Chapter 7 - The Bride Nobody Remembered)
Claire had never heard the name Victoria Whitmore.
Richard claimed he had.
That conversation took place in the library at Whitmore Hall.
The wedding decorations were mostly gone by then.
Only a few white flowers remained near the staircase.
Claire sat across from her father.
Daniel stood near the fireplace.
Detective Ortiz remained beside the door.
Rachel had joined them with her parents, Stephen and Marianne Mercer.
Stephen Mercer looked uncomfortable from the moment he entered the house.
He was fifty-seven, a professor of architecture who had spent most of his adult life pretending his father, Dr. Henry Mercer, did not exist.
Claire placed the note from the deposit box on the table.
Ask the bride.
Then she looked at Richard.
"Who was Victoria?"
Richard stared at the note.
"My brother's wife."
Claire blinked.
"You had a brother?"
"Yes."
"You never told me."
"He died before you were born."
"What was his name?"
"Thomas."
Claire looked toward the family portraits lining the library walls.
There was no Thomas.
No Victoria.
Nothing.
"How did he die?"
Richard answered carefully.
"Boating accident."
Daniel exchanged a look with Claire.
"Of course," Claire said.
Richard ignored the sarcasm.
"Thomas was older than me. He married Victoria when I was nineteen."
"What happened to her?"
Richard looked toward Stephen Mercer.
"I was told she left."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"People leave your family a lot."
"Claire."
"What did she know?"
Richard's eyes narrowed.
"I don't know."
"Was she committed too?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
Richard did not answer.
That was enough.
Claire looked at Stephen.
"What do you know?"
Stephen swallowed.
"When I was twelve, my father took me to St. Orison once."
Everyone went still.
"You've been there?"
"Only once."
"Why?"
"My mother was out of town. My father was supposed to watch me. He got called for an emergency and took me with him."
"What did you see?"
Stephen stared at the floor.
"I waited in an office."
"And?"
"There was a woman in the hallway."
"What woman?"
"She wore a white dress."
Claire's skin prickled.
"A wedding dress?"
Stephen nodded.
"She was barefoot. Two orderlies were holding her."
Rachel whispered, "Dad."
He continued.
"She was screaming that her husband had tried to kill her."
Richard sat completely still.
Claire asked, "Did you know her?"
"No. Years later, I saw a photograph in my father's desk."
"Of the same woman?"
"Yes."
"Did it have a name?"
"Victoria Whitmore."
Richard stood.
"That's impossible."
Stephen looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because Victoria disappeared in 1987."
Stephen nodded.
"That was the year I saw her."
Claire looked between them.
"When did Thomas die?"
Richard answered.
"1988."
One year later.
Detective Ortiz spoke.
"Tell me about the boating accident."
Richard looked annoyed.
"There isn't much to tell."
"Try."
"My brother went out alone during a storm. His boat was found damaged near Cape Ann. His body washed ashore three days later."
"Was there an investigation?"
"Of course."
"Who handled the family legal affairs?"
Everyone looked at Daniel.
Daniel whispered, "My grandfather."
Richard nodded.
"Arthur Reed."
Daniel closed his eyes.
This was older than Marcus.
A generation older.
Ortiz looked at the note.
"Ask the bride may mean Victoria."
Claire asked, "Is she still alive?"
Richard shook his head.
"I don't know."
Stephen spoke quietly.
"My father received Christmas cards until he died."
"From whom?"
"No signature. Just a letter V."
Claire's pulse quickened.
"Do you still have them?"
"My mother might."
Within an hour, Marianne Mercer returned with an old cedar box.
Inside were seven Christmas cards.
The earliest was dated fifteen years earlier.
The most recent was six years old.
Each card contained only one handwritten sentence.
I remember what Henry did.
The final card said something different.
Evelyn is not the last.
Claire read it twice.
Daniel touched the card.
"Not the last what?"
Ortiz said, "Victim."
Richard walked away from the table.
Claire watched him.
"How many women in this family disappeared?"
He turned.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Turn this into something it wasn't."
"What was it?"
"I don't know."
"You inherited the company after Thomas died."
Richard's expression changed.
Claire saw it.
"You did."
"Yes."
"If Thomas had lived, would you have become CEO?"
"No."
"If Victoria had remained married to him?"
Richard said nothing.
Claire stepped closer.
"You benefited from both of them disappearing."
Richard's face reddened.
"I had nothing to do with Thomas's death."
"What about Victoria?"
"I barely knew her."
"Did Dad?"
Daniel asked.
Richard looked confused.
"Marcus?"
"He was already working for the company."
"As a junior associate."
Claire remembered the photograph in the bank vault.
Marcus standing beside Evelyn and Anna only months ago.
"Why would my mother meet Marcus after everything he did?"
No one answered.
Ortiz pointed toward the cassette from Box 614.
"Maybe we should finally listen to that."
They placed it in the old recorder from the blue house.
Evelyn's voice filled the library.
"If Claire is hearing this, then she found the key."
Claire sat down.
"There is no single Red Ledger anymore. Anna and I separated it into pieces."
Daniel frowned.
Evelyn continued.
"One part is with someone who understands what happened before me."
A pause.
"Her name is Victoria Whitmore."
Richard stopped breathing.
Claire looked at him.
The recording continued.
"Victoria is alive."
Stephen whispered, "My God."
"She has been hiding for thirty-nine years."
Claire felt the room close around her.
"If you want her to trust you, bring the locket."
Claire touched it at her throat.
Evelyn continued.
"And ask Richard where Thomas was really going the night he died."
Every face turned toward Richard.
He looked suddenly old.
Claire stood.
"Where was he going?"
Richard shook his head.
"Claire."
"Where?"
Richard's voice broke.
"To get Victoria out."
No one moved.
Claire whispered, "Out of where?"
Richard looked at Stephen Mercer.
Then at Daniel.
May you like
Finally at his daughter.
"St. Orison."
