What Really Happened to Linda

The next morning, we went to the police.

But before we could explain everything, something happened that made me realize how dangerous the situation had become.

Our house had been searched.

Nothing was stolen.

The television was still there.

My wallet was untouched.

But Emily’s letters were gone.

Someone had entered my house specifically looking for them.

I called Daniel.

No answer.

I called Emily.

No answer.

Then my phone rang.

It was Daniel.

“Dad, don’t come home.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m with Emily.”

“Where?”

He hesitated.

Then whispered:

“At the old house.”

I knew exactly which house he meant.

The house where Linda had lived before she died.

I drove there.

When I arrived, I found Daniel standing outside.

Emily was crying.

“What happened?”

Daniel handed me a small metal box.

“We found this hidden underneath the floor.”

Inside was a USB drive.

And a handwritten note.

The note was from Linda.

It said:

“Michael, if you’re reading this, I’ve run out of time.”

My hands went numb.

The USB contained a video.

Linda appeared on the screen.

She looked frightened.

She explained everything.

Three years earlier, she had discovered that Robert had been stealing money from our family’s business.

She confronted him.

He threatened her.

Linda told him she would expose him.

Then she discovered something even worse.

Robert had been using fake identities and fraudulent accounts to move money.

And someone else was helping him.

Someone inside the police department.

Linda had copied the evidence onto the USB.

She planned to give it to me.

But she never got the chance.

Robert found out.

The video ended with Linda saying:

“If something happens to me, don’t believe the story about the accident.”

I couldn’t speak.

Daniel looked at me.

“There’s more.”

He pointed to the final file.

It contained photographs from the night Linda died.

Robert’s car was visible near the accident scene.

And another photograph showed the police officer who had been following Emily.

The same officer had investigated Linda’s death.

Everything suddenly made sense.

The accident hadn’t been an accident.

Linda had been silenced.

And Emily had spent years believing she had lost her mother forever.

Then we heard a car outside.

Daniel looked through the window.

“It’s Robert.”

The front door suddenly opened.

Robert walked inside.

He wasn’t carrying a weapon.

He didn’t need one.

He smiled.

“Michael.”

I stepped in front of Emily.

“What do you want?”

Robert looked at the USB in my hand.

“You already know.”

Then he said something I will never forget.

“Your son was never the problem.”

He looked at Daniel.

“He was the one who saved her.”

Then he looked at me.

“But now you’re the problem.”