Chapter 11 - The Name No One Was Allowed to Say)
Caroline Mercer had lived for eleven days.
That was what Richard told Margaret.
Not in the basement.
Not in front of police.
Margaret refused to hear another family secret surrounded by concrete walls and cameras.
They moved to the dining room.
The same room where Margaret and Richard had once celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary.
Now Richard sat at one end of the table under police supervision.
Vanessa sat at the other.
Margaret remained standing.
Lena stayed near the doorway.
"Start," Margaret said.
Richard looked older than the man in the cemetery photograph.
Not merely seven years older.
Defeated.
"Before Vanessa was born, you became pregnant."
Margaret stared.
"I know."
"You delivered prematurely."
"I know."
"The baby died."
"That is what you told me."
Richard's mouth tightened.
Margaret gripped the back of a chair.
She remembered the hospital.
Pain.
Medication.
A nurse telling her there had been complications.
Richard sitting beside her bed with tears running down his face.
A tiny funeral Margaret had been too sick to attend.
A daughter named Caroline.
"Did she die?"
Richard hesitated.
That hesitation destroyed something inside Margaret.
"Did my baby die?"
"No."
The room vanished.
Margaret heard Vanessa gasp.
Lena said nothing.
Richard continued.
"Caroline survived."
Margaret's knees weakened.
She sat.
"You told me she died."
"I thought she would."
"But she didn't."
"No."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Margaret stared at him.
"You don't know."
"Not anymore."
"What did you do?"
Richard rubbed both hands over his face.
"Caroline had severe complications. Doctors believed she might require lifelong care."
"So?"
"We were broke."
Margaret almost laughed.
They had been broke.
Their company was three years old.
Two failed projects.
A second mortgage.
But she would have lived in a car for her child.
Richard continued.
"My brother knew a couple who had been trying to adopt."
Margaret's mouth opened.
"No."
"They offered to pay the medical expenses."
"No."
"I was twenty-nine and terrified."
"You sold my daughter?"
"No."
"You gave her away while I was drugged in a hospital and told me she died."
Richard's eyes filled.
"I thought I was saving all of us."
Margaret stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
Vanessa moved toward her.
Margaret held up a hand.
"Don't touch me."
Vanessa stopped.
Margaret looked at Richard.
"Who adopted her?"
"The Kendalls."
"First names."
"Peter and Elaine."
"Where?"
"Connecticut."
"Where is Caroline now?"
"I lost track after the Kendalls divorced."
"How convenient."
"I tried to find her."
"When?"
"Years later."
"When exactly?"
Richard looked at Vanessa.
Margaret understood.
"After Vanessa was born."
"Yes."
Margaret laughed through tears.
"You had another daughter and suddenly remembered the first one."
Richard lowered his head.
Margaret turned toward Vanessa.
"How long have you known?"
"Two years."
"Only two?"
"Yes."
Margaret believed her.
The shame in Vanessa's expression looked different from her earlier lies.
"How?"
Vanessa said, "Dad asked me to locate her."
"You found her?"
Vanessa looked at Richard.
Richard said, "We found a possible match."
Margaret gripped the table.
"Name."
Richard remained silent.
Margaret screamed, "Name."
Lena stepped forward.
Richard finally answered.
"Claire Kendall."
Margaret repeated it.
Claire.
Not Caroline.
Claire Kendall.
"How old?"
"Thirty-five."
Margaret calculated.
It fit.
"Where?"
"Boston."
Lena's eyes sharpened.
"Boston?"
Richard nodded.
"She worked at the Lexington Crown."
Margaret felt another horrible connection forming.
"What did she do there?"
"Security administration."
Lena walked closer.
"Was she there the night Colin Avery died?"
Richard looked at her.
"Yes."
Margaret whispered, "She helped you disappear."
Richard nodded.
"She didn't know who I was then."
"Did you know who she was?"
"Yes."
Margaret closed her eyes.
He had found their daughter.
Met her.
Used her help.
And never told her the truth.
Vanessa said, "Mom."
Margaret turned.
"Don't call me that right now."
Vanessa looked down.
Lena asked, "Where is Claire today?"
Richard answered.
"Missing."
"For how long?"
"Fourteen months."
Margaret stared at him.
"And you didn't think to mention this?"
"I thought the Charter had taken her."
"Why?"
"Because she found something in the hotel archives."
"The ledger?" Lena asked.
Richard nodded.
"Part of it."
Margaret looked toward the black phone sitting in an evidence bag on the sideboard.
"Who is sending the messages?"
Richard's voice became quiet.
"I thought it might be Claire."
Vanessa shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
Vanessa wiped her face.
"It's not Claire."
"How do you know?" Lena asked.
Vanessa looked toward Margaret.
"Because Claire contacted me three months ago."
Richard stood.
"What?"
"Sit down," Lena ordered.
Richard ignored her.
"Claire contacted you?"
Vanessa nodded.
"What did she say?"
"She told me Dad had lied about everything."
Richard went pale.
Vanessa continued.
"She said the Charter wasn't chasing him because he discovered them."
Margaret looked at Richard.
Vanessa's voice broke.
"They were chasing him because he helped create it."
Silence.
Richard whispered, "That's not true."
Vanessa laughed.
"Then why did Daniel have your authorization codes?"
Margaret turned toward Richard.
"Authorization for what?"
Vanessa answered.
"The first offshore accounts."
Richard shook his head.
"No."
"I saw them."
"Forged."
"You taught Daniel how to move the money."
"Vanessa."
"You recruited him."
Richard stood again.
Lena's officers moved closer.
Margaret looked at her husband.
Every lie had another lie beneath it.
"Is that true?"
Richard stared at her.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then the old phone illuminated.
One new message.
RICHARD WILL NEVER TELL YOU.
A second.
SO ASK DANIEL.
Lena's radio crackled.
An officer's voice.
"Detective, we have a problem."
"What?"
"Daniel Reed is gone."
Lena turned toward the hallway.
"What do you mean gone?"
"He was being transported. Vehicle was intercepted."
"By whom?"
"We don't know."
Margaret stared at the phone.
Another message appeared.
DANIEL IS COMING TO ME.
Then the phone displayed a photograph.
Daniel sitting in the back seat of a car.
Alive.
Terrified.
Beside him sat a woman.
Only half her face was visible.
Margaret touched the screen through the evidence bag.
May you like
The woman's eyes looked painfully familiar.
Richard whispered, "Claire."
