weren’t.”
Daniel paused.
“They were interrogated.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
“And Judge Harper?”
“Yes.”
“Richard Cole?”
“Yes.”
“Thomas Hale?”
Daniel nodded.
“And Robert Voss?”
“He was the fifth.”
Mara looked at the photograph again.
“What happened in Room 12?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
His phone rang.
He stepped away.
Mara watched him.
A minute later, he returned.
“Another victim.”
Her heart sank.
“Who?”
“Robert Voss.”
Mara stared.
“The fifth name.”
Daniel nodded.
“Except this time, there’s something different.”
“What?”
“The killer left him alive.”
Mara frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted him to talk.”
They arrived at the hospital.
Robert Voss was barely conscious.
His body was covered in bruises.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Who did this?”
Voss opened his eyes.
He looked at Mara.
His lips trembled.
“Your father…”
Mara moved closer.
“What about him?”
“He tried to stop them.”
“Who?”
Voss’s eyes filled with fear.
“The list.”
“What list?”
Voss whispered:
“The list was never the names of the victims.”
Daniel and Mara exchanged looks.
“What was it?”
Voss closed his eyes.
“The names of the people who ordered it.”
Then his heart monitor screamed.
Doctors rushed into the room.
Mara stood frozen.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Whatever happened twenty years ago…”
He looked at the hallway.
“…your father wasn’t hunting the killer.”
“He was hunting the people behind the murders.”
