A mother went shopping but never returned. Fourteen years later, her family discovers the shocking reason Why…

She’s right, let’s eat quickly, then we can go. They ate in tense silence, the once appetising lasagne now tasteless in their mouths, forks scraped against plates as they hurried through the meal, minds racing with questions none of them dared to voice aloud. When they’d eaten enough to justify leaving, Mark and Aldy began clearing the table while Leah and Ellie helped Dan prepare for the unexpected outing.

Ellie gathered his medication and a blanket, while Leah collected his wallet and phone. Are you sure you want to go, Dad? Ellie asked softly as she helped him adjust his sweater. We could stay here while the others check it out.

Dan shook his head firmly. I need to be there. Outside the evening had grown darker, a chill settling in the air that hadn’t been there when they’d gathered for dinner.

The old family SUV, modified to accommodate Dan’s wheelchair, stood waiting in the driveway of their modest home. A single-storey ranch-style house on the outskirts of town, surrounded by mature oak trees that had witnessed the family’s joys and sorrows for decades. Ethan and Mark carefully helped their father from his wheelchair and into the passenger seat, folding the wheelchair and storing it in the back.

Leah, Ellie and Aldy climbed into the middle row while Ethan took the driver’s seat. I’ll drive, he said, adjusting the mirrors. I know exactly where we’re going.

As he backed out of the driveway, Ethan couldn’t help but notice how the house looked from the outside. Porch light on, warm glow from the windows spilling onto the lawn. It looked like any other family home on a quiet evening.

No one passing by would guess the turmoil that churned within its walls, or the gaping absence that had shaped their lives for fourteen years. The car rolled down the familiar streets of their small town, past the high school where all five children had attended, past the grocery store where their mother had supposedly gone the day she disappeared. Ethan gripped the steering wheel tightly, trying to maintain the speed limit despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

What exactly did Detective Vans tell you? Dan asked, breaking the silence that had settled over the car. Ethan kept his eyes on the road. Not much, just that they found mum’s car in a river while investigating something else.

He didn’t give details over the phone. After all this time, Leah murmured from the back seat, why now? No one had an answer for her. Ethan’s phone buzzed with an incoming message.

That’s the detective, he said, glancing at it briefly. He’s sending the exact location. It’s at Miller’s Lake.

That’s nearly thirty minutes from here, Mark noted. What would mum’s car be doing all the way out there? The unspoken implication hung in the air. Miller’s Lake was remote, secluded, the kind of place someone might go if they didn’t want to be found.

The remainder of the drive passed in uneasy silence, each family member lost in their own thoughts. As they left the town behind, the streetlights became scarcer, and the road narrowed. Ethan flipped on the high beams as they turned onto an unpaved access road that wound through dense woods toward the lake.

The SUV bounced and jostled over the uneven terrain, forcing Ethan to slow down as he navigated the rutted path. After several minutes, the trees parted to reveal the glittering surface of Miller’s Lake, its dark waters reflecting the flashing lights of police vehicles parked along the shore. Ethan parked as close as he could to the scene, turning to his father.

Are you ready? Dan nodded his face set in grim determination. Mark and Leah helped him from the car into his wheelchair, while Ellie placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. As they opened the car doors, the smell hit them immediately.

Stagnant water, mud, and something else, something unpleasant that spoke of things long submerged and recently disturbed. Aldi wrinkled his nose, hanging back slightly as his older siblings pushed their father’s wheelchair toward the police perimeter. The damp earth made pushing the wheelchair difficult, and Mark and Leah had to work together to help Dan across the uneven ground, the wheels occasionally sinking into soft patches of mud.

Ellie stayed close by her father’s side, her arm linked with his as they approached the gathered law enforcement officers. Ethan walked ahead of his family, scanning the crowd of law enforcement personnel for a familiar face. He spotted detective Vans standing near the edge of the water, deep in conversation with a uniformed officer.

The detective was a stocky man in his fifties, with salt-and-pepper hair and the perpetually tired expression of someone who had seen too much in his career. Detective Vans, Ethan called out, approaching with quick strides. The detective turned, recognition flashing across his weathered features.

Ethan, you made it. His eyes moved past Ethan to the rest of the family making their way across the muddy shoreline. I see you brought everyone.

We needed to be here, Ethan replied simply. What did you find? Detective Vans gestured toward the lake where a tow truck was positioned, its powerful winch having already completed its work. Sitting on the shore dripping with lake water and covered in silt and aquatic plants was a car or what remained of one.

Despite the years underwater, there was no mistaking the faded blue sedan that had once belonged to Catherine Dawson. We found it early this afternoon, detective Vans explained as the rest of the family joined them. We weren’t looking for it, to be honest.

We had a helicopter searching the area as part of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation. The pilot spotted something reflecting in the lake from above. Dan stared at the water-logged vehicle, his face unreadable.

Did you find… He couldn’t finish the question. No bodies, detective Vans answered, understanding the unasked question. That’s what’s strange.

The car was empty when we pulled it up. Empty? Mark repeated, surprised. Are you sure? Completely empty, the detective confirmed, but we did find some interesting items inside.

What kind of items? Ethan asked eagerly. Detective Vans reached into his pocket and produced a sealed evidence bag containing a water-damaged photograph. This was in the glove compartment, sealed in a plastic bag which preserved it somewhat.

It’s a photograph of your mother. Dan reached out with trembling hands to take the bag, staring at the faded image of Catherine, smiling, carefree, in a moment captured before her disappearance. There was something else, the detective continued, his voice taking on a more careful tone.

We found items belonging to a man, a pair of men’s sunglasses, a baseball cap, a receipt with a man’s name on it. I knew it, Leah said suddenly, her voice bitter. She did run off with someone.

That’s not fair, Ethan protested immediately. We don’t know that. What else could it be? Mark challenged.

Mum’s car at the bottom of a lake, men’s belongings inside, no sign of mum herself. It’s pretty clear she staged her own disappearance. Our investigation suggests the car was deliberately sunk, detective Vans added…