Chapter 7 - The Brother I Thought I Had Buried
I stared at the photograph until my eyes hurt.
Thirty-six years.
That's how long I'd believed Daniel was dead.
I'd imagined his final moments a thousand times.
Sometimes I pictured him trapped beneath floodwater.
Sometimes I imagined him calling for help while nobody listened.
And now Naomi was telling me he might be alive.
"Where did you get this picture?" I asked.
"From a trail camera near the wheelhouse."
"When was it taken?"
"Four days ago."
I touched the man's face.
He looked older than the Daniel I remembered.
Of course he did.
We had both grown old without each other.
But the scar above his eyebrow was unmistakable.
"My brother got that scar fixing our father's truck."
Naomi nodded.
"We're checking his identity."
I shook my head.
"You don't need to."
My voice trembled.
"I know my brother."
Thomas Reed arranged a protected visit to the property two days later.
Doctors had cleared me to leave the hospital, but I still wore a sling and moved carefully.
Naomi drove.
Two state investigators followed in another vehicle.
Arthur wasn't invited.
He had been questioned further about his involvement and was staying elsewhere under instructions from investigators.
I didn't know whether I wanted to see him again.
That was a question for another day.
My mind belonged to Daniel now.
As we approached the old estate, familiar landmarks appeared through the trees.
The broken fence.
The bend in the road.
The tall oak my brother and I climbed as children.
Then I saw the wheelhouse.
Its roof had been repaired.
New boards covered the windows.
Someone had been maintaining it.
Naomi parked beside the building.
Thomas approached the door.
He knocked.
Nothing happened.
He knocked again.
"We're state investigators. We need to speak with Daniel Bellamy."
Silence.
Then a voice answered.
"Who told you that name?"
My knees weakened.
I knew that voice.
Older.
Rougher.
But still Daniel.
I stepped forward.
"It's Evie."
Something moved behind the door.
I heard a lock turn.
Then another.
The door opened slowly.
And there he stood.
My little brother.
My mother's favorite troublemaker.
The boy who used to leave wildflowers on my windowsill whenever I'd had a bad day.
His hair was completely white.
Deep lines marked his face.
But his eyes were exactly the same.
"Evie?"
I couldn't speak.
Daniel stared at me.
Then his mouth trembled.
"Oh, sweetheart."
He opened his arms.
I stepped into them.
For the first time in thirty-six years, I held my brother.
I cried against his shoulder.
He held me as tightly as my injured arm allowed.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Again and again.
"I'm so sorry."
I finally pulled back.
"Where have you been?"
His eyes filled.
"Trying to stay alive."
Inside the wheelhouse, Daniel told us a story that shattered everything I believed about our family's past.
After discovering Victor Hale's illegal dumping operation, he had copied records and given them to Deputy Samuel Brooks.
But someone inside the sheriff's department warned Victor.
Samuel disappeared first.
Then Daniel was attacked near the flood-control station.
He escaped into the river and survived by hiding inside an old drainage chamber.
A trusted friend helped him leave the county.
For years, Daniel lived under another identity.
He tried to contact our father.
But the calls were intercepted.
Then our father died.
Daniel believed Victor would harm me if he returned.
So he stayed away.
I listened with tears running down my face.
"Why didn't you tell me you were alive?"
Daniel looked devastated.
"I thought I was protecting you."
I shook my head.
"You let me grieve you."
"I know."
"Every birthday. Every Christmas. Every time I passed your photograph."
His eyes closed.
"I know, Evie."
I wanted to be angry.
Part of me was.
But when I looked at his trembling hands, I saw a man who had spent decades afraid.
"What changed?" Thomas asked.
Daniel took a breath.
"Victor is dying. Richard wants to finish what his father started."
He explained that the Bellamy land contained legally protected water access and evidence of old waste burial sites.
If Richard acquired the property and demolished the original structures, he could remove records and gain control of valuable riverfront land.
Marcus had promised to deliver the deed.
But I refused to sign.
Daniel looked at me.
"When I learned they were targeting you, I came back."
My heart tightened.
"You knew?"
"I knew they wanted the land. I didn't know Marcus would try to kill you."
He swallowed.
"I was searching for the evidence I'd hidden when I heard the boat."
Thomas asked about the original recordings.
Daniel opened a compartment beneath the wooden floor.
Inside was a waterproof metal container.
He lifted it onto the table.
The container held maps, laboratory reports, photographs, and an old audio tape.
Daniel picked up the tape.
"This is the complete recording."
Thomas examined it carefully.
"What's on it?"
"Victor Hale admitting he ordered the floodgate opened during the storm."
I froze.
The flood that destroyed our home.
The flood that supposedly took Daniel's life.
It had been deliberate.
Daniel continued.
"Samuel Brooks recorded the conversation. He gave me the original before he disappeared."
Naomi covered her mouth.
"My father recorded it?"
Daniel turned toward her.
When she introduced herself, his face crumpled.
"You're Samuel's daughter?"
She nodded.
Daniel closed his eyes.
"He was the bravest man I ever knew."
Naomi's voice shook.
"What happened to him?"
Daniel hesitated.
Thomas leaned forward.
"Tell us."
Daniel looked at Naomi.
"Samuel survived the first attack. I helped him escape."
Naomi gripped the table.
"He's alive?"
Daniel's eyes filled with sorrow.
"He was."
The room fell silent.
Daniel explained that Samuel had spent several years gathering more evidence under a protected identity.
Then he became seriously ill.
He died twelve years earlier.
But before his death, he recorded a message for his daughter.
Daniel reached beneath the floor again.
He removed a small sealed envelope.
Naomi stared at her name written across it.
Her hands began trembling.
"My father thought I'd abandoned him."
Daniel shook his head.
"He never stopped loving you."
She opened the envelope and found a letter.
I turned away to give her privacy.
For a long time, the only sound was Naomi crying softly.
Then Thomas's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What do you mean he's missing?"
I looked up.
Thomas ended the call.
"Marcus escaped officers who were attempting to arrest him."
My stomach tightened.
Thomas continued.
"Richard Hale is missing too."
Daniel reached for the metal evidence container.
"We need to leave."
Outside, an engine sounded.
Then another.
I looked through the window.
May you like
Two black vehicles were approaching the wheelhouse.
And I realized that Marcus had come to finish what he'd started on the river.
