The next day, I and Ethan sneaked into my room in my family's house.
"Okay, so where do we start? What do you know about your fathers last days before he went missing?"
"I don't know much about my father aside from being a good dad. He never talked much about his work life when he was home but he mentioned several times about him trying to keep me safe. I also think he was working on a project that he failed to disclose"
"Let's start by looking into those projects. Do you have any files or documents from that time?"
I thought for a moment recalling the boxes of my fathers`s that Vivian stored in the attic.
"Yes, there are some boxes in the attic. Let's go to them and see if we can find anything relevant"
The air was cool and slightly musty as we climbed the stairs, and the dim light eliminated the stack of boxes that filled the small space. I felt nostalgic and anxious as I surveyed the clusters, remembering my fathers presence in the house
"lets start with this one," I said, pointing to a box labeled important documents and Ethan pulled it down. Inside, I found a jumble of papers and old newspapers that did not look important. But then, it cannot be labeled "important document" for nothing.
"look for anything that stands out, anything important or one you don't understand and hand them over to me"Ethan said, as he leaned in helping me sift through the contents
My heart raced as I began to go through the papers. I found old tax returns, business cards and notes scrawled in my fathers handwriting. As I flipped through the stack, I stumbled upon a file labeled
"confidential"
"Ethan look at this" I said, handing it over to him
He took it from me and carefully opened it. Inside were some documents detailing my fathers investigation into some unethical practices in his company, including names of individuals involved and notes about meetings he had rescheduled. I felt like we were at the brink of uncovering something significant and my heart raced at the thought
"Love, this is a good start. Though not all the information we will be needing. But this could lead us to some answers" Ethan said
"lets spread these out and go through everything and see what connections we can make"
Each document felt like a clue leading us to something important. We sorted through the notes and files piecing together the timeline of my fathers investigation
"look at this," Ethan said, pointing to a name that appeared multiple times
"this person, Richard Thompson seems to be at the centre of a lot of issues your father was investigating"
I nodded, recalling memories of my father mentioning Richard during some of his hidden phone conversations.
Ethan immediately brought out his phone and dialed a number
"look for Richard Thompson" he said in a serious tone
" yes sir" the person on the other end responded
"30 minutes" Ethan added and ended the call almost immediately
"Avery look at this," he said handing a paper to me
The headline read,
"local business man accused of fraud and corruption"
The article detailed Richards involvement in numerous illicit dealings, and it mentioned few associates who had been implicated alongside him"
"This is what my father was investigating. He was trying to expose them"
Ethan nodded "and it feels like your father was getting close to uncovering something significant. This could explain why he went missing
Just then, a name caught my eye_ Vivian "wait a minute"
"She's mentioned here as an associate of Richard. I never knew they had a connection"
I felt a mix of anger and betrayal wash over me "Vivian? How could she be involved? She was supposed to be family!" I said with tears welling up my eyes
"love.. we are not sure yet. Lets wait for my detective to get Richard's detail" Ethan said wiping off my tears
Ethan's phone rang almost immediately
"Yes. I'll be there soon" he responded
"love. I'll have to take you home. Leave this to me. Let me take it from here"
"Ethan No I need to know everything about my fathers disappearance" I said refusing to run to his embrace
"love.. you can't go with me. It might be dangerous. I'll have to take you to my moms"