Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Finally Stopped Smirking)
Claire did not go to the Parker house.
Police did.
Marcus insisted.
Rachel agreed.
Claire hated both of them for being right.
Three hours later, Evan arrived at the hotel with Linda.
The transformation in her brother was startling.
The smugness was gone.
His blazer was torn.
There was dried blood beside his ear.
Linda looked twenty years older.
The moment she saw Claire, however, fear turned into accusation.
“This is because of you.”
Evan looked at his mother.
“Stop.”
Linda stared at him.
“What?”
“I said stop.”
Claire had never heard Evan challenge her.
Linda pointed at Claire.
“If she hadn’t canceled everything—”
“Dad was stealing from her.”
Linda slapped him.
The sound cracked across the hotel suite.
Everyone froze.
Evan slowly turned back.
Then he laughed.
“Wow.”
Linda’s hand trembled.
“You don’t understand.”
“No, Mom. I finally do.”
Claire said, “Tell me what happened.”
Evan sat.
Two men had entered through the garage shortly after Grant returned from the airport.
They knew the alarm code.
They demanded a silver device.
Grant denied knowing anything.
One man showed him a photograph.
Grant collapsed into a chair.
“What photograph?” Claire asked.
Evan took out his phone.
“I snapped it when they dropped it.”
The photograph showed four men.
Grant.
Daniel.
A younger man Claire didn’t recognize.
And Thomas Vale.
Claire knew that name from Daniel’s letter.
“Mom?”
Linda looked away.
“You know him.”
Linda whispered, “Thomas worked with your father.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Is he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire moved closer.
“Who was the fourth man?”
Linda refused to look.
Evan shouted, “Mom!”
She flinched.
“His name was Richard Shaw.”
Rachel looked up.
“Related to Eleanor Shaw?”
Linda’s eyes widened.
That was confirmation.
Claire asked, “Who is Eleanor?”
“Richard’s wife.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try harder.”
Linda began shaking.
“Your father told me never to mention them.”
“Dad isn’t here.”
That landed.
For thirty years Linda had outsourced difficult truths to Grant.
Now Grant was gone.
Claire placed Daniel’s letter on the table.
Linda recognized the handwriting.
Her face crumpled.
“He really is alive.”
“You knew he might be?”
Linda covered her mouth.
Claire stared.
“You knew.”
“We never knew for certain.”
“You let me attend his memorial.”
“Grant said it was safer.”
“For whom?”
Linda cried harder.
Claire felt no sympathy yet.
Perhaps later.
Not now.
“Tell me everything.”
Linda finally did.
After Daniel vanished, Grant became obsessed with locating something Daniel had hidden.
Richard Shaw helped him.
Thomas Vale initially helped too, but later turned against Grant.
Within two years, Richard Shaw died in an apparent boating accident.
Thomas disappeared.
Eleanor accused Grant of murdering her husband.
Then Eleanor vanished as well.
Claire listened without interrupting.
When Linda finished, Evan stared at her.
“You knew all this?”
“I knew pieces.”
“And you stayed?”
“He was my husband.”
Claire said quietly, “And I was your daughter.”
Linda looked at her.
Claire continued.
“You watched him forge documents in my name.”
“I never saw him forge them.”
“You benefited.”
Linda had no answer.
Evan rubbed his face.
“What happens now?”
Claire looked at him.
“Now we stop pretending this is about a vacation.”
A secure message arrived on Claire’s phone.
Video.
Grant appeared seated in a concrete room.
His hands were bound.
His face was bruised.
A distorted voice spoke behind the camera.
“Bring Claire Parker and the Reeves key to Pier 46 at midnight.”
Grant suddenly looked directly into the camera.
“No!”
Someone struck him.
Grant fell sideways.
The voice continued.
“Midnight.”
The video ended.
Evan stood.
“We have to go.”
“No,” Claire said.
“That’s Dad!”
“I know.”
“They’ll kill him.”
“They might kill all of us.”
Evan stared at her.
“So what are you going to do?”
Claire looked at Daniel’s files.
May you like
Then at Marcus.
“We’re going to make them believe I’m coming.”
