Chapter 5: The Blue Folder
By seven the following morning, Emily was sitting at a long wooden table inside the bikers' clubhouse, staring at a breakfast she hadn't touched.
The building stood behind an old motorcycle repair shop on the edge of town. Sunlight filtered through dusty windows, illuminating photographs of road trips, charity rides, and men standing beside motorcycles that looked older than Emily's teachers.
The clubhouse was quieter than she expected.
There were no drunken arguments, no reckless shouting, and no one demanding to know why a sixteen-year-old girl had arrived wearing yesterday's graduation dress beneath a borrowed sweatshirt.
Instead, Marcus had made pancakes.
Jace had brought her a bottle of orange juice.
And an older woman named Denise, who managed the club's accounts, had placed a clean blanket over her shoulders when she started shivering.
It was strangely comforting.
It also made Emily want to cry.
“Eat something,” Jace said, pulling out the chair opposite her.
“I'm not hungry.””
“You haven't eaten since the diner.””
“I'm thinking.””
“You can think while eating.””
Emily pushed the plate toward him.
“You're starting to sound like my mother.””
Jace went still.
For a second, she thought she'd said something wrong.
Then he gave her a small smile.
“Your mother would probably have liked that.””
Emily lowered her eyes.
“Did you know her?””
“Only through my father. I was younger when they became friends. I remember her visiting him at the hospital. She brought a pie she'd baked herself.””
“Was it good?””
Jace laughed.
“Terrible. My father ate three pieces anyway because she looked so proud of it.””
Emily laughed too, and the sound surprised her.
It was the first time she'd laughed since reading her father's letter.
Then she noticed the photographs arranged on the table.
Several showed Daniel Miller standing with Rachel Carter. In one, her mother was sitting on the hood of a motorcycle, laughing while Daniel held up a paper plate of food.
Emily touched the photograph.
“She looks happy.””
“She was,” Jace said.
“Even when things were difficult.””
“Was she afraid of Kane?””
Jace leaned back.
“I think she was afraid of what he could do to you. Your mother was willing to take risks for herself. But when it came to you, she thought about every possibility.””
Emily stared at the picture.
“That's why she never told me.””
“Probably.””
“I used to get angry with her. Sometimes I'd ask why Dad never came home, and she'd tell me he wasn't part of our lives anymore.””
Jace listened without interrupting.
“I thought she was trying to make excuses for him. I thought she was embarrassed because he didn't want us.””
Emily rubbed her eyes.
“Now I don't know what to think.””
“You don't have to decide today.””
“But I want to.””
Jace nodded.
“Then let's start with something we can prove.””
He slid a folder across the table.
Inside were copies of public records, newspaper clippings, and a photograph of a truck lying on its side in a muddy field.
The headline read:
*LOCAL DRIVER QUESTIONED AFTER TRUCK CRASH INJURES MECHANIC.*
Emily studied the date.
Seven years earlier.
The article named Michael Carter as the driver and identified the injured mechanic as Peter Walsh.
Another paragraph mentioned Victor Kane, owner of the transportation company.
Emily frowned.
“Why did the police question my father if the brakes failed?””
“Because Kane claimed Michael had tampered with the truck,” Jace explained.
“The case stalled when the company produced maintenance records showing the brakes had supposedly been inspected the day before the crash.””
“But my father says he reported the problem.””
“That's what we need to prove.””
Emily turned another page.
There were photographs of brake assemblies, maintenance logs, and handwritten notes. Several pages were missing.
“Where did these come from?””
“Daniel kept copies of what Michael gave him. He turned some of it over to a lawyer, but the rest disappeared.””
“Could the lawyer still have the original evidence?””
“Possibly.””
Emily found a business card clipped to the back of the folder.
*Helen Brooks — Attorney at Law.*
The address was in the next town.
“Let's go see her.””
Jace shook his head.
“Not until we know she's safe.””
Emily stared at him.
“How are we supposed to know?””
“Marcus is checking her background. We don't rush into another situation because we're angry.””
She wanted to argue, but she remembered the black sedan.
Someone had been watching them before they even entered the storage unit.
Maybe Jace was right.
Then Denise approached the table, holding an old envelope.
“This was tucked inside Daniel's account books,” she said.
“I thought it might be relevant.””
Jace took it.
Inside was a faded photograph of Michael Carter standing beside a younger Tom Reed.
Both men were smiling.
Behind them, a blue folder lay on the hood of a truck.
Emily flipped the photograph over.
On the back, Daniel had written:
*The day Michael gave us the original. Tom knows where it went.*
Emily slowly raised her eyes.
Tom had said he didn't know where the evidence was.
Now she wasn't sure she believed him.
Tom arrived at the clubhouse an hour later.
He walked in carrying a paper bag of sandwiches, apparently unaware that everyone was waiting for him.
“Morning,” he said.
“I brought lunch.””
Emily stood.
“Tom, where is the blue folder?””
The old biker stopped.
The paper bag crinkled in his hand.
Jace placed the photograph on the table.
