Chapter 3: The Secret Under the Floorboards
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
But Daniel Voss was gone.
No footprints.
No tire marks.
No sign that anyone had ever stood outside the diner.
Except for one thing.
The photograph.
Cole kept it in his hand the entire time.
Officer Reynolds noticed.
“You want to explain why a stranger who scares a child somehow knows your name?””
Cole said nothing.
The officer looked toward Maya.
“She knows you?””
Cole glanced at the girl.
“She knows more than she should.””
Reynolds lowered his voice.
“Then start talking.””
Cole looked around the diner.
At the customers.
At Marcus.
At Maya.
Then he sighed.
“Twelve years ago, I worked security for a private company.””
Marcus laughed softly.
“Security?””
Cole looked at him.
“Not the kind with cameras.””
The room went quiet.
“I protected people who had enemies.””
Reynolds crossed his arms.
“And Maya’s father?””
Cole looked at the photo.
“Was my partner.””
Nobody expected that.
Maya stared at him.
Cole knelt beside her.
“You know who I am?””
She nodded.
She signed.
Cole watched.
Then closed his eyes.
“She remembers.””
Marcus frowned.
“Remembers what?””
Cole stood.
“Her father leaving.””
Maya’s face changed.
She looked down.
The pain was obvious.
Cole continued.
“Her father didn’t abandon her.””
Reynolds looked confused.
“Then what happened?””
Cole stared at the floor.
“He disappeared because someone wanted him gone.””
A cold silence filled the diner.
Tasha whispered, “Daniel?””
Cole nodded.
“Daniel was supposed to be dead.””
“But he wasn’t.””
“No.””
“Why?””
Cole looked toward the locked door.
“Because someone helped him disappear.””
Reynolds reached for his notebook.
“Who?””
Cole didn’t answer.
Because there was one name he had never wanted to say.
One person he trusted.
One person who betrayed them all.
Maya suddenly pulled his sleeve.
She signed.
Cole looked at her.
“What?””
She pointed toward the photograph.
Then toward herself.
Then toward him.
Cole froze.
“She’s saying something else.””
Reynolds stepped closer.
“What?””
Cole’s eyes narrowed.
“Maya says that picture isn’t the only one.””
Marcus frowned.
“What do you mean?””
Maya pointed downward.
At the floor.
Everyone looked confused.
Cole crouched.
“What’s under there?””
The girl looked at him.
Then slowly signed:
“My dad hid something.””
The diner became silent.
Marcus looked around.
“Under the floor?””
Maya nodded.
Cole remembered something.
A conversation from twelve years ago.
A frightened man.
A desperate warning.
“If anything happens to me,” Daniel had said, “don’t trust anyone who says they’re helping you.””
Cole stood quickly.
“Where?””
Maya walked toward the storage room.
Everyone followed.
The old wooden floor creaked beneath their feet.
She stopped beside a shelf.
Then pointed.
Cole moved the boxes.
Behind them was an old section of wooden paneling.
Marcus stared.
“I’ve owned this diner for eight years. That wasn’t there before.””
Cole touched the wood.
Fresh scratches.
Someone had opened it recently.
He pulled it away.
Inside was a small metal box.
Nobody breathed.
Cole opened it.
Inside were documents.
A flash drive.
And a letter.
The letter had his name written on it.
Cole.
His hands tightened.
He opened it.
Only one sentence was written inside.
“If you found this, Daniel came back.””
Cole looked up.
Maya was watching him.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
A second later, the front door unlocked itself.
And someone inside the diner whispered:
“Cole.””
May you like
It was a voice he recognized.
A voice that belonged to someone who was supposed to be buried.
