Chapter 5: The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
“Daniel Brooks is dead.””
Damon said it with such certainty that even Officer Reed paused.
The parking lot lights shone across his face. His hands were cuffed behind his back now, but he stood straight, chin lifted, as if the officers were inconveniencing him rather than investigating a possible crime.
Officer Lena held the photograph between two gloved fingers.
“Then why is he standing beside you in a picture dated three days ago?””
Damon's eyes narrowed.
“Could be an old photograph.””
“You just said it was an old family photograph.””
“It is.””
“An old photograph with a new date written on the back?””
Damon said nothing.
Officer Reed moved him toward the patrol car.
“Let's take a ride, Mr. Price.””
Damon resisted just enough to make the officer tighten his grip.
“You have no idea who you're dealing with.””
“That's what we're trying to find out.””
Inside the diner, Maya stood beside Sarah, watching the officers through the glass. She hadn't cried since the ambulance left. Her face had gone strangely still, the way people sometimes looked when fear became too large for tears.
Sarah crouched in front of her.
“Tell me about your father.””
Maya looked at Sarah's hands, then at her face.
For several seconds, she didn't sign.
Then she reached into the pocket of her dirty pink jacket and pulled out a small, cracked photograph.
The edges were soft from being handled too many times.
It showed a smiling Black man in a denim shirt holding a little girl on his shoulders. The child couldn't have been older than three.
Sarah recognized Maya's eyes immediately.
“That's your dad?””
Maya nodded.
She pointed to the man.
Then she signed slowly.
Daddy. Daniel. He taught me signs.
Her fingers moved to the man's face.
He died when I was eight.
Sarah's heart tightened.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.””
Maya shook her head and continued.
Mommy said car accident. Police came. Casket closed.
Sarah glanced toward the photograph Officer Lena held outside.
“Then how could he be in that picture?””
Maya's hands moved more urgently.
Mommy found something. Papers. Pictures. She said Daddy didn't die.
Sarah stopped breathing for a moment.
Before she could respond, Rick spoke from behind the counter.
“That's enough.””
Sarah turned.
Rick stood between two booths, his hands still raised where Officer Reed had ordered him to keep them. His gray uniform shirt was damp with sweat.
“You shouldn't be putting ideas in her head,” he said.
“I'm asking her what happened.””
“She doesn't understand what she saw.””
Maya stepped closer to Sarah.
Her hands moved sharply.
He was there.
Sarah translated.
“She's saying you were there when her mother found the papers.””
Rick shook his head.
“No.””
Maya pointed at him.
He came to our house. He took Mommy's keys.
Rick's face drained of color.
Sarah stared at him.
“You went to her house?””
“I deliver food to half this neighborhood. That doesn't mean—”
Maya signed again.
He said Damon would take me somewhere safe.
Rick shut his eyes.
Sarah felt sick.
“Safe from whom?””
Maya looked toward the window, where Damon was being placed inside the patrol car.
From my father.
The words hung in the air.
Rick opened his eyes.
For a moment, his expression softened. He looked less like a criminal and more like a man standing at the edge of a decision he had already made too many times.
“I didn't know Daniel was alive,” he said quietly.
Sarah didn't move.
“What?””
“I swear to God, I didn't know.””
Maya watched him closely.
Rick rubbed his face.
“Damon told me Daniel had been killed in a car accident. He said Maya's mother was unstable, that she'd been making accusations and trying to take his money.””
Sarah frowned.
“Why would Damon have anything to do with Maya's family?””
Rick's mouth tightened.
“Because Daniel wasn't just some guy who worked at a garage.””
He looked at the police officers outside, then lowered his voice.
“Daniel used to handle the books for the Price family.””
Sarah felt a chill move through her.
“What family?””
Rick laughed bitterly, without humor.
“You really don't know?””
“I know Damon threatened a child and her mother. I know you took his money. Tell me the rest.””
Rick leaned against the counter.
“The Price family controls half the businesses along this highway. Car lots. Freight companies.
Construction contracts. Things that look legitimate until somebody starts asking where the money comes from.””
Sarah glanced at the phone Officer Reed had taken.
“And Daniel found something?””
Rick nodded.
“He discovered payments being routed through fake companies. Millions of dollars. He was going to turn everything over to federal investigators.””
Maya touched Sarah's arm.
Her hands moved.
Daddy said he had proof.
Sarah looked down at her.
“What happened after that?””
Maya hesitated.
Then she signed a sequence that made Sarah's blood run cold.
Daddy disappeared. Mommy cried. Damon came.
Rick stared at the child.
“Damon said Daniel had stolen money and run away. He said the family would be in danger if anybody spoke about him.””
Sarah's voice hardened.
“So you decided to help Damon take Maya?””
“I thought he was taking her somewhere safe!””
“You didn't ask her?””
Rick looked away.
“You didn't ask her mother?””
His silence answered for him.
Outside, Officer Lena approached the diner carrying the envelope.
“Sarah, I need to ask Maya something.””
Sarah nodded.
Lena crouched to the girl's level and signed awkwardly, her movements careful but limited. She clearly knew a few basic signs, but not enough to hold a complex conversation.
Sarah offered to interpret.
Lena held up the photograph.
“Can Maya identify this man?””
Sarah signed the question.
Maya nodded immediately.
Then she pointed to the man beside Damon.
She touched the photograph of her father in her pocket.
Finally, she made a small movement with her hands, bringing two fingers together and then separating them.
Sarah recognized the sign.
Twins.
She stared at the photograph again.
The man beside Damon looked strikingly like Daniel Brooks. Same broad nose. Same eyes. Same distinctive scar near the eyebrow.
Sarah looked up at Officer Lena.
“Maya says they were twins.””
Lena's expression changed.
She pulled a second paper from the envelope and studied the name printed at the top.
“Marcus,” she called toward the patrol car.
“We need to verify something.””
Officer Reed approached, leaving Damon secured in the back seat.
Lena turned the paper toward him.
The document listed Daniel Brooks as deceased.
Beneath his name was another name.
*David Price.*
Reed read it twice.
“Price?””
Lena nodded slowly.
“Same date of birth. Same parents listed on the old record.””
Sarah looked through the glass toward Damon.
The man in the patrol car had stopped watching the officers.
He was staring at Maya.
His lips moved.
Sarah could read one word.
Twins.
Then Damon leaned toward the window and mouthed another sentence.
May you like
One that made Maya stumble backward.
Your father is coming.
