CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE MISSING RECORDING
1868 Words
Sarah barely slept.
The message wouldn’t leave her mind.
Ask Michael about the missing recording.
By morning, she had already made up her mind.
She needed answers.
Not Daniel’s version.
Not Michael’s.
The truth.
Sarah arrived at the law firm before nine and went straight to her office. She closed the door, dropped her handbag on the desk, and opened her laptop.
She searched through every old document she could find concerning Michael’s college years.
Nothing.
No mention of Adrian.
No mention of Daniel.
No mention of the incident.
It was as if someone had deliberately erased that part of Michael’s life.
Her phone rang.
Michael.
Sarah stared at his name before answering.
“Where are you?”
“At the office.”
“We need to talk.”
“About the recording?”
Silence.
Sarah sat upright.
“How did you know?”
Michael exhaled.
“Because I knew Daniel would eventually find out.”
“So there is a recording.”
“Yes.”
Her heart began pounding.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“Sarah, I’m not.”
“Then what happened to it?”
“I haven’t seen it in years.”
“Who made it?”
Michael hesitated.
“Adrian.”
Sarah’s grip tightened around the phone.
“What did he record?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I saw the camera.”
“But you never saw the recording?”
“No.”
Sarah leaned back.
“Then why are you afraid of it?”
Michael didn’t answer.
“Michael.”
His voice dropped.
“Because if that recording still exists, it could prove I wasn’t telling the truth.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
Michael sounded exhausted.
“I’ve never denied that I lied.”
“You denied everything until Daniel came back.”
“I was trying to protect my family.”
“From what?”
“From the past.”
Sarah laughed bitterly.
“You can’t protect me from something you refuse to explain.”
“I know.”
“Where was the recording made?”
Michael paused.
“At the warehouse.”
Sarah’s heart stopped.
“The night Adrian died?”
“Yes.”
She stood.
“Then it could show what happened.”
“If it still exists.”
“Who has it?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah’s voice hardened.
“You’re going to help me find it.”
“Sarah—”
“No.”
She ended the call.
⸻
That afternoon, Daniel arrived at the law firm.
Sarah didn’t bother pretending she wasn’t waiting for him.
“You knew about the recording.”
Daniel closed the office door.
“I suspected.”
“Michael confirmed it.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“What did he say?”
“That Adrian made a recording at the warehouse.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Then we need to find it.”
“You don’t even know where to start.”
“Yes, I do.”
Sarah frowned.
“How?”
Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out an old key.
Sarah stared at it.
“What is that?”
“The storage unit.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
“Why would you have a storage unit?”
“Because when I was released, everything I owned had been packed away.”
He placed the key on her desk.
“I kept the things that survived.”
Sarah looked at it.
“What are we looking for?”
Daniel’s eyes darkened.
“Adrian’s belongings.”
⸻
They arrived at the storage facility just before sunset.
Daniel unlocked the unit.
The metal door rolled upward.
Dust filled the air.
Boxes covered the small space.
Sarah stepped inside.
“Why didn’t you look through these before?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
Daniel moved toward the back.
“Until yesterday, I thought I knew what I was looking for.”
Sarah followed.
“What changed?”
“You.”
She frowned.
“How?”
“Because you noticed things I stopped noticing.”
Sarah looked at him.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is.”
He opened an old cardboard box.
Inside were photographs, notebooks, university documents, and several old cassette tapes.
Sarah’s eyes widened.
“Daniel.”
He picked one up.
The label was faded.
A — WAREHOUSE — 11:45 PM
Sarah’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“That’s it.”
Daniel stared at the tape.
“I’ve never seen this.”
“Maybe someone hid it.”
“Or maybe I never knew it existed.”
Sarah looked around.
“Do you have anything to play it on?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“I kept everything.”
He pulled an old portable cassette player from another box.
Sarah stared at him.
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
They sat on the floor of the storage unit.
Daniel inserted the tape.
Pressed play.
Static.
Sarah held her breath.
Then a voice.
Young.
Male.
Adrian.
Sarah looked at Daniel.
His entire body had gone rigid.
The recording continued.
“Michael, if you’re listening to this…”
Static.
A loud crash.
Then Adrian’s voice again.
“You need to tell the truth.”
Sarah’s heart pounded.
Another voice entered the recording.
Michael.
Young.
Angry.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing.”
Then Adrian shouted:
“I’m not taking the blame for you!”
The recording crackled.
Something fell.
Then another voice spoke.
A voice neither Sarah nor Daniel recognized.
