Chapter 6 - The Boathouse
The abandoned boathouse had no road.
Daniel reached it by walking along the shoreline with two security officers.
Margaret stayed at the cottage with Sophie.
Eric followed twenty feet behind.
Daniel did not trust him.
He also knew Eric understood Vanessa better than anyone available.
The boathouse leaned toward the lake as though one hard winter could finally pull it down.
Its door was secured with a modern padlock.
Daniel stopped.
“That’s new.”
Eric nodded.
“Vanessa.”
One security officer cut the lock.
The door opened.
Inside, dust covered almost everything.
Almost.
A clean path crossed the floor.
Someone had walked from the entrance to an old workbench recently.
Daniel approached.
A ledger sat beneath a plastic sheet.
Margaret’s name was written on the front.
Daniel opened it.
Property coordinates.
Ownership percentages.
Trust distributions.
Then he saw the final page.
A list of names.
Emily Hart.
Sophie Hart.
Vanessa Hale.
Eric Nolan.
Daniel looked at Eric.
“Why are you listed?”
Eric stared.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel shoved the ledger toward him.
“Try again.”
Eric read the page.
His face changed.
“That isn’t my handwriting.”
“I didn’t ask.”
Eric looked genuinely confused.
“My name shouldn’t be there.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Everyone turned.
No one was there.
Then the security officer pointed upward.
A loft.
Daniel climbed the narrow ladder.
The loft contained a folding chair.
Food wrappers.
A laptop charger.
Someone had been staying there.
On the wall hung photographs of the mansion.
Recent photographs.
One showed Daniel leaving for the airport.
One showed Sophie at preschool.
One showed Vanessa entering the blue cottage.
Daniel stared at that image.
The timestamp was from three months earlier.
Vanessa had already known about the cottage.
Another photograph showed Eric meeting Vanessa in a restaurant.
Daniel turned toward him.
Eric looked away.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“You told me this started recently.”
“I lied.”
Daniel descended the ladder.
“Why?”
“Because I knew if I told you everything, you’d throw me out before I could help.”
“You’re right.”
Eric said nothing.
Daniel opened the laptop case on the floor.
Empty.
Then his phone rang.
Margaret.
“Daniel.”
Her voice was tense.
“What happened?”
“Someone tried to enter the cottage.”
Daniel turned toward the shoreline.
“Who?”
“They ran when security confronted them.”
“Sophie?”
“She’s safe.”
Daniel started back immediately.
When he reached the cottage, Sophie was sitting on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.
Daniel knelt beside her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“There was a lady.”
Daniel’s blood chilled.
“What lady?”
“I saw her at the window.”
“Vanessa?”
Sophie shook her head.
Daniel paused.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“There may be someone else involved.”
Daniel returned to the ledger.
The list contained four names.
Maybe it was incomplete.
“Did Sophie describe her?”
Margaret nodded.
“Older.”
Sophie looked up.
“She had Mommy’s hair.”
Daniel frowned.
Emily had been a brunette.
Vanessa was blonde.
“Mommy’s hair?”
“Brown.”
Daniel’s mind searched through family connections.
Then Margaret sat down slowly.
“There is one person.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who?”
“Emily’s aunt.”
Daniel stared.
“Judith?”
Margaret nodded.
Judith Vale had disappeared from family life years earlier after the Reedwell lawsuit.
Daniel had met her once.
She had been bitter.
Sharp.
Obsessed with family property.
“She’s seventy.”
“Sixty-two.”
“Why would she be involved?”
Margaret looked at the ledger.
“Because Vanessa Hale is her daughter.”
Daniel froze.
“You said Vanessa was Emily’s college roommate.”
“She was.”
“You failed to mention they were cousins?”
“Distant cousins.”
Daniel stood.
“This entire family knew things I didn’t.”
Margaret did not argue.
Daniel was done accepting fragments.
“Tell me the entire story.”
Margaret took a breath.
“Emily’s grandmother had two daughters.”
“One was Emily’s mother.”
“Yes.”
“The other was Judith.”
“Yes.”
“Judith believed the trust should have been divided equally.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Why?”
Margaret looked toward Sophie.
“Because Emily’s grandmother believed Judith was stealing from the family business.”
Daniel stared.
“Was she?”
“No one proved it.”
Eric spoke from the doorway.
“I can.”
Everyone looked at him.
Eric held up the ledger.
“These transactions are coded.”
Margaret stood.
“What code?”
Eric pointed at the numbers.
“They match old Hart Development project identifiers.”
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
“My company didn’t exist when this dispute started.”
“Exactly.”
Eric met his eyes.
“Someone has been moving old Reedwell money through your company for years.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Who?”
Eric’s face had gone pale.
“I think I know.”
Before he could say the name, every light in the cottage went out.
Sophie screamed.
Daniel reached her first.
Security officers drew flashlights.
Outside, an engine roared.
A vehicle accelerated away from the property.
Then Daniel’s phone lit up.
A message from an unknown number.
GO HOME, DANIEL.
THIS WAS NEVER YOUR FAMILY SECRET.
Daniel stared at it.
May you like
A second message appeared.
KEEP DIGGING, AND SOPHIE WILL LEARN WHAT HER MOTHER REALLY DID.
