Chapter 3 - The Man Her Father Trusted

Claire read her own name three times.

FIND CLAIRE MONROE.

"This is impossible."

Adrian took the photograph.

"You knew Elena."

"No."

"Your name is written in her handwriting."

"I can see that."

"Then explain it."

"I can't."

His suspicion returned instantly.

Claire couldn't blame him.

Yesterday she had been a waitress.

Now his dead wife had apparently left instructions involving her.

Claire searched her memory.

Elena Vale.

Nothing.

Then she remembered something.

"My mother."

"What about her?"

"She worked at St. Matthew's Medical Center for twenty-six years. Records department."

Adrian waited.

"Maybe Elena knew her."

"Your mother's name?"

"Margaret Monroe."

Adrian called someone.

"Find every connection between Elena and Margaret Monroe."

He ended the call.

Claire stared at him.

"Do people normally do things that quickly when you ask?"

"Yes."

"Must be nice."

"It isn't."

Lily entered.

She walked directly to Claire.

"Mom knew you."

Claire crouched.

"How?"

Lily shook her head.

"Grandma."

Claire's heart accelerated.

"My mother?"

Lily nodded.

Adrian knelt beside them.

"Did Mommy know Claire's mother?"

Lily nodded again.

"Hospital."

Claire closed her eyes.

Three years earlier, Margaret Monroe had died after a stroke.

She had left Claire boxes of documents Claire had barely examined.

Old photographs.

Retirement papers.

Patient thank-you cards.

Claire had stored them in a closet.

"My apartment."

Adrian stood.

"We're going."

Marcus arrived before they could leave.

Claire watched Lily change the instant he entered.

She moved behind Adrian.

Not Claire.

Adrian felt it.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Marcus looked surprised.

"We have a problem downtown."

"Handle it."

"I need you."

"No."

Marcus glanced at Claire.

"This again?"

Adrian stepped between them.

"Don't."

One word.

Marcus understood the warning.

But his expression hardened.

"Seventeen years, Adrian."

"I remember."

"I stood beside you when your father died. I helped build everything you have. I carried Lily out of that wreck."

Lily made a small sound.

Claire turned.

The child had gone white.

Marcus stopped speaking.

Lily whispered, "No."

Adrian knelt.

"What?"

"No."

Marcus said gently, "Lily—"

"Don't talk to her," Adrian snapped.

Lily's eyes remained fixed on Marcus.

"You didn't."

Nobody moved.

Adrian asked, "He didn't what?"

Lily began trembling.

Claire took her hand.

"That's enough."

Adrian wanted answers.

Claire could see it.

But he nodded.

Marcus backed toward the door.

"You're letting strangers poison your daughter against me."

Adrian's voice was quiet.

"Leave my house."

Marcus left.

An hour later, they reached Claire's apartment.

Adrian came with two guards.

Lily insisted on coming too.

Claire found her mother's boxes in the hall closet.

They searched for forty minutes.

Then Lily pulled a photograph from an old envelope.

Margaret Monroe stood beside Elena Vale at a hospital fundraiser.

On the back:

Elena V. — promised I would keep the second copy safe.

Claire stared.

"Second copy of what?"

They emptied the box.

Nothing.

Then Claire remembered her mother's sewing cabinet.

Margaret had hated sewing.

Yet she had refused to throw the cabinet away.

Claire opened it.

Thread.

Buttons.

Needles.

And beneath the bottom drawer, an envelope.

Inside was a flash drive.

Adrian's phone rang.

His investigator.

He listened.

Then looked at Claire.

"Your mother accessed Elena's hospital file twice."

"Why?"

"Because Elena requested it."

"When?"

"Two weeks before she died."

Claire inserted the flash drive into an old laptop disconnected from the internet.

There were four files.

Bank transfers.

Vehicle maintenance records.

Security schedules.

And a video.

Claire opened it.

Elena appeared on-screen.

Alive.

Tired.

Terrified.

"If you're watching this, I was right to be afraid."

Adrian sat down.

Lily stared at her mother.

Claire wanted to stop the video.

Lily shook her head.

Elena continued.

"Adrian, you trusted Marcus because he gave you reasons to trust him. That's what he does. He solves problems he created."

Adrian's face drained of color.

"I found payments routed through three shell companies. I found security failures that always benefited him. I found people disappearing from your organization after questioning him."

Elena looked away from the camera.

Then back.

"But money isn't why I'm afraid."

Lily squeezed Claire's hand.

Elena continued.

"Marcus knows I found out."

The video flickered.

"I gave Margaret Monroe a copy because nobody connects her to us. Her daughter Claire works near Bellavere. If Lily remembers what happened, she may need someone outside Adrian's world. Someone Marcus doesn't own."

Claire covered her mouth.

Her mother had carried this secret.

Elena leaned closer to the camera.

"Adrian, if Lily stops speaking, don't assume she has nothing to say."

The recording ended.

Silence filled the apartment.

Adrian stood motionless.

Claire asked, "Why didn't my mother tell me?"

"To protect you."

"Then why keep it?"

"To protect Lily."

Adrian looked toward his daughter.

Everything he believed had shifted.

His phone buzzed.

A message.

Unknown number.

YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE DEAD ALONE.

Then another arrived.

A photograph.

Claire's apartment building.

Taken minutes earlier.

Someone was watching them.

Adrian ordered the guards to lock down the floor.

One guard checked the hallway.

The other moved toward the window.

Claire pulled Lily away from the glass.

Then someone knocked.

Three slow knocks.

Adrian drew himself rigid.

"Who is it?"

No answer.

The guard approached the door.

Claire looked at Lily.

The child was staring at the three black lines she had drawn earlier.

Three knocks.

Three lines.

Her eyes widened.

"Daddy."

Adrian turned.

Lily pointed toward the door.

"That's him."

The handle began turning from the outside.