The Man Who Never Disappeared
1230 Words
Elena stared at the message until the screen began to blur.
STOP ASKING ABOUT THOMAS REED.
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
Alexander noticed the change in her expression.
“What happened?”
She didn't answer.
“Elena.”
She turned the screen toward him.
His eyes moved across the message.
For a moment, his face revealed nothing.
Then his jaw tightened.
“Give me your phone.”
“Why?”
“I want to check the number.”
“There isn't one.”
Alexander took the phone anyway and examined the screen.
“No caller ID. No traceable number.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent this knows exactly what we're investigating.”
Elena looked toward the photograph still in his hand.
“Maybe they were the ones who put it in the envelope.”
“Maybe.”
“Then they wanted me to find Thomas.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Or they wanted you to think they did.”
She frowned.
“You're saying the warning could be a trap.”
“I'm saying we don't know enough yet.”
The security guard shifted uneasily near the doorway.
Alexander noticed him.
“Leave.”
The guard nodded and disappeared.
As soon as they were alone, Elena held out her hand.
“The photograph.”
Alexander gave it back.
She studied Thomas Reed's reflection again.
There was something familiar about him.
Not his face.
Something else.
The way he stood.
The dark suit.
The watch on his wrist.
The slight angle of his shoulders.
She had seen that watch before.
Her eyes widened.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“My father had a photograph in his study.”
Alexander watched her carefully.
“A photograph of Thomas?”
“I don't know. I never knew his name.”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
Before everything had collapsed, Daniel had kept dozens of photographs in a locked cabinet. Business partners. Friends. Investors. People Elena had never paid much attention to because she had been too young to understand the world her father worked in.
But there had been one photograph she remembered.
A group of men standing beside Daniel.
And one man always stood slightly apart from the others.
“He was there,” she whispered.
“Where?”
“In one of my father's photographs.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it now?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
“I was young.”
“Elena.”
She looked at him sharply.
“I said I don't know.”
Alexander immediately softened his tone.
“Then we'll find it.”
She stared at him.
“You really mean that, don't you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at the photograph.
“Because if Thomas Reed was connected to your father before the scandal, then he may know what happened.”
“And if he knows?”
“Then someone is afraid you'll find him.”
Elena looked at her phone again.
The message was still there.
She suddenly felt cold.
“Alexander.”
“What?”
“Why would someone threaten me over a man who supposedly disappeared seven years ago?”
Alexander's expression became serious.
“That's what worries me.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't think Thomas disappeared.”
Elena's heart skipped.
“What makes you say that?”
Alexander reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone.
He opened a file.
“Three years ago, my father received a private report.”
“About Thomas?”
Alexander nodded.
Elena moved closer.
“What did it say?”
“I never saw the full report.”
“Then how do you know it existed?”
“Because I found the reference in my father's personal records.”
He turned the screen toward her.
There was a scanned page.
Most of it was blacked out.
But one line remained visible.
T. REED — STATUS: ACTIVE
Elena stared at it.
“Three years ago.”
“Yes.”
“So Thomas was alive three years ago.”
“According to this.”
“Why would Marcus have a file on him?”
“I don't know.”
She looked up.
“Could he still be alive?”
Alexander's silence answered her.
A strange feeling settled in Elena's chest.
For seven years, she had believed the people responsible for destroying her father had disappeared behind money, influence and carefully buried evidence.
Now she was beginning to understand something far more frightening.
Some of them might still be watching.
Her phone vibrated again.
Both of them looked at it.
Another message.
This time there was a photograph attached.
Elena opened it.
Her breath caught.
It was a recent photograph.
Not of Thomas.
Of her.
She was standing outside Blackwood Corporation earlier that day.
Alexander was beside her.
The picture had been taken from across the street.
Someone had been watching them.
Elena's blood ran cold.
“When was this taken?”
Alexander's face hardened.
“Today.”
She zoomed in.
In the corner of the photograph was a reflection from a car window.
A man's face was barely visible.
Elena stared at it.
She couldn't make out the features.
But there was something about the silhouette.
Something familiar.
“Alexander.”
He looked at her.
“Someone followed us.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She pointed toward the photograph.
“They weren't following us.”
Alexander frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“They were waiting.”
His expression changed.
Elena looked again.
The photograph hadn't been taken while they were walking.
The angle was too deliberate.
The person had been positioned somewhere with a clear view of the entrance.
Waiting for them to appear.
Waiting for her.
Alexander took the phone from her.
“We're leaving.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere secure.”
“I don't need protecting.”
“This isn't about whether you need it.”
“Then what is it about?”
His eyes met hers.
“Someone just showed us that they can get close enough to photograph you without you noticing.”
His voice lowered.
“That means they can get closer than that.”
Elena swallowed.
She hated that he was right.
They left the hidden archive together, but Elena couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.
When they reached the main corridor, Alexander suddenly stopped.
“What?”
He looked toward the tall windows overlooking the estate grounds.
There was a black car parked beyond the gates.
Its engine was running.
Elena followed his gaze.
“Do you know that car?”
“No.”
The car began moving.
Alexander pulled out his phone.
“Call security.”
Before he could make the call, the car disappeared through the gates.
Elena stared after it.
Then she looked at Alexander.
“Thomas Reed.”
He nodded.
“Thomas Reed.”
They stood in silence.
Neither of them noticed the small envelope that had been slipped beneath the door of the archive behind them.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
No photograph.
No warning.
Just one sentence.
Daniel Carter trusted the wrong man.
And beneath it was a name.
ALEXANDER BLACKWOOD.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD