Chapter 5 - The Lake Cottage
Daniel wanted Sophie nowhere near Vermont.
Margaret disagreed.
“If Emily hid the clue in Sophie’s memory, we may need Sophie to recognize it.”
Daniel looked across the study at his daughter.
“She’s been through enough.”
“Then we go carefully.”
Daniel hated that Margaret was right.
By nine that morning, Daniel had hired private security independent of Hart Development.
He no longer knew whom Eric controlled.
He no longer knew whom Vanessa had paid.
He barely knew what had been happening under his own roof.
That realization hurt more than the financial threat.
Daniel had built a company with offices in seven states.
He had memorized project schedules worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
But he had failed to notice that his four-year-old daughter was afraid to ask for dinner.
Nothing Vanessa could do would erase that fact.
They drove to Vermont in a three-car convoy.
Sophie sat beside Daniel in the back seat.
The giant teddy bear was strapped into the seat across from her.
Daniel had brought it because Sophie refused to leave it behind.
For the first hour, she barely spoke.
Then the mountains appeared.
Sophie sat up.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“I know this road.”
Daniel looked at Margaret.
“Have you been here since Mommy died?”
Sophie shook her head.
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
The blue cottage appeared near the lake just before noon.
Its paint had faded.
Leaves covered the porch.
Daniel unlocked the front door.
The smell stopped him.
Cedar.
Dust.
Emily’s perfume.
Not literally.
Memory played tricks like that.
Sophie entered behind him.
Her face changed.
“Mommy’s little house.”
Daniel crouched.
“You remember?”
“She made pancakes.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Yes.”
They searched slowly.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Then Daniel noticed a rectangle on the wall where a picture had once hung.
“Something’s missing.”
Margaret inspected the hook.
“What?”
“A framed drawing.”
“What drawing?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Emily made one after Sophie was born.”
He could almost see it.
A childish watercolor Emily had painted as a joke.
A blue house.
A yellow sun.
Three stick figures.
Sophie wandered into the living room.
She stopped near the fireplace.
“Daddy.”
Daniel turned.
She pointed.
“Mommy said the bird knows.”
Margaret stared at her.
“What bird?”
Above the fireplace sat a wooden cuckoo clock.
Daniel had forgotten it existed.
It had belonged to Emily’s grandmother.
The clock had stopped years ago.
Sophie walked toward it.
“She picked me up.”
Daniel watched.
“She said, ‘When the bird sings twelve times, look where he sleeps.’”
Margaret’s expression sharpened.
Daniel lifted the clock from the wall.
A removable wooden panel covered the back.
His fingers found the latch.
Inside was nothing.
Daniel’s heart dropped.
“No.”
He searched again.
Empty.
Margaret examined the cavity.
“Someone got here first.”
Daniel looked around.
There had been no forced entry.
“Vanessa had a key.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Eric Nolan stood on the porch.
Daniel’s security team moved instantly.
“Stop right there.”
Eric raised both hands.
“I’m not here to fight.”
Daniel crossed the room.
“How did you know we were here?”
“I tracked company transportation.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Thank you for admitting that.”
“I came because Vanessa knows about the clock.”
Daniel stared.
“How?”
“Emily told her.”
“That makes no sense.”
Eric stepped inside only after security checked him.
“You still think Vanessa entered your life after Emily died.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“She did.”
“No.”
Eric shook his head.
“Vanessa knew Emily before you ever met her.”
Silence filled the room.
Margaret looked at Eric.
“Explain.”
Eric glanced at Sophie.
“Not in front of her.”
Daniel sent Sophie outside with Rosa and one guard.
Then he turned back.
“Talk.”
Eric exhaled.
“Vanessa Reed is not her real name.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Her name is Vanessa Hale.”
Margaret went pale.
Daniel noticed.
“You know that name.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Emily’s college roommate.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
Eric continued.
“They had a falling-out years ago.”
“About what?”
“The Reedwell Trust.”
Daniel felt the pieces moving.
“Vanessa believed Emily’s grandmother had cheated her family out of property.”
Margaret nodded slowly.
“There was a lawsuit.”
“Emily never told me.”
“She was ashamed of how ugly it became.”
Eric walked toward the fireplace.
“Vanessa spent years trying to prove that part of Reedwell belonged to her father.”
“And you?”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“How are you involved?”
Eric looked at him.
“I believed her.”
Daniel nearly lunged at him.
“You helped her terrorize my daughter because you believed a property claim?”
“No.”
Eric’s voice rose.
“I helped her locate financial records.”
“You came into my home while I was away.”
“Yes.”
“You questioned Sophie.”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t tell me you’re innocent.”
“I’m not.”
Eric’s voice dropped.
“But I never agreed to what she did to Sophie.”
Daniel looked at him with disgust.
“Your moral line arrived late.”
Eric accepted that.
Then he reached into his coat slowly.
Security stepped forward.
“It’s paper.”
He removed a photograph.
He handed it to Daniel.
The image showed Emily and Vanessa at twenty-two years old.
They stood in front of the blue cottage.
Emily smiled.
Vanessa did not.
On the back, Emily had written a sentence.
Some inheritances destroy families before anyone receives them.
Daniel looked up.
“Where did you get this?”
“Vanessa’s hotel room.”
Daniel stared.
“You searched it?”
“After she vanished.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“Why come here?”
Eric looked at the empty clock.
“Because she already found what she wanted.”
Daniel felt cold.
“The trust certificate?”
Eric shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A map.”
Daniel looked toward the lake.
Eric pointed through the window.
“There’s another Reedwell property nobody remembers.”
Daniel followed his finger toward the distant tree line.
An abandoned boathouse stood at the edge of the water.
May you like
Eric’s voice became quiet.
“Vanessa is going there next.”
