She Found a Stranger Sleeping in Her Garage… Then Discovered Who He Really Was
Chapter 5
Emma backed away from the door.
“Who is it?”
A pause.
Then:
“Detective Miller. Cedar Falls Police.”
Emma looked at Daniel.
His face had gone completely still.
“You know him?”
“No.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Daniel whispered, “Because that’s not Detective Miller.”
Emma’s phone vibrated.
A text message.
Do not open the door.
Unknown number.
Emma stared at the screen.
Another message arrived.
He is not alone.
She quietly locked the deadbolt.
The voice outside changed.
“Emma, open the door.”
It sounded impatient now.
Daniel moved toward the kitchen.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for another exit.”
Emma followed him.
They found the back door.
Locked.
Then Daniel noticed the basement stairs.
“Does the basement connect to the garage?”
Emma nodded.
He pulled her toward it.
“Come on.”
They descended.
A moment later, glass shattered upstairs.
Emma gasped.
Someone had broken a window.
Daniel grabbed her hand.
“Stay behind me.”
They entered the garage.
Daniel opened the hidden door.
The underground room was dark.
They shut the panel behind them.
Above them, footsteps crossed the garage.
Someone was searching.
Emma could hear her own breathing.
Then a voice.
“Find the records.”
Another voice answered.
“They aren’t here.”
“They have to be.”
Emma looked at Daniel.
His eyes were fixed on the metal box.
The men upstairs continued searching.
Then the footsteps stopped.
Silence.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Finally, the sound of a car leaving.
Emma waited.
“How did they know?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
She stared at him.
“Yes, you do.”
He looked away.
“Daniel.”
He sighed.
“Someone has been following me.”
“For how long?”
“Three months.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t know if you were involved.”
Emma stared at him.
“Why would I be involved?”
“Because your grandmother was.”
That hurt.
“My grandmother wasn’t a criminal.”
“I never said she was.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“She helped my father.”
Emma folded her arms.
“That still doesn’t explain why someone broke into my house.”
Daniel pointed toward the documents.
“Because whatever your grandmother hid is still valuable.”
“How valuable?”
“More than money.”
Emma frowned.
“What could be worth that much after twenty-one years?”
Daniel picked up another folder.
Inside were property maps.
Dozens of them.
Harrow Industrial had purchased land across Cedar Falls.
Factories.
Warehouses.
Abandoned lots.
Even several residential neighborhoods.
Emma recognized one location immediately.
“The old Riverside district.”
Daniel nodded.
“What about it?”
“My grandmother’s house was almost sold to Harrow twenty years ago.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Did she refuse?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
He studied the map.
“Maybe because she knew what they were planning.”
Emma’s phone vibrated again.
Another message.
This time there was a photograph.
Emma opened it.
Her hands began shaking.
It showed Daniel standing outside her house.
Taken earlier that morning.
The message beneath it read:
You should have left him outside.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“They’re watching us.”
Daniel nodded.
Then he noticed something.
The photograph wasn’t taken from the street.
It had been taken from inside the house.
He grabbed Emma’s phone.
“Someone was already here.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
They searched every room.
Nothing.
Then Emma noticed the smoke detector in the hallway.
Its small red light blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Daniel stared at it.
“That’s not a smoke detector.”
He climbed onto a chair.
He removed the cover.
Inside was a tiny camera.
Emma stepped backward.
“They’ve been watching my house.”
Daniel looked at her.
“And now they know we found the room.”
He removed the camera.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Emma said something that surprised even herself.
“We’re not running.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“My grandmother spent twenty years protecting this secret.”
Emma picked up the metal box.
“If someone went this far to hide it…”
She looked toward the hidden staircase.
“…then we’re going to find out what she died protecting.”