Tom stared at it for several seconds.
Then he pulled out a chair and sat down.
“I was hoping we'd find it before you asked me that question.””
“Why?””
“Because I didn't know how to explain what happened.””
Emily's voice sharpened.
“You told me you didn't know where it was.””
“I told you Daniel never told me where he'd hidden it. That's true.””
“But you knew something.””
Tom rubbed his face.
“Yes.””
Jace folded his arms.
“Start talking.””
Tom looked at Emily.
“After Michael disappeared, Daniel gave me a blue folder. He said it contained copies of the original reports and recordings. He asked me to keep it safe until he could find a lawyer he trusted.””
“Where did you put it?””
“In a locker at the old railway station.””
Emily blinked.
“That's been closed for years.””
“I know.””
“Then why didn't you tell us?””
“Because someone broke into my house two weeks after Daniel gave me the folder. They took nothing valuable. They went straight to my desk and emptied the drawers.””
Tom's hands trembled.
“I realized Kane knew I had the evidence. I moved the folder, but I was followed. After that, I didn't know who I could trust.””
“So where is it now?”” Emily asked.
Tom looked toward the window.
“I hid it somewhere else.””
“Where?””
He hesitated.
“Inside the old repair shop where Daniel first met your mother.””
Jace frowned.
“That building was sold years ago.””
“Not the entire property. There's a basement storage room beneath the original workshop. The new owners never used it.””
Emily looked at the photograph again.
“Then we go there.””
Tom shook his head.
“It's dangerous.””
“Someone threatened me last night,” Emily replied.
“They were already watching us. I don't think staying here changes anything.””
Tom looked ashamed.
“Your mother would hate that I dragged you into this.””
“My mother didn't drag me into anything. She tried to protect me. But now I'm here, and I want to know the truth.””
Jace stood.
“Marcus, call the others. We're going to the workshop.””
Tom rose more slowly.
“There's something else you should know.””
Everyone turned toward him.
“The folder contains more than evidence about the truck accident.””
Emily felt a cold knot form in her stomach.
“What else?””
Tom looked directly at her.
“There's a recording of Victor Kane admitting that he arranged the accident.””
Jace's face hardened.
“And?””
Tom's voice dropped.
“He also admits that he knew Michael had a daughter.””
Emily stopped breathing.
“Why would that matter?””
“Because Kane didn't threaten Michael just to keep him quiet,” Tom said.
“He wanted something Michael had taken from him.””
“What?””
Tom swallowed.
“A set of financial records showing that Kane had been using his trucking company to hide money. Michael copied them before he disappeared.””
Emily stared at him.
“So Kane thinks I have the records?””
“He thinks you might know where they are.””
“I was four when my father left!””
“I know.””
Emily gripped the edge of the table.
“Then he's threatening a sixteen-year-old girl over documents she has never seen?””
Nobody answered.
Jace's expression became frighteningly calm.
“He won't get near you.””
Tom shook his head.
“Jace, don't make promises you can't keep.””
Jace turned toward him.
“I'm not promising that nothing bad will happen. I'm promising she won't face him alone.””
For a moment, the room was silent.
Then Emily picked up the photograph.
“Let's go get the folder.””
The old repair shop stood behind a row of boarded-up storefronts near the railway tracks.
Its faded sign still bore the name *Miller & Sons Motor Repair*, although the windows were coated in grime and weeds grew through the cracked pavement.
Emily stood beside Jace as Marcus unlocked a side door with a key Tom had kept for decades.
The air inside smelled of oil, dust, and damp wood.
Tom led them through the workshop to a narrow staircase.
“Watch your step,” he warned.
Jace switched on his flashlight.
At the bottom was a small basement with shelves, broken furniture, and an old metal cabinet.
Tom moved toward the far wall and pulled aside a stack of wooden crates.
Behind them sat a steel toolbox.
He knelt with difficulty and opened it.
Inside lay a blue folder wrapped in plastic.
Emily felt her pulse quicken.
Tom handed it to her.
“This is everything I managed to save.””
She opened the folder.
There were maintenance reports, photographs, bank statements, and a cassette tape labeled *Kane — October 14*.
Beneath the tape was a handwritten note.
*If anything happens to me, give this to Rachel. She'll know what to do.*
Emily stared at the words.
Her mother had never received it.
Someone had kept the evidence from her.
“Who wrote this?”” she whispered.
Tom looked over her shoulder.
“Michael.””
Emily closed her eyes.
For the first time, she had something more than a letter.
She had proof that her father had tried to leave the truth behind.
Then Marcus called from the stairs.
“Jace! We have a problem.””
Jace hurried toward him.
“What?””
Marcus pointed through a narrow basement window.
Outside, a black sedan had pulled up beside the building.
The driver's door opened.
Victor Kane stepped out, wearing a charcoal suit and polished black shoes.
He looked directly toward the basement window.
Then he smiled.
Emily clutched the blue folder against her chest.
Kane raised a hand and tapped the glass.
May you like
And even through the dirty window, she could read his lips.
*Give me my property.*
