The Unlucky Five {1}

12 The Mystery Man Part Two

Em, Aiden, Lee, and Sami stood side by side in Em's basement. In their basement was her father's old office. No one has been in there since he died. The door was locked and has been that way since.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lee asked.

"We need information and this is where we will find it," Em said. She held the key to the lock and turned it. It took the four of them an hour before they finally found it. Their mom hid it in a box in her room.

The room was the same as she remembered. She would sit in here and just watch her father go through papers. He was brilliant and it always fascinated Em. As kids, Em and Mark would pretend to be surgeons and would play with the papers that were always scattered all over his desk. There were still papers all over the desk and books that were still opened. Em slowly stepped into the room. It felt weird to be in there without her father working hard at his desk.

Filing cabinets stood against the walls. They were labeled in alphabetical order. She made her way over to the cabinet labeled with a 'C'. She opened the cabinet and began to look for the last name Crawford. The three others watched over her shoulder as she pulled out the folder.

"Katherine Crawford," Em whispered to herself. She opened the folder and sure enough, it was her. Matthew's name and all of his information was written on there.

"She died in a car crash that Matthew was in too," Em said aloud for the other's to know. "She suffered from brain trauma and severe injuries. My dad couldn't save her."

"How did he make it out?" Aiden asked.

"He was hurt but not as bad as her. She went through the windshield," Em said as she cringed.

"When did she pass?" Sami asked. Em's eyes scanned for the date of death and when she found the date, her blood ran cold.

"October Seventeenth 2017," Em said. "That was only two weeks before my dad died."

"This is all too weird," Lee said as she shook her head. "It's all too close."

"Exactly," Sami said as she grabbed the folder. "It's close because it's all connected."

"What do you mean?" Aiden asked.

"Her death and your father's death. It has to be connected," Sami said. She shut the folder and held onto it.

"Sami," Em said as she took a deep breathe. "My, my dad killed himself. How does that have anything to do with her?"

"You know those gut feelings you get?" Sami asked as Em nodded. "Well, this is mine. Something really bad is happening, I can feel it, and it all goes back to your dad."

"My dad would have never done anything seriously wrong," Em immediately said.

"No, Em. This has nothing to do with something your dad did but has everything to do with what happened to him. I know it's still hard and I understand that but have you ever did any research on how he died?" Sami asked.

"He killed himself. That's all I know and that's all I saw," Em said as she swallowed back the tears. Aiden wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Aiden spoke up.

"She's right," Lee said from his desk. The three looked over at her confused.

"Em said he killed himself from a gun, a gun he kept in one of the drawers in his desk in case anything ever happened," Lee said. She held up the black pistol that Em thought she saw in her father's hand that day.

"What the hell?" Aiden asked. Em gasped as she looked over at Sami.

"They checked this whole office when he died. Looking for some type of explanation for the note. How did they not see it?" Em asked.

"It was hidden," Lee said as she picked up a piece of loose floor board which led to a small space where he hid the gun.

"The mystery man," Em said in realization. "The man! The one I saw at Andy's that night."

"What are you talking about?" Sami asked as her and Lee exchanged confused looks.

"The day before the party, Aiden and I went to Andy's. I felt weird so I went to the bathroom. I had a panic attack when someone came in. The person had large work boots on and he dropped me a note," Em explained.

"Go get the note. We need to go to the police station," Sami said.

"No! They would never believe me. I'm a schizophrenic, Sami. They'll just tell me I'm crazy!" She cried out.

"We're going to find the note," Sami said as she shoved the folder into her bag.

"What?" Lee,Em,and Aiden asked at the same time.

"Your dad's note," Sami said as she swung the bag onto her shoulders.

"Why?" Em asked.

"We need to compare the handwriting," She said.

"On that day, Mark screamed out that the writing wasn't your dad's," Aiden said.

"What are you doing?" A sudden voice yelled out which caused all four of them to jump and Lee dropped the gun back into the secret place. Lily stood in the doorway with her arms crossed against her chest. She looked pissed.

"Mom told us to never come in here. You are so disrespectful!" Lily yelled.

"Lil, this is something bad. I'm just trying to-" She was cut off by a smack. Lily slapped her across the face. The second she realized what she did, she looked guilty.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" Lily tried to reason with her but Em didn't care. They argued all the time but neither one of them ever laid a hand on each other.

"We have important things to do," Em said with no emotion. Everyone left the room and Emercyn locked the door behind her. She looked back at her sister who stood in the same place.

"Dinner is in the fridge, we'll be back later,"

***

"We can't just give away evidence from a crime scene," The lady at the front desk said. The group had been trying to convince her to let them go through some of her dad's files.

"But this is my dad," Em said. The lady gave her a look of sympathy as she took a deep breathe. She looked behind the group and waved. Em turned around to see a man in a suit with slick back black hair.

"Agent, come here," The lady called out. The agent was even taller than Aiden. He came over with a bright smile and stood next to Lee.

"Hello, Audrey. What can I do for ya?" The agent asked.

"This is Mark Rose's daughter," She said as she pointed to Em.

"Ah, Doctor Rose's daughter. So nice to meet you, I'm Agent Cooper," He said as he stuck his hand out. She smiled as she shook it.

"I'm Emercyn. Nice to meet you," She said.

"They were wondering if they can look in her father's files, specifically the note he left," Audrey told Agent Cooper.

"Well , I was the one who investigated your father's case. I'm not technically allowed to show you but since your family, I don't see the problem," He said with a smile.

"Thank you," Em said happily.

"I can't show you right now because I am actually on my way to perform an autopsy. Working on a new case," He said with a laugh. "But tomorrow I can definitely show you."

"That would be great!" Em said as she looked around at her friends.

"Meet me here tomorrow at three. I'll have two hours off. I'll tell you everything you need to know," Agent Cooper said. Em thanked him again before he walked off down a hallway. He looked back and waved to the group.

"Thanks for the help," Em called back to Audrey who just smiled and waved.