“You girls have made this unnecessarily difficult.”
My heart stopped.
“How did you get this number?”
He ignored me.
“You deserve the truth about Thomas Vale.”
Astrid leaned closer.
“What about him?”
The man laughed softly.
“You really think a stranger happened to be driving behind you that night?”
Astrid went pale.
“What are you saying?”
“Ask your sister to open the flash drive.”
I looked at Astrid.
The call disconnected.
We drove directly to my apartment.
I opened my laptop.
The flash drive contained dozens of folders.
Insurance records.
Birth certificates.
Photographs.
Then I found one video.
Thomas sat alone before a camera.
He looked exhausted.
“If Astrid is showing Hannah this recording,” he began, “then I failed to keep this buried.”
Astrid grabbed my hand.
Thomas continued.
“Hannah, what happened on the Lakeview highway began long before you were born.”
He held up an old photograph.
Our mother stood beside a man I had never seen.
