Chapter 10: The Hand That Threw the Glass
Chapter 10: The Hand That Threw the Glass
The forensic laboratory fell silent.
Daniel stared at Kevin Dawson, trying to process what he had just heard.
"There were two sets of fingerprints?"
Kevin nodded, pulling the report onto the large monitor.
"Your father's prints are all over the drinking glass. That's expected—multiple witnesses saw him throw it."
He clicked to the next page.
"But there's another complete set."
Detective Laura Mitchell folded her arms.
"Who do they belong to?"
Kevin hesitated.
"We ran them through the state database."
The room waited.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Daniel's eyes widened.
"...Uncle Thomas?"
Lily gasped.
"I thought he left before everything happened."
Thomas Hayes was Daniel's oldest uncle.
Unlike Margaret and Bethany, Thomas had barely spoken during family gatherings. He was known for arriving late, eating quietly, and disappearing before dessert.
Daniel had always assumed he wanted nothing to do with family drama.
Apparently, he had been wrong.
Detective Mitchell frowned.
"According to witness statements, Thomas wasn't even near the front door."
Kevin nodded.
"That's what makes this strange."
He enlarged a high-resolution image of the shattered glass.
"The fingerprints indicate Thomas handled the glass only moments before it was thrown."
Daniel felt a chill.
"So my father didn't pick it up from the table."
"No."
Kevin zoomed in on another frame from Daniel's cellphone video.
The footage was shaky, captured in the chaos after Daniel declared, 'She is my family. You are not.'
Just before the glass flew across the room, a blurred arm briefly entered the frame.
Kevin froze the image.
"It isn't clear enough to identify the person..."
"But someone handed your father that glass."
Detective Mitchell immediately called the lead investigator assigned to the search warrants.
"Locate Thomas Hayes."
She listened for several seconds.
"What do you mean he's gone?"
Daniel looked up.
Mitchell covered the phone.
"He didn't come home after the party."
"Has anyone spoken to him?"
She shook her head.
"His phone has been turned off for forty-eight hours."
By evening, investigators finally located Thomas.
He wasn't hiding.
He had checked himself into a small motel nearly two hundred miles away.
Two detectives arrived just after sunset.
Thomas opened the door before they knocked.
"I've been expecting you."
He looked exhausted.
His beard had grown in, and dark circles hung beneath his eyes.
Detective Mitchell introduced herself.
"We'd like to ask you about Saturday night."
Thomas stepped aside.
"I know."
He glanced at the television, where local news continued covering Bethany's arrest.
"I've been watching."
Inside the motel room, Thomas answered every question without asking for a lawyer.
"Yes," he admitted quietly.
"I handed my brother the glass."
Daniel, listening through the speakerphone from Detective Mitchell's office, clenched his jaw.
"Why?"
Thomas lowered his head.
"I thought he was going to throw it at the wall."
Mitchell's voice remained calm.
"But he threw it toward Daniel and Rosie."
"I know."
Thomas's eyes filled with tears.
"I didn't realize until it left his hand."
"Why didn't you tell police?"
Thomas laughed bitterly.
"Because that's what this family taught us."
Silence.
"You protect your own."
Mitchell leaned forward.
"Mr. Hayes..."
"You've spent two days running."
Thomas nodded.
"I wasn't running from the police."
"Then who?"
He looked directly at her.
"My brother."
The detective frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Thomas swallowed hard.
"William called me the morning after the party."
Daniel recognized his father's name immediately.
"What did he say?"
Thomas's hands began to tremble.
"He told me if I talked..."
Thomas stopped.
Mitchell waited patiently.
"...he'd make sure I regretted it."
The detective exchanged a glance with her partner.
"Did he threaten you?"
Thomas slowly nodded.
"He said the family had survived worse."
"He told me this would all disappear if everyone kept their mouths shut."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Even now...
His father was trying to bury the truth.
Thomas stood and walked to the motel dresser.
From the bottom drawer, he removed a sealed manila envelope.
"I couldn't live with it anymore."
He handed it to Detective Mitchell.
"What's this?"
"My insurance."
Inside were old photographs, handwritten letters, and several cassette tapes labeled with dates spanning more than twenty-five years.
Mitchell carefully lifted the first tape.
"Where did these come from?"
Thomas looked at Daniel through the phone's speaker.
"They belonged to our father."
He paused before adding the words that changed the direction of the investigation once again.
"He recorded almost every family meeting."
Daniel's pulse quickened.
"Family meetings?"
Thomas nodded.
"The ones where they decided..."
His voice cracked.
"...which version of the truth everyone was supposed to tell."
The room became deathly quiet.
Detective Mitchell slowly closed the envelope.
"If those tapes contain what you believe they do..."
Thomas interrupted.
"They don't just prove what happened to Rosie."
He looked at Daniel with deep regret.
"They explain why no one in the Hayes family was ever allowed to tell the truth."
Outside the motel, another police cruiser pulled into the parking lot.
An officer hurried toward the room holding a folder marked URGENT.
He knocked once before stepping inside.
"Detective..."
Mitchell looked up.
"What is it?"
The officer's face was pale.
"The district attorney just received an anonymous package."
"What was inside?"
The officer laid a single photograph on the table.
It showed Daniel as an eight-year-old boy.
Standing beside him was a frightened little girl no one had ever mentioned before.
Not Lily.
Someone else.
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Scrawled across the back in black ink were seven chilling words:
"You forgot one child. Find her first."
