CHAPTER 9: Daniel's Last Evidence

They left the grave together only after Margaret's security arrived.
Grace rode in the back seat with Diana asleep against her chest. Margaret sat beside them, Daniel's letter on her lap, her phone filling with messages from people who had not heard her name in years and were wise enough to answer fast.
At the Hale house, Grace expected questions that sounded like accusations.
Instead, Margaret led her to the nursery Daniel had used as a boy.
The room still held a wooden rocking chair, a shelf of worn picture books, and a baseball glove too small for any living hand in the house.
Grace broke then.
Not dramatically. Just one folded breath after another until Margaret took Diana and placed a steady hand on Grace's shoulder.
Later, they opened the flash drive Daniel had hidden inside the envelope lining.
There were scans of altered records, transfers from Warren Vale's private account, and a video of Daniel saying exactly what he had feared.
Margaret stood in the doorway and watched Grace take in the small blue curtains, the lamp shaped like a sailboat, the framed school photo where Daniel's front tooth was missing. This stranger knew the man he had become. Margaret knew the boy he had survived from.
At the end, he looked into the camera.
"Mom, if you're seeing this, I'm sorry I made you find out this way. But I trust you more than anyone alive."
Margaret paused the video and covered her mouth.