The folder included a picture of a green Mustang that looked remarkably like my father’s car.
Daniel recognized the car because my father had brought it into the shop for suspension work.
He had admired the care my father took with it.
Daniel copied several pages because he feared the shop owner would destroy the originals.
He planned to contact authorities, but Victor found out before he could do so.
Daniel described an argument behind the shop that ended with Victor threatening to accuse him of stealing tools and money.
He said Victor also threatened to make trouble for Rebecca if Daniel spoke.
Daniel was young, broke, and ashamed of how quickly he became frightened.
He went to my father because my father had once offered him a ride home during a snowstorm.
My father listened without interrupting.
He examined the copied pages and told Daniel that the material needed to reach an independent investigator.
Daniel said he was too scared to go to the local station.
My father offered to drive him to a bus terminal outside the county and help him find temporary work elsewhere.
He also promised to keep the copied documents safe until Daniel was ready to make a statement.
That promise explained the envelope hidden in the Mustang.
It did not explain why my father never delivered the documents.
Daniel said my father had called him twice during the first year.
Then the calls stopped.
Daniel believed my father had decided the danger was too great.
Lena warned me that this was Daniel’s interpretation, not an established fact.
I understood the distinction.
But the thought of my father carrying a secret for the rest of his life made my chest feel tight.
Chapter 27: The Missing Page
Nora spread the copies from the Mustang across her conference table.
She had invited an independent document examiner to review the paper, ink, and visible alterations.
The examiner could not determine the entire history of the pages from photographs alone.
He could identify a numbering pattern.
One sheet carried a handwritten reference to an attachment labeled Schedule C.
No Schedule C had been found in the envelope.
The remaining pages described payments and vehicle transfers, but the missing attachment appeared to identify the final recipients.
Nora asked whether I had searched every compartment of the Mustang.
I told her I had searched only the locations identified by the mechanic and the investigators.
