CHAPTER 9 The Dead Man’s Warning
CHAPTER 9 The Dead Man’s Warning
The phone slipped slightly in Adrian Westwood’s hand.
For several seconds, he could not move.
The storage facility was silent except for the sound of rain hitting the metal roof.
Everyone stared at him.
Natalie was the first to speak.
“Adrian…”
Her voice was careful.
“What happened?”
He looked at her.
His face had lost all color.
“My father.”
Natalie frowned.
“What about him?”
Adrian looked down at the phone screen.
The unknown number was still there.
The call history showed the same thing.
A real call.
A real connection.
But that was impossible.
“Someone just called me.”
Natalie stepped closer.
“Who?”
Adrian swallowed.
“My father.”
The words changed the entire room.
Detective Reed looked confused.
“Your father?”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“He said my mother knows the truth.”
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone understood the problem.
Victor Westwood had been dead for two years.
There was no possible way he could have made that call.
Detective Reed took out his phone.
“Can I see the number?”
Adrian handed it over.
The detective studied the screen.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
Adrian immediately noticed.
“What is it?”
Detective Reed looked up.
“This number belongs to a private line.”
“So?”
The detective hesitated.
“It was registered to Victor Westwood.”
The silence became unbearable.
Natalie stepped back.
“That’s impossible.”
Detective Reed looked serious.
“According to the records, this number was disconnected after his death.”
Adrian stared at the phone.
Someone was using his father’s number.
Someone wanted his attention.
Someone wanted him to believe Victor was still involved.
But why?
And why now?
A loud sound interrupted them.
A car door closing outside.
Everyone turned.
Detective Reed immediately reached for his weapon.
“Stay back.”
The three of them watched through the storage window.
A black SUV was parked near the entrance.
The driver was gone.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone followed us.”
Detective Reed signaled his officers.
Within moments, they searched the area.
But nobody was there.
Only the SUV remained.
Inside the vehicle, they found something.
A folder.
Placed carefully on the passenger seat.
With Adrian’s name written on it.
He stared at it.
Not again.
Another message.
Another secret.
Another piece of Claire’s unfinished story.
Detective Reed opened the folder carefully.
Inside were several documents.
The first page immediately caught Adrian’s attention.
It was a medical report.
Claire Westwood.
Three years earlier.
The night of the accident.
Adrian’s heart began racing.
“What is that?”
Detective Reed looked through the papers.
“Medical records.”
Adrian took them.
Then he stopped.
Because the report showed something impossible.
Claire had not died instantly.
She had survived the crash.
For seventeen minutes.
Seventeen minutes.
Adrian’s hands began shaking.
“No.”
Natalie looked at him.
“What?”
He looked up.
“She was alive.”
Everyone became silent.
The official story said Claire died at the scene.
The police report said emergency crews arrived too late.
But this document said otherwise.
Claire had been conscious.
She had spoken.
Someone had been with her.
Adrian continued reading.
Then he saw the final entry.
Patient attempted to provide information regarding attacker.
His breath stopped.
“Attacker?”
Detective Reed looked over his shoulder.
“She told them someone caused the crash?”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“But that information was removed.”
Natalie looked horrified.
“Someone changed the report.”
Adrian looked toward the dark storage building.
Three years.
Three years he had mourned his wife believing she died because of a storm.
But Claire had been trying to tell him something.
She had been trying to survive.
And someone had erased her final words.
A smaller document fell from the folder.
Adrian picked it up.
It was a handwritten note.
Not Claire’s handwriting.
Someone else’s.
Only one sentence was written.
“Ask your mother why she arrived before the ambulance.”
Adrian froze.
His mother.
Again.
Everything kept returning to Margaret Westwood.
He immediately called her.
She answered after one ring.
“Adrian?”
Her voice sounded nervous.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
Silence.
Then:
“I’m at home.”
Adrian looked at the note.
“Mom.”
His voice became cold.
“Did you go to Claire’s accident?”
The silence on the phone lasted too long.
Too long.
“Adrian…”
“Did you?”
Margaret finally whispered:
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at Adrian.
His face changed.
The answer was worse than any lie.
“You told me you arrived after the police.”
“I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“Afraid of what I saw.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Tell me.”
Another long silence.
Then Margaret said:
“Claire was not alone.”
Adrian’s chest tightened.
“Who was with her?”
Margaret started crying.
And the answer that followed destroyed everything Adrian believed.
“Your brother.”
The world seemed to stop.
Caleb.
Again.
His brother.
The person who comforted him.
The person who told him to stop searching.
The person who knew more than anyone.
Adrian whispered:
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Margaret’s voice trembled.
“Because Claire asked me not to.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“She made me promise.”
“Why?”
His mother took a shaky breath.
“Because she said if you knew the truth that night…”
A pause.
“She was afraid you would become the next person they tried to silence.”
The call ended.
Adrian stood completely still.
The rain continued falling outside.
The truth was finally coming together.
But every answer created a bigger question.
And the biggest one was now clear.
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What did Caleb Westwood do on the night Claire died?
TO BE CONTINUED…
