Hayes stood up.
"I didn't come here to arrest anyone. I came to tell you that the people behind Black Lantern know you're investigating them."
"Who are they?"
Hayes walked toward the door.
"Tomorrow, you'll find out."
He opened it.
Then stopped.
"One more thing, Elena."
She looked up.
"Your mother didn't die of cancer."
He turned back.
"She was murdered the night she tried to confess."
The door closed.
Elena remained motionless.
Then Daniel noticed something written on the back of the photograph.
A date.
And a location.
MIDNIGHT. OLD RECORDING STUDIO.
Underneath it were three words:
YOUR FATHER WAITS.
The old recording studio stood beside an abandoned railway station.
It had once been a popular place for local musicians, but the building had been closed for years after a mysterious electrical fire.
At 11:53 p.m., Elena, Daniel, and Rachel arrived.
Nobody spoke.
They knew someone might be watching.
The main entrance was locked.
Daniel found a broken window near the rear of the building.
They climbed inside.
The studio smelled of dust and burnt plastic.
Old microphones hung from the ceiling.
A mixing desk sat beneath a layer of dirt.
Rachel walked toward a small door behind the control room.
"Room seven," she whispered.
Elena looked at her.
"Why is it called that?"
Rachel turned the handle.
"Because this is where Black Lantern kept its most important recordings."
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow room filled with shelves of cassette tapes.
Each one had a date and case number.
Daniel searched through them.
"Which one are we looking for?"
Rachel pointed to a metal cabinet.
"Your father's final recording."
They found it in a locked drawer.
The label read:
MICHAEL REEVES β OCTOBER 17.
Daniel placed the cassette into an old recorder.
Static.
Then his father's voice.
"October seventeenth. If this recording is ever discovered, it means the operation has survived."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I don't know who will hear this. But I need to explain what happened in Room 07."
Elena leaned closer.
"Twenty years ago, Room 07 was used to interrogate witnesses without official records. People were brought there and questioned for hours. No lawyers. No paperwork. No witnesses."
A pause.
"One night, Sarah Whitmore was brought into the room. She had evidence against several senior officers. She refused to cooperate."
The recording crackled.
"Captain Hayes ordered me to make her talk. I refused."
Daniel looked toward Elena.
The tape continued.
"Then Margaret Cross entered the room. She told us she had found the real financial records. She said the operation was being controlled by someone outside the department."
Elena's face tightened.
Her mother.
"Before she could explain, the lights went out. When they came back on, Sarah was gone."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Where did she go?"
His father's voice answered.
"I later discovered that Sarah had been transferred to a private facility. She was kept there under a false identity. Her child was removed and given to my sister."
Daniel covered his face.
"That child was me."
Elena continued listening.
"Room 07 was never officially closed. It still exists beneath the old courthouse. And inside it, there is a wall containing the original evidence."
The recording ended with a final sentence.
"Find the key. Find the wall. And don't trust the man who says he saved you."
Silence.
Then Rachel whispered:
"There's something I need to tell you."
Elena turned.
"What?"
Rachel reached into her coat and removed a small brass key.
"I took this from the courthouse twenty years ago."
Daniel examined it.
A number was engraved on the surface.
07.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I was waiting for the right moment."
Elena took the key.
"Where is the old courthouse?"
"Underneath the new municipal building."
Daniel looked confused.
"Why would they build over it?"
Rachel gave a bitter smile.
"Because it was easier to bury the truth than destroy it."
They left the studio through the rear entrance.
But when Elena reached the street, she noticed something strange.
A black car was parked across the road.
Its headlights were off.
The driver's window slowly lowered.
A man stepped out.
He was older, wearing a grey coat and carrying a walking stick.
Daniel stared.
His face changed.
"No..."
Elena turned.
"What is it?"
The man approached slowly.
Daniel dropped the photograph.
"Dad?"
Michael Reeves stopped several feet away.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Daniel ran toward him.
The two men embraced.
Michael held his son tightly.
"I thought I would never see you again."
Daniel's voice broke.
"Where have you been?"
"Trying to keep you alive."
"Why didn't you come home?"
Michael looked toward Elena.
"Because the people who took Sarah are still watching."
Elena stepped forward.
"Are you saying you know where she is?"
Michael nodded.
"Yes."
"Where?"
He looked at Daniel.
"Inside the old courthouse."
Rachel shook her head.
"That's impossible. The building was sealed."
Michael lowered his voice.
"Not all of it."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a photograph.
It showed a basement corridor.
At the end was a metal door.
The number 07 was painted above it.