Chapter 2

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The violent knocking dragged me out of my nightmare.

My eyes snapped open.

The back of my pajamas was soaked through with cold sweat.

The knocking outside grew louder and louder.

The eerie phone call from last night flashed through my mind.

Could it really be Toby Dickerson, come to collect on my life?

I crept to the door and looked out through the peephole.

Two people in blue vests were standing outside.

It wasn't Toby.

I let out a quiet breath of relief, smoothed my hair, and opened the door.

"Who are you here for?"

The middle-aged woman gave me a smile and spoke very politely.

"Hello, we're from the neighborhood association."

"We're doing a census check in the area right now."

"Our records show that five years ago, your father, Mr. Toby Dickerson, registered as living here with you."

"We came by today to check on him. How's your father been feeling lately?"

The thing I feared most had finally come.

For the past three years, what I dreaded most was the neighborhood association coming around.

Once they realized Toby was gone, they'd follow the trail and dig deeper.

My scheme to hide the body and defraud the insurance would absolutely come out.

"My dad, he..."

"He went back to his hometown. He doesn't live with me anymore."

The woman frowned and looked down, flipping through her form.

"He went back home?"

"That doesn't add up. Per the rules, seniors are required to check in with their local neighborhood association every year."

"It was your father's hometown association that contacted us and said he never showed up—that's why we came."

"Can you reach him right now? We need to get him on the phone to confirm."

I completely panicked.

My palms were pouring cold sweat, and I even started to stutter.

"His... his phone's broken. I haven't been able to reach him lately."

"Maybe you could come back in a few days?"

The man's eyes turned sharp in an instant.

He looked me up and down, his tone taking on a note of scrutiny.

"How can you not reach a grown, living man? Are you hiding something from us?"

Just as I was still trying to figure out how to fob them off...

A familiar voice came from around the stairwell corner.

"Officers, I'm right here!"

I whipped my head around.

An old man with graying hair, wearing a gray jacket, was ambling up the stairs.

He was even carrying two boxes of holiday pastries.

The moment I saw his face clearly.

I felt my heart stop dead.

That face was exactly like my own father's!

The moment the association workers saw him, they went right over.

"You must be Mr. Toby Dickerson?"

The old man nodded with a smile and set the pastries down on the floor.

"Yes, that's me."

"I moved back to my hometown—the city's too stifling!"

"Thanksgiving's coming up soon, so I made a special trip to see her."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief and chided him with a smile.

"Sir, you really should have told us when you moved back home."

"By policy, you have to report to your local county residents' office every year."

The fake Toby Dickerson nodded again and again, thoroughly cooperative.

"I know, I know, sorry for the trouble."

"Here's my ID, go ahead and log it."

As he spoke, he pulled an ID card out of an inner pocket.

The worker took it, glanced at it, then scanned the information with her phone.

"Alright, the information matches."

"You two have a nice holiday, then. We won't keep you any longer."

They handed the ID back to the old man and turned to head downstairs.

Through the whole thing.

I stood nailed to the spot.

Until the stairwell went completely quiet.

The man who looked like my dad turned around and gazed at me with a smile.

He picked the pastries up off the floor, his voice full of affection.

"Good girl, Daddy came to see you for Thanksgiving."

I stared at that face of his.

Fear coiled around my neck like a venomous snake.

Who on earth was he?

Why did he have my father's ID card?

And most important of all, why had he stepped in to save me?