Daniel frowned.
"What's the reason?"
Another silence.
Then the dispatcher delivered a sentence that made the entire parking lot seem suddenly colder.
"Sir, that man is connected to an active investigation."
Daniel looked at Arthur.
The old man wasn't surprised.
In fact, he seemed to have been expecting those exact words.
"What's your connection to this investigation?" Daniel demanded.
Arthur slowly reached into his jacket again.
This time, he removed the folded piece of paper from his wallet.
He unfolded it carefully and held it out.
Daniel took it.
There were two photographs attached to the paper.
The first showed a younger Arthur standing beside a teenage boy.
The second showed a young police officer in uniform.
Daniel stared at the second photograph.
His breathing became shallow.
The officer in the picture looked exactly like his father.
The same face.
The same eyes.
The same badge number.
But the photograph was dated twenty years earlier.
Daniel slowly looked up.
"Where did you get this?"
Arthur's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Your father gave it to me."
Daniel shook his head.
"My father died fifteen years ago."
Arthur nodded.
"I know."
"Then how could he have given you this?"
The old man took a deep breath.
"Because before he died, he made me promise something."
"What promise?"
Arthur looked toward the approaching headlights at the entrance of the parking lot.
Then he turned back to Daniel.
"To find his son."
Daniel felt his heart pounding.
"My father had no other son."
Arthur's eyes filled with tears.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
And just as Daniel opened his mouth to demand an explanation, three police cruisers entered the parking lot at full speed.
Their headlights surrounded the old man.
One of the doors opened.
A senior officer stepped out, looked directly at Arthur, and immediately reached for his weapon.
"Everybody stay where you are!"
Arthur closed his eyes.
After twenty years, the past had finally found him.
And Daniel Carter was about to discover that the biggest lie of his life had been told by the very people he had trusted most.
The three police cruisers surrounded Arthur Mitchell.
Daniel stood motionless, still holding the photograph in his hand. His mind was racing, but none of the questions forming in his head made sense.
The senior officer who had stepped out of the first cruiser approached them.
His name was Captain Richard Hayes.
He was a tall man in his late fifties, with silver hair and a face that rarely showed emotion. Daniel had known him for nearly six years. Hayes was respected throughout the department, feared by younger officers, and considered one of the most experienced investigators in the city.
"Step away from the old man, Carter," Hayes ordered.
Daniel looked at him.
"Captain, I need an explanation."
"That's an order."
"But—"
"Now!"
Daniel slowly stepped aside.
Hayes approached Arthur and stared at him for several seconds.
"Well, well. Arthur Mitchell. I wondered how long it would take before you showed your face again."
Arthur gave him a tired smile.
"Twenty years, Richard. That's how long."
Hayes glanced at the other officers.
"Put him in the vehicle."
Two officers moved forward.
Arthur didn't resist.
But before they could grab his arms, he turned toward Daniel.
"Remember what I told you. Your father didn't die the way they said he did."
Daniel stepped forward.
"What does that mean?"
Hayes immediately interrupted.
"That's enough!"
The officers placed Arthur in the back of a police cruiser.
Daniel watched as the door closed.
For a moment, he noticed something strange.
Arthur wasn't afraid.
He was looking directly at him through the window, almost as if he were waiting for Daniel to understand something.
Then the cruiser drove away.
"Captain," Daniel said, turning toward Hayes. "What is going on?"
Hayes adjusted his uniform.
"That man is a dangerous individual. He's been involved in several investigations over the years."
"What investigations?"
"Things you don't need to worry about."
Daniel held up the photograph.
"Then explain this."
Hayes looked at it.
For the first time that night, his expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Daniel noticed.
"Where did you get that?"
"Arthur gave it to me."
Hayes took the photograph from his hand.
He stared at it for a few seconds before folding it.
"Forget you ever saw this."
"That's my father."
"I know who it is."
"Then why is he standing next to Arthur Mitchell?"
Hayes leaned closer.
"Because your father made mistakes. Mistakes that cost people their lives."
Daniel felt anger rising inside him.
"You're talking about my father."
"I'm telling you to be careful."
Hayes walked toward his cruiser.
"Go home, Carter. You've had a long night."
Daniel remained where he was.
He knew something was wrong.
And for the first time in his career, he wasn't sure whether the people giving him orders were telling the truth.
At 2:17 a.m., Daniel arrived home.
His wife, Emily, was asleep upstairs. He quietly entered his father's old study, a room he had barely touched since the funeral fifteen years earlier.
He opened the bottom drawer of an old wooden cabinet.
Inside were several photographs, military documents, and a small metal box.
Daniel remembered seeing the box when he was a child.
His father had always told him never to open it.
Tonight, he ignored that promise.
The box was locked.
He searched through the drawer until he found a small silver key taped beneath it.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a photograph of his father standing beside another man.
Arthur Mitchell.
Daniel's hands began to shake.
Beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
Daniel, if you are reading this, then someone has finally brought the truth to your doorstep.
He continued.