Chapter 7 - Her Mother’s Warning
Claire sat on a wooden bench beneath the station clock and read the sentence again.
Do not trust Walter.
The words looked unmistakably like her mother’s handwriting.
Claire had saved birthday cards.
Lunchbox notes.
A letter Laura had written before Claire’s first summer camp.
She knew every curve of those letters.
This was her mother’s hand.
Evelyn returned several minutes later.
“He got away.”
Claire closed the notebook.
Evelyn noticed.
“What did you find?”
Claire hesitated.
That hesitation told her something important.
Ten minutes earlier she would have shown Evelyn everything.
Now she wondered whether Evelyn belonged to Walter before she belonged to the truth.
“Just numbers.”
Evelyn studied her.
Claire forced herself not to look away.
“Can I see them?”
“Later.”
Evelyn understood that Claire was hiding something.
She did not challenge her.
That made Claire even more suspicious.
On the drive back, Claire secretly photographed every page of the red notebook with her phone.
Most entries were financial codes.
Some were initials.
Others were short sentences.
D.C. cannot know.
T.M. is compromised but useful.
M.V. lies when frightened.
W.B. believes he is protecting me.
That line made Claire stop.
Walter believes he is protecting me.
Not Walter is dangerous.
Not Walter betrayed me.
The wording mattered.
Laura might have warned Claire against trusting Walter because Walter had kept secrets.
That did not necessarily mean he was the enemy.
Or perhaps Claire was making excuses because she loved him.
She reached the final pages.
Three had been torn out.
The last remaining sentence read:
If anything happens to me, the answer begins with Katherine.
Ryan’s mother.
Claire leaned back.
The Mercer house was still brightly lit when they returned.
Walter stood near the entrance waiting.
Claire got out.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A notebook.”
Walter held out his hand.
Claire did not give it to him.
His expression shifted.
“What’s wrong?”
“You tell me.”
Walter glanced at Evelyn.
Evelyn said nothing.
Claire walked inside.
Ryan sat alone in the living room.
Thomas and Marcus were arguing quietly near the kitchen.
Claire put the notebook on the coffee table.
Everyone stopped.
“Mom wrote about all of you.”
Marcus smiled without humor.
“That sounds uncomfortable.”
Claire turned several pages.
“She said Thomas was compromised but useful.”
Thomas frowned.
“That sounds like Laura.”
“She said Marcus lies when frightened.”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“That also sounds like Laura.”
Then Claire looked at Walter.
“She said you believed you were protecting her.”
Walter looked relieved for half a second.
Claire continued.
“And she told me not to trust you.”
Thomas looked at Walter.
Marcus said nothing.
Ryan watched Claire.
Walter sat.
“Did she explain why?”
“No.”
“Then I can’t answer.”
Claire almost shouted.
“You can answer with what you know.”
Walter nodded slowly.
“Fair.”
He looked around the room.
“Twelve years ago, Laura asked me for help copying a set of protected records.”
“What records?”
“The original emergency contract authorizations.”
Thomas frowned.
“Those were destroyed.”
“No.”
Walter looked at him.
“You were told they were destroyed.”
Marcus muttered, “Here we go.”
Walter continued.
“Laura believed someone was altering approvals after they were signed.”
Claire asked, “Who had access?”
“Six people.”
Thomas.
Katherine.
Daniel.
Marcus.
Walter.
And one unknown compliance administrator whose name had been removed from the archived system.
Claire stared at Marcus.
“You had access?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“I was deputy county attorney.”
“You told me you were Laura’s friend.”
“I was.”
“You left out the part where you were inside the investigation.”
“Yes.”
Claire understood her mother’s note.
Marcus lies when frightened.
“What were you afraid of?”
Marcus looked toward the windows.
“My family.”
Claire frowned.
“Your family?”
“My brother worked for Mercer Consolidated.”
Thomas’s expression sharpened.
“You never told me that.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You didn’t know half the people working under you.”
Thomas had no answer.
Marcus continued.
“My brother discovered Daniel was moving money.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
Walter looked surprised.
“Marcus.”
“You thought Daniel was the only one?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Three people disappeared in eighteen months.”
Claire felt cold.
“Who was the third?”
Marcus looked at Ryan.
“Katherine’s private investigator.”
Ryan stood.
“My mother hired someone?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
Marcus reached into his coat.
Walter moved.
“Slowly.”
Marcus gave him an irritated look and removed an old business card.
The name printed on it was Samuel Reed.
Ryan stared.
“I know that name.”
Thomas turned.
“From where?”
Ryan looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Claire studied him.
“Think.”
Ryan rubbed his forehead.
Then he froze.
“My mother used to say it.”
“When?”
“At night.”
His face changed as a childhood memory returned.
“After she got sick.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“What did she say?”
Ryan looked at him.
“She’d wake up confused.”
He swallowed.
“She kept saying Samuel knew where the bodies were.”
Nobody moved.
Walter looked at Marcus.
“Did Reed disappear?”
Marcus nodded.
“Two days after Laura’s accident.”
Claire closed the notebook.
“Then we find Samuel Reed.”
Marcus shook his head.
“The FBI tried.”
“So?”
“They never found him.”
Claire looked down at the notebook again.
The sentence about Katherine suddenly felt different.
If the answer begins with Katherine, maybe Ryan’s mother had found Reed before he vanished.
Claire turned the final page toward the light.
There was faint pressure from writing on one of the missing sheets.
She grabbed a pencil from the desk.
“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.
Claire shaded lightly across the paper.
Indented letters appeared.
A location.
An address.
Thomas read it aloud.
“1459 Harbor Road.”
His face went pale.
Ryan noticed.
“What?”
Thomas looked at him.
“That was your mother’s house before we were married.”
Walter grabbed his jacket.
Claire stopped him.
“No.”
He turned.
“This time we go together.”
Thirty minutes later, they stood outside an abandoned house near the river.
The windows were boarded.
The porch sagged.
Ryan stared at it.
“I’ve never been here.”
Thomas walked up the steps.
“I have.”
Claire followed.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Evelyn found a hidden door beneath the basement stairs.
Behind it was a narrow room.
A desk stood against one wall.
On the desk sat an old tape recorder.
One cassette remained inside.
Ryan pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Katherine Mercer’s voice began.
“If Thomas hears this, I’m sorry.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“If Ryan hears this, then I failed.”
Ryan stepped closer.
Katherine continued.
“Daniel Cross is not Ryan’s father.”
Ryan stared at the recorder.
Claire whispered, “What?”
The tape hissed.
May you like
Then Katherine said the sentence that changed everything again.
“Walter Bennett is.”
