When Dad and Henry finished their conversation and Henry left, Dad sighed and said

"Quit hiding Vick, I know you're here"

"Huh? How did you know?" I asked.

"I know my daughter, I know you very well, I know that you're a curious person to the point that you'd spy on me and my friend talking. Not to mention, I'm aware that you're interested in thrillers and the cases I work on. Oh, and also, I can see your shadow as you're hiding"

Yeah, my father has great observing skills.

We didn't say anything for a moment, then I changed the subject by asking

"Dad, would you like to play chess with me?"

He smiled.

"Yeah sure"

I forgot to mention it, but my father is very passionate about chess. I honestly like playing chess as well, I find it fun, (even though I suck at it), but not as much as my Dad loves it. He eventually took a shower, since he was still sweaty, and then, we came to play together.

19th April, 7 PM, Monday

"Checkmate," He said, as he put his queen in front of my king.

"Oh, you're so good at this..." I mumbled.

My Dad chuckled.

"You just need practice," he said to me. "But I can see that you've improved a lot in this game"

Suddenly, we heard a doorbell.

"I'll go answer it," I said, getting up from my chair.

As soon as I opened the door, I found Mom and Josh. Soon after that, my Dad came to the door with me and saw them. Suddenly, the detective's expression changed once he saw them. He went from happy, to angry again.

"Hey Dave," my mother spoke "I came here to pick up my daughter"

I looked at Dad. I can tell that he doesn't want me to go with them and that he wants me to stay with him, but he doesn't have a choice. So, he sighed, gave me a quick hug, kissed my cheek, and said

"Goodbye Vicky, take care of yourself"

"I will," I responded.

As I left the house, my mother opened her arms so that I could hug her. I hugged her back, yet I didn't give her a happy face, showing that I was still mad at her.

Dad looked at me for a moment, then he looked at Mom, saying

"I swear, you better take good care of her and not let anything else happen to her, or else..."

"Don't worry," said Mom "I won't mess up"

The man who gave birth to me looked at her as if he doubted her and said

"Are you serious? Of course, I'd worry. I'm still mad at you and I don't trust you with her, but I guess I don't have a choice"

Mom ignored his reply and said

"Bye Dave"

The woman who gave birth to me then walked away. My father didn't answer, he instead just held the door and slammed it. But as he slammed it, I noticed that he was holding a phone. Soon, I realized that it wasn't Dad's phone, it was Josh's!

I was confused and my eyes widened once I saw that.

"Wha-why did he take Josh's phone?" I thought.

After we arrived at my Mom's home, I found Mike sitting on the couch, on his phone.

"Hey Mike," I said to him.

He looked at me.

"Hey Vicky"

He didn't seem surprised once he saw the cast on my arm. I'm assuming he already knew what happened. For some reason, I felt like I wanted to talk to him about the fact that our father took our stepdad's phone. I asked Mike if we could talk in private and we went into his room.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Dad has Josh's phone, he took it"

"Huh? Why?" my older brother asked, shocked.

"I don't know," I answered.

He sat on his bed and tapped next to him on the bed, giving me a sign to sit next to him.

"How about you tell me everything that you did with Dad before Mom and Josh picked you up?"

I nodded, sat next to him on the bed, and explained the whole story.

"I see...so he told you to stay out of Josh's situation, and so should I? And that he'll try to find out Josh's secret on his own?"

"Yeah. But honestly, I don't want to stay out of this, I want to know what Josh is hiding," I said.

"Yeah, same," my brother said. "In fact, I already have put cameras in his office and searched a bit in his room and office to see if I could find any clues or where the box is, just like we planned"

"Oh, and did you find anything?"

He shook his head.

"No, unfortunately"

"I see..." I said "Well, I guess I have to do my job now, which is waking up at night, see if Josh is awake, and take a video of him"

"No, don't do it"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because our father isn't wrong after all, you've been hurt because of that accident, you shouldn't be involved in things that could be bad so that you'd get hurt again. As much as I also want to try to find out what Josh is hiding, I'm also going to step out of this because if that's what my Dad wants, then I'll do it. But I'm not worried for Dad, he's a smart and strong detective, I'm sure he'll be ok if he ever faces danger"

Yep, Mike isn't the kind of person to disobey his parents. When my Mom or Dad tells him to do something, he'll obey.

"Fine...I won't get involved..." I sighed.

"No, I am not going to give up. I'm going to keep trying to find out what Josh is hiding and I will get up at night to see if he's awake so that I could record him by taking a video," I thought. "I'll even search in his room and office if I can find anything useful"

"Well, I'm guessing that Dad took our stepdad's phone because he wanted to look through his phone and see if there's anything useful in it that could help him find out about Josh's secret," Mike said.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," I told him.

We stood silent for a moment, not knowing what to say next, then he changed the subject by saying

"By the way Vick, I need your advice on something"

"Yeah, what's up?"

He sighed and said

"There was this girl...her name is...Jennifer..."

"Wait, let me guess, you're in love with her, aren't you?" I asked, smirking.

"Yeah...I am..." admitted Mike, blushing.

He then explained

"Well, she's my friend. She's also my co-worker at the grocery store. For some reason, I fell in love with her..."

Oh right! I forgot to mention that my brother works. He works at a grocery store. I know that I'm 14 and that I'm at the age where I could start finding a job, but I figured that at the moment, I should focus on my studies and once vacation starts, I'll go look for one.

Mike continued

"Her birthday is close, she's throwing a big party and she invited me. I wanted to ask you, what should I wear?"

"Hmmm..." I said, thinking "Show me what you have in your closet"

"Ok," He said, getting up from his bed and opening his closet.

19th April, 8:45 PM, Monday

"So, what do you think?" Mike asked, coming out of his closet after changing for the 5th time to find the perfect clothing for his crush's party.

"Oh my god...you look great in this! That suits you well!"

He smiled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you look handsome in this"

"Thanks. In that case, I'll wear this for her party next week," he chuckled.

 "Yeah. Now, I'll go to my room," I said, getting up from his bed and leaving his room.

As I was walking towards my room, I saw my stepdad standing next to the door of my room.

"Hello, Vicky..." He said, in a deep voice.

"What do you want Josh?" I asked, annoyed, not feeling like I want to talk to him.

"Don't act like you don't know. Don't think I didn't notice the fact that you saw me with a black box and paying the other man that night"

I was shocked and confused.

"How does he know that!?" I thought

"Don't think I didn't see your shadow while you were hiding, watching me, and taking a video," he explained.

"I've also noticed that there were cameras in my office. You put them, didn't you?" he continued.

"No, it wasn't me," I answered, which wasn't a lie.

"Don't try to hide it. Plus, I am very sure that you've told your Dad about it. How did I know? Easy. I know that you don't like me and that you like your father. Plus, your Dad is a detective, meaning that he could find out what I'm hiding"

"What..." I said, stunned by how he knew this much.

One thing I noticed that he doesn't know is that my older brother, Mike, was also involved in this.

"To answer your question: What is inside this box? It's the statue of your mother"

"What?"

"The statue of your mother," he repeated, as he pulled out a black box.

He then opened the box and pulled out a statue of a beautiful woman, which was, as he mentioned, the statue of my mother.

"I went to a shop where there's an artist that makes statues. I asked him to sculpt a statue of my wife and gave him a picture of her. He did it perfectly than I expected. A piece of art, really" He explained, looking at the statue, fascinated by the look "I was buying it as a gift for your mother. I kept all of my savings specifically for this..."

To be continued.