“You should have listened.”
Daniel suddenly stopped breathing.
Sarah looked at him.
“Who is that?”
The tape continued.
A struggle.
A scream.
Then—
Silence.
The recording ended.
Neither moved.
Sarah slowly turned toward Daniel.
“That wasn’t you.”
“No.”
“And it wasn’t Michael.”
“No.”
“So who was there?”
Daniel stared at the cassette.
His face had lost all color.
“I don’t know.”
Sarah reached for his hand.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
For the first time, the obsession disappeared from his eyes.
There was only shock.
And fear.
Because the recording had just proven something neither of them had been prepared to accept.
Michael hadn’t been the only person at the warehouse that night.
And whoever that third man was…
had known exactly what was going to happen.
The silence after the recording felt heavier than the walls around them.
Sarah stared at the cassette.
Daniel hadn’t moved.
“Play it again.”
His voice was barely audible.
Sarah pressed the button.
Static filled the storage unit.
Then Adrian’s voice returned.
“Michael, if you’re listening to this…”
Daniel leaned closer.
Sarah listened carefully.
The recording continued.
“You need to tell the truth.”
Then Michael’s younger voice.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing.”
Adrian shouted.
“I’m not taking the blame for you!”
Sarah’s eyes moved toward Daniel.
He looked pale.
Then came the third voice.
Calm.
Cold.
“You should have listened.”
The recording ended.
Sarah pressed stop.
“That’s him.”
Daniel nodded.
“You recognize his voice?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know it’s a man?”
“I remember.”
Sarah studied him.
“You said you don’t remember that night.”
“I don’t.”
He looked at the cassette.
“But I remember that voice.”
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
“From where?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel.”
“I said I don’t know.”
His voice was sharper now.
Sarah stepped back.
He immediately softened.
“I’m sorry.”
She nodded.
“We need to find out who that voice belongs to.”
Daniel picked up the cassette.
“Yes.”
“And we can’t tell Michael.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because if someone has spent all these years hiding this…”
She swallowed.
“Then they won’t want us finding it.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You’re right.”
⸻
They left the storage facility separately.
Daniel insisted.
“Why can’t I ride with you?”
“Because if someone is watching, they shouldn’t know we’re working together.”
Sarah frowned.
“You’re worried about someone following us?”
“I’m worried about someone knowing what we found.”
She stared at him.
“You’re scared.”
Daniel looked away.
“Yes.”
It was the first time he’d admitted it.
Sarah’s heart tightened.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“Whatever happens next, don’t trust anyone.”
“Not even you?”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“Especially not me.”
Sarah didn’t smile.
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
He reached into his pocket and handed her a small piece of paper.
“That’s my private number.”
She looked at it.
“I already have your number.”
“Not that one.”
“Why?”
“Because if something happens, call me on that line.”
Sarah folded the paper.
“Okay.”
Daniel walked away.
Sarah watched him disappear into the evening crowd.
Something felt different.
The mystery was no longer simply about Michael.
It wasn’t even about Daniel.
There was another person.
Someone who had been present that night.
Someone who had remained hidden for years.
And someone who clearly didn’t want the truth discovered.
⸻
That night, Sarah returned home alone.
She locked the door.
Checked the windows.
Then sat at the kitchen table with the cassette beside her.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the voice.
She opened her laptop.
She searched for old university records.
Names.
Graduation lists.
Student organizations.
Anything that might connect Michael, Daniel, Adrian, and the unknown man.
After nearly an hour, she found something.
A photograph from a university charity event.
Michael.
Daniel.
Adrian.
And—
Sarah zoomed in.
Her heart stopped.
The fourth man was standing behind them.
She recognized him.
Not from the warehouse.
From somewhere else.
The man she’d seen in the parking garage.
Victor.
Sarah stared at the screen.
“How?”
Her phone rang.
She jumped.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
“Who is this?”
A man’s breathing came through the line.
Then a voice.
The same voice from the recording.
“You should have stopped looking.”
Sarah froze.
“Victor?”
A pause.
Then a quiet laugh.
“You really are Michael’s wife.”
The call ended.
Sarah dropped the phone.
Her heart raced.
He knew who she was.
He knew she had found the recording.
And worse—
He knew exactly what she was searching for.
A notification appeared on her laptop.
Someone had accessed her account.
Sarah stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
DAY 16
You’re running out of time.
Sarah’s blood ran cold.
The countdown had begun to feel real.
Not because Daniel had given her thirty days.
But because someone else had started counting with them.
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