Ethan Found a Frozen Backpack Hidden in the Garage — Then His Mother Saw the Name on the Travel Card
Chapter 3 — The Message
Ethan stared at his mother.
“What do you mean we can’t?”
Claire looked toward the backpack.
“Julia brought it here the night before she disappeared.”
“Why?”
Claire hesitated.
“She said somebody at work had been taking money.”
Ethan frowned.
“From the charity?”
Claire nodded.
Havenbrook received donations and public funding intended for emergency assistance.
Most payments were small.
Hotel vouchers.
Transit passes.
Food cards.
Temporary rent support.
Julia worked in finance.
She noticed that some assistance accounts had been closed even though money kept moving through them.
At first, she assumed it was an accounting error.
Then she found repeated payments to names that didn’t match any active clients.
“How much?” Ethan asked.
Claire shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“But enough to make her scared?”
Claire nodded.
Julia copied records.
She stored them on her phone and inside the backpack.
Then she came to Claire’s house.
“She told me if anything happened, I should wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“A message.”
Ethan looked toward the phone.
“Did she send one?”
Claire nodded.
“Two days later.”
“What did it say?”
Claire closed her eyes.
Then reached into her pocket.
She opened her own phone.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
DO NOT TAKE THE BAG TO HAVENBROOK.
A second line followed.
IF SOMEONE ASKS WHERE JULIA’S RECORDS ARE, YOU NEVER SAW THEM.
Ethan read it twice.
“Who sent this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Julia?”
“I don’t know.”
“So you hid everything in the freezer?”
Claire nodded.
“I thought if somebody came looking through the house, they wouldn’t check there.”
Ethan looked toward the black phone again.
Then he noticed something.
The device wasn’t completely dead.
A tiny red light had started blinking.
