Chapter 3 - The Message Claire Left Behind)
Ethan read the sentence six times.
Then he carried the photograph into his office and locked the door.
Corinne was upstairs getting dressed.
Maisie was asleep.
For the first time since Claire's death, Ethan opened every digital folder Claire had left behind.
Claire had been meticulous.
Taxes.
Contracts.
Medical records.
Photographs.
Receipts from trips Ethan barely remembered taking.
But there was no folder marked Corinne.
He searched email archives.
Corinne's name appeared dozens of times in charity correspondence, invitations, donor lists, and committee minutes.
Nothing unusual.
Then Ethan searched Claire's deleted messages.
Most were advertisements.
One email subject made his pulse stop.
Need to talk about C.
The email had been sent to Claire's attorney, Jonathan Bell, thirteen days before the crash.
Ethan opened it.
The body contained only one sentence.
I found the connection and I was right about the dates. Please do not contact Ethan until I have the original documents.
No attachment.
Ethan called Jonathan immediately.
The number was disconnected.
He searched online.
Jonathan Bell had retired six months earlier.
No forwarding information.
Ethan sat back.
Why had Claire been investigating Corinne?
And what dates?
The study door opened.
Ethan closed the laptop.
Corinne entered carrying coffee.
"You missed breakfast."
"I wasn't hungry."
She set the cup down.
Her gaze lingered on his computer.
"Work?"
"Yes."
"On Saturday?"
"I have things to finish."
She studied him.
Ethan kept his expression neutral.
Corinne walked behind him.
Her hand touched the back of his neck.
Normally the gesture would have relaxed him.
Now he felt trapped.
"Rachel called me this morning," Corinne said.
"Why?"
"She wants to take Maisie for the weekend."
"That's fine."
Corinne's hand stopped.
"I told her no."
Ethan turned.
"Why?"
"We already have plans."
"What plans?"
"Family time."
"Rachel is family."
Corinne smiled without warmth.
"You know what I mean."
"No, I don't."
She crossed her arms.
"Your sister undermines me constantly."
"She's worried about Maisie."
"Because Lena poisoned her against me."
Ethan stood.
"Rachel has never liked you."
"Exactly."
"That doesn't mean she doesn't get to see my daughter."
"Our daughter."
The words made Ethan's stomach tighten.
Corinne noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You hate when I call her that."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
Corinne's eyes narrowed.
"You still think of me as temporary."
Ethan walked past her.
"I have somewhere to go."
"Where?"
"The office."
"On Saturday?"
"You just pointed that out."
Her voice sharpened.
"Ethan."
He stopped at the door.
"Yes?"
Corinne smiled.
"Don't forget your phone."
It sat beside the coffee cup.
Ethan picked it up.
As he left, he wondered whether she had placed it there deliberately.
Whether she wanted to know where he was going.
Ten minutes later he pulled into a supermarket parking lot.
He turned off his phone.
Then removed the small tracking device attached to his key ring.
Claire had purchased the devices years earlier for luggage.
Corinne had recently suggested attaching one to Ethan's keys because he "kept losing them."
He placed the tracker beneath the driver's seat of his second car parked at the office garage and took a taxi across town.
Rachel opened her apartment door before he knocked twice.
"You look terrible."
"Thanks."
"You know what I mean."
Ethan entered.
Rachel saw the photograph in his hand.
"What is that?"
He gave it to her.
She read Claire's message.
Her expression changed.
"When did you find this?"
"Last night."
Rachel looked toward the kitchen.
"I need to show you something."
She returned with a manila envelope.
"What is that?"
"Claire gave it to me three weeks before she died."
Ethan stared.
"You've had something from Claire for almost a year?"
"She told me not to open it unless something happened."
"Something happened."
"She meant something specific."
"What?"
Rachel removed a folded page.
Claire's handwriting.
Ethan's anger dissolved into shock.
Rachel handed it to him.
Ethan,
If Rachel gives you this, then I failed to explain everything myself.
There is someone around us who is not who she says she is.
I don't know the whole story yet, which is why I need you not to confront anyone.
I found financial records connected to my mother's estate. Money disappeared years before we met. The signatures lead to a woman named Rebecca Vale.
I believe Rebecca Vale and Corinne Mercer are the same person.
Ethan stopped reading.
"Mercer?"
Rachel nodded.
"That was Corinne's surname before Carter."
Ethan continued.
I do not yet know why she approached me through the foundation, but she has asked questions about our trust, our house, and what would happen to Maisie if both of us died.
Please understand that I am not imagining this.
Jonathan is helping me.
There is one document I have hidden where she cannot legally access it.
If I am wrong, burn this letter and forgive me.
If I am right, protect Maisie first.
Claire
Ethan lowered the page.
The apartment was silent.
Rachel spoke carefully.
"I wanted to tell you after the funeral."
"Why didn't you?"
"You were barely functioning."
"So you waited until after I married her?"
"I tried to stop you from marrying her."
"You could have shown me this."
"And I should have."
Ethan turned away.
Rachel's voice cracked.
"I thought Claire might have been wrong. Then Corinne became the only person who could get you to eat, sleep, leave the house. You loved her."
"I was drowning."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Rachel allowed the silence to sit between them.
Finally Ethan looked at the letter again.
"Claire says there was a document hidden somewhere Corinne couldn't legally access."
Rachel nodded.
"The locked cabinet?"
"I don't know."
"Corinne has been opening it."
"What cabinet?"
Ethan explained.
Rachel grabbed her phone.
"What are you doing?"
"Calling the police."
"No."
She stared at him.
"She grabbed your daughter hard enough to leave bruises."
"And if I accuse Corinne now with nothing except Lena's statement and Claire's letter, she says everyone is grieving and paranoid."
"Ethan"
"If Claire was investigating her, there is more."
"What are you planning?"
"To find it before Corinne knows I know."
Rachel looked frightened.
"Then take Maisie out of that house."
"I will."
"Today."
"Today."
Ethan put Claire's letter into his jacket.
His phone rang.
Corinne.
He let it ring.
A message appeared immediately afterward.
Come home.
Another message.
Now.
Then a photograph.
Maisie's stuffed rabbit lying alone on the polished oak floor.
May you like
Ethan was already running toward the door when the third message arrived.
You really shouldn't turn off your location, Ethan.
