Chapter 6 - the brother claire was afraid of)
Daniel moved away from Michael so quickly that the chair behind him fell.
“What did you do?”
Michael stared.
“Nothing.”
“Martin just named you.”
“Martin Bell is a criminal.”
“You investigated Claire for two years.”
“I investigated Martin.”
“You knew she called you.”
“I told you that.”
“You kept photographs. Records. You followed people.”
“Because nobody else believed she was alive.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Did Claire trust you?”
Michael's face changed.
Hurt flickered beneath the anger.
“She called me.”
“That isn't an answer.”
Before Michael could respond, Alvarez left the interview room.
“Daniel, outside.”
“I want to know why Martin named him.”
“So do I. Outside.”
Michael followed.
In the corridor, Alvarez faced him.
“Mr. Bennett, do you own property near Bellweather Lake?”
“No.”
“Did you visit the area during the last three years?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
Michael continued.
“After Claire called, I traced one of Martin's companies to Bellweather. I drove around.”
“How often?”
“Maybe six times.”
“Did you ever approach the red house?”
Michael hesitated.
Daniel saw it.
“You did.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“What happened?”
“I saw Victoria.”
Daniel felt sick.
“At the house?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I tried telling you everything. Every time I mentioned Victoria, you defended her.”
Daniel remembered shouting at Michael.
Calling him obsessed.
Threatening to keep him away from Lily if he continued frightening the family.
Victoria had encouraged that distance.
Michael looked at Alvarez.
“I watched the house from the trees. Victoria drove up. Martin arrived later.”
“Did you see Claire?”
“No.”
“Did they see you?”
“I don't know.”
Alvarez glanced toward the interview room.
“If Martin knew you were investigating, he could have used your presence to frighten Claire.”
Michael nodded.
Daniel slowly understood.
“They told her Michael was watching.”
“Likely,” Alvarez said.
“But why?”
“To isolate her. If Claire believed her husband betrayed her, her brother was hunting her and authorities thought she was dead, who could she contact?”
Nobody answered.
Michael sat down heavily.
Daniel looked at him.
“I should have believed you.”
Michael rubbed his face.
“You were drowning.”
“That doesn't excuse it.”
“No.”
Daniel expected anger.
Instead Michael looked exhausted.
“I hated you for marrying Victoria.”
Daniel said nothing.
Michael continued.
“I thought you replaced Claire.”
“I didn't.”
“I know that now.”
Daniel looked toward the interview room.
“Why did Martin say they opened the door?”
Alvarez's expression tightened.
“He claims Claire wasn't physically imprisoned for the entire period.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“What?”
“He says the first months were involuntary. After that, they convinced her she would be arrested if she left.”
“For what?”
“Attempted kidnapping of Lily.”
Daniel stared.
“That never happened.”
“There are falsified reports claiming she tried to take Lily from daycare after being declared unstable.”
“Lily wasn't even in daycare then.”
“We noticed.”
Daniel looked through the glass at Martin.
“He built an entire reality around her.”
“Yes.”
“And Victoria helped.”
“According to Martin.”
Daniel frowned.
“According to him?”
“He's blaming most of it on Victoria now.”
“Of course.”
Alvarez nodded.
“He says Victoria was the one who approached Claire before the accident.”
Daniel's attention sharpened.
“Approached her about what?”
“Money.”
Claire's mother, Evelyn Bennett, had died when Lily was six months old.
Her estate included farmland, investment accounts and shares in a medical technology company.
Most transferred to Claire.
A separate trust went to Lily.
Daniel knew the estate had been substantial.
He had never known exactly how substantial.
Alvarez handed him a financial summary.
Daniel stared at the total.
Thirty-eight million dollars.
“Claire never told me.”
“According to the trust records, she couldn't access much of it immediately.”
Michael nodded.
“Mom didn't trust easy money. There were conditions.”
Alvarez continued.
“After Claire disappeared, Martin gained administrative authority over several assets.”
“And Victoria?”
“Received payments through consulting companies.”
Daniel looked through the glass again.
“This was about money.”
“Partly.”
“What's the other part?”
Alvarez hesitated.
“Martin claims Victoria believed Claire had discovered something involving Daniel's company.”
Daniel frowned.
“My company?”
“A land acquisition outside Savannah.”
Daniel knew immediately.
“Rivergate.”
Three years earlier, Harper Residential had nearly purchased two hundred acres along the river.
Claire strongly opposed the deal.
She believed environmental reports were being manipulated.
Daniel eventually canceled the acquisition.
Martin had represented one of the sellers.
Daniel looked at Alvarez.
“Claire found forged environmental records.”
“Martin says she found more than that.”
“What?”
“Payments to a county official.”
Daniel felt a wave of nausea.
“I never paid anyone.”
“We haven't found evidence you did.”
“But Claire thought I was involved.”
“She may have at first.”
Daniel remembered arguments with Claire shortly before her disappearance.
She had become secretive.
Suspicious.
She asked unusual questions about his partners.
He had assumed she was stressed.
Then came the accident.
Alvarez's phone buzzed.
She checked the message.
“Excuse me.”
She walked several feet away, answered a call and listened.
Daniel watched her posture change.
“What is it?”
Alvarez ended the call.
“Victoria used a credit card.”
“Where?”
“A gas station outside Brunswick.”
“That was hours ago.”
“Yes.”
“Can you track cameras?”
“Already happening.”
Daniel looked at the map on Alvarez's phone.
Brunswick was south.
Toward Jacksonville.
Toward Martin.
“She's going to him.”
“Maybe.”
Michael stood.
“Or she's going somewhere else.”
Alvarez looked at him.
Michael pointed toward the coast.
“There was one property Claire inherited that Martin could never sell.”
“What property?”
“A cottage.”
Daniel frowned.
“Claire owned a cottage?”
Michael looked at him.
“Our mother left it specifically to Claire.”
“Where?”
“Cumberland Island area. Mainland side. Near St. Marys.”
Alvarez's eyes narrowed.
“Why couldn't Martin sell it?”
“Because the deed required Claire's physical signature in front of two independent witnesses.”
Daniel thought of all the forged paperwork.
“A place they couldn't steal.”
Michael nodded.
“A place Claire knew would still legally belong to her.”
Daniel felt electricity run through him.
“If she escaped fourteen months ago…”
May you like
Michael finished the thought.
“She might have gone home.”
