Chapter 4 - THE EMPTY FUNERAL
Elias agreed to meet Ryan at a diner.
“Who arranged the funeral?”
“Patricia.”
“Was there a death certificate?”
Elias shook his head.
“No body was recovered.”
“Recovered from what?”
“Nothing.”
Ryan stared.
Elias lowered his voice.
“Jonathan disappeared.”
No wreck.
No hospital.
He simply left.
Three weeks later, Patricia held a private memorial.
She told relatives Jonathan had likely died while traveling under an assumed itinerary because he feared corporate threats.
Then came the empty coffin.
A symbolic burial.
No legal declaration of death.
No inheritance transfer.
Just a grave.
A story.
Ryan felt sick.
“She told me they buried him like there was a body.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t want you searching.”
Ryan stared at him.
“You know more.”
Elias looked down.
Then produced a second envelope.
Jonathan had left it with instructions:
Give this only if Ryan asks the right question.
Inside was a storage receipt.
Unit 114.
Riverside Records Facility.
And a note:
Ryan, if you are angry enough to blame one person, stop. You are not ready for the next file.
Ryan crumpled it.
Elias watched him.
“He knew you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Maybe because it’s true.”
Ryan stood.
Then Elias added:
“Your father loved you. He also feared what you do when you think anger makes you correct.”
That hurt because Malcolm’s broken jaw still existed.
Ryan sat again.
“Did Dad know Patricia was telling me he was dead?”
Elias hesitated.
“For the first three months, Patricia knew Jonathan was alive.”
Ryan went still.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how?”
“Messages through counsel.”
“And after three months?”
“They stopped.”
Patricia had not lost contact because Jonathan died.
Something else had happened.
May you like
Ryan looked at the storage receipt.
Unit 114 was the next door.
