“Did he know about me?”
Hannah lowered her eyes for a moment.
“No. He disappeared before I had the chance to tell him.”
The name hit Frank like a physical blow. He leaned heavily against the back of a chair, staring at the old photograph as memories slowly returned.
“Caleb Morris…” he murmured. “He worked with me at the chemical plant. Brilliant kid. Too stubborn for his own good.”
Diane looked at him in confusion.
“Why have you never mentioned him before?”
Frank rubbed both hands across his face.
“Because after that week… everything became a blur.”
Hannah reached into her backpack and carefully removed the USB drive Caleb had left behind years earlier.
“He gave me this before he vanished.”
The moment Frank saw it, he recoiled.
“Don’t plug that in.”
Hannah frowned.
“Why not?”
Frank didn’t answer immediately. His expression had changed completely. The anger Hannah remembered from ten years earlier had disappeared, replaced by something far more unsettling.
Fear.
She looked directly at him.
“Dad, I spent ten years believing you hated me because I was pregnant. I thought you chose your pride over your daughter. But now I know you’re hiding something.”
Frank slowly lowered himself into a chair.
“I don’t know whether I’m hiding it… or whether someone made me forget it.”
Diane stared at him in disbelief.
“What are you talking about?”
With trembling hands, Frank began explaining events from a decade earlier. The Silver Creek Chemical Plant, where he and Caleb had worked, had secretly been accused of dumping toxic waste into the river. Children developed strange skin conditions, women suffered miscarriages, elderly residents became seriously ill, yet every investigation somehow disappeared before reaching court.
“The owner was Victor Hayes,” Frank said quietly. “He paid doctors, lawyers, police officers… anyone who could make the problem disappear.”
Hannah tightened her grip around the USB drive.
“And Caleb?”
“He started asking questions,” Frank replied. “He gathered reports, collected water samples, and secretly recorded conversations. One night he came to me because he needed help.”
Hannah leaned forward.
“Did you help him?”
Frank’s voice cracked.
“I think I did.”
Those words stunned everyone in the room.
“What do you mean, you think?” Hannah asked.
Frank struggled to piece together the scattered memories.
“I remember meeting Caleb that night. I remember maps spread across a table, a folder full of documents, and a strong chemical smell. Then… nothing.”
He closed his eyes.
“The next thing I remember is waking up alone inside my pickup truck on a dirt road. My shoes were covered in mud… and there was dried blood on my sleeve.”
Diane whispered the question no one wanted answered.
“Whose blood?”
Frank slowly lowered his head.
“It wasn’t mine.”
A chill ran through Hannah’s body.
“Did you kill Caleb?”
Frank looked at his daughter with tears filling his eyes.
“I honestly don’t know.”
The room fell silent until the old landline telephone suddenly rang. None of them had used it in years, yet it continued ringing again and again until Frank reluctantly walked over and picked it up.
Within seconds, every trace of color disappeared from his face.
“How do you know she’s here?” he asked into the receiver.
He listened without saying another word before slowly hanging up.
Hannah stood immediately.
“What did they say?”
Frank looked directly at Owen.
“They said Caleb should have stayed buried.”
Without hesitation, Hannah grabbed Owen’s backpack.
“We’re leaving.”
Frank looked at her helplessly.
“Where are you going?”
