Chapter 9 - The Brother Who Never Existed)
Daniel drove home in silence.
Claire sat beside him with the photograph sealed inside a police copy envelope.
Neither knew what to say.
At home Lily ran toward them carrying the stuffed rabbit.
"Daddy."
Daniel lifted her.
For several seconds he simply held her.
Claire watched his face.
The photograph had changed something fundamental.
Not only what Daniel knew about his family.
What he knew about himself.
After Lily fell asleep, they sat in the kitchen.
Daniel placed the copied photograph on the table.
Two boys.
Same age.
Similar faces.
"My sons."
Claire pointed to the second child.
"Could he have been Thomas Hartwell's son?"
"Then Dad would have written our sons."
"Unless they were very close."
Daniel shook his head.
"My father was precise about language."
Claire looked closer.
The boys wore matching jackets.
Matching shoes.
One held Richard's hand.
The other stood pressed against his side.
"Twins?"
Daniel stared.
"I would know if I had a twin."
"Would you?"
The question sounded absurd.
Until nothing about the week felt impossible anymore.
Daniel remembered childhood photographs.
Most began after age seven.
Earlier albums had supposedly been damaged when a basement pipe burst.
He remembered nightmares about someone crying in another room.
Evelyn told him they came from grief after his father died.
But the dreams started before the funeral.
He remembered his father sometimes calling him Danny.
Other times Daniel.
Once, when Daniel was very young, he remembered answering to another name.
"David."
Claire looked up.
"What?"
"I remember that name."
"Who was David?"
"I don't know."
The next morning Detective Ramirez arranged for Daniel to speak with Victor Hale.
Victor looked twenty years older than he had at the garden party.
A bruise darkened his left temple.
His wrists were bandaged.
Daniel stood near the hospital window.
"You saw my mother send a message."
Victor nodded.
"To whom?"
"Margaret."
"What did it say?"
"The girl was never supposed to fall."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"So Mom knew."
"Yes."
"Knew what?"
Victor looked toward Ramirez.
She nodded for him to continue.
Victor swallowed.
"Evelyn wanted Lily frightened."
"Why?"
"To force you to reconsider the trust amendment."
Claire sat beside Daniel.
Victor continued.
"The idea was to let Lily grab unsecured balloons. Margaret was supposed to stay beside her. The balloons would pull, Margaret would catch her, and Evelyn would create a scene about Claire's careless parenting."
Daniel stared.
"She wanted to make Claire look negligent."
"Yes."
"And use that against us?"
"Yes."
"Custody?"
Victor looked down.
"Potentially."
Claire's fingers tightened around the chair.
Daniel's voice dropped.
"And the mud?"
"Evelyn had it prepared because she thought humiliation would make the footage more dramatic."
Claire stood.
"She planned to publicly humiliate my toddler."
Victor closed his eyes.
"Yes."
"But Margaret changed it."
Victor nodded.
"She removed the anchor entirely."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"You said Margaret is dangerous."
Victor's face became frightened.
"Because she has been preparing something for years."
"The Hartwell shares?"
Victor looked sharply at Daniel.
"You found the farmhouse."
"Who is Margaret?"
Victor hesitated.
"Rebecca Hartwell."
"We know."
Daniel placed the photograph of the two boys on the table.
Victor went pale.
"Where did you get that?"
"My father's files."
Victor tried to stand.
Ramirez stopped him.
"Mr. Hale."
Victor stared at the photograph.
"You need to leave town."
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"You don't understand."
"Then explain it."
Victor's eyes filled with panic.
"That boy is why your father died."
Silence.
Daniel leaned closer.
"Which boy?"
Victor pointed to the child beside Daniel.
"His name was David."
Claire felt the room shrink.
"Who was he?"
Victor whispered, "Your brother."
Daniel's knees almost gave way.
Victor continued.
"Your twin."
Daniel sat.
He could hear his heartbeat.
Nothing else.
Claire took his hand.
Daniel finally managed to speak.
"What happened to him?"
Victor looked away.
"Officially?"
"I don't care about officially."
Victor swallowed.
"He died."
"When?"
"Summer of 1998."
Daniel stared.
One year before Richard Mercer died.
"How?"
Victor's eyes moved toward the door.
"The lake."
Daniel remembered water.
Cold water.
A boy screaming.
A green gate.
His father pulling someone from the shore.
A woman shouting.
His mother.
Daniel stood so suddenly the chair tipped.
"I remember."
Claire rose beside him.
"What?"
"The lake."
He pressed both hands to his temples.
"I remember someone falling."
Victor's voice softened.
"David drowned."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"Daniel."
"No. I remember him alive."
"Memories change."
"He was alive after the water."
Victor looked at him strangely.
Daniel continued.
"My father carried him."
"Maybe you remember before."
"No."
Daniel closed his eyes.
A flash.
A wet boy coughing.
A blanket.
Richard shouting at Evelyn.
Thomas Hartwell on the phone.
A car.
Then darkness.
Daniel opened his eyes.
"He didn't die at the lake."
Victor became very still.
Ramirez noticed.
"What aren't you saying?"
Victor looked at Daniel.
"Your mother told everyone David drowned."
Claire whispered, "But?"
Victor's mouth trembled.
"But three days after the funeral, your father came to my office."
Daniel stopped breathing.
"He said David was alive."
The room went silent.
"Where?" Daniel asked.
Victor shook his head.
"He wouldn't tell me."
"Why announce a death if he lived?"
"Protection."
"From whom?"
Victor looked at the photograph.
"Your mother."
Daniel's face emptied.
May you like
Victor continued.
"Richard believed Evelyn tried to kill David."
