Chapter 5 - The Dead Man’s Signature)
Daniel returned to Hawthorne House at four in the morning.
Alone.
Margaret was waiting in the library.
So was Reeves.
Sofia had gone to sleep in the staff quarters after locking every exterior door.
Daniel looked exhausted.
Where were you? Margaret asked.
Driving.
For six hours?
Yes.
Where is Vanessa?
I do not know.
Margaret did not believe the second answer.
Reeves remained silent.
Daniel noticed him.
Who is this?
Samuel Reeves.
Why is he in my house?
Margaret placed Martin Cole’s documents on the table.
Because your dead father has been moving millions of dollars.
Daniel stared.
Then he laughed.
Again, not because anything was funny.
What is this?
Read it.
He did.
The longer he read, the quieter he became.
Finally he sat down.
This has to be fraud.
Probably.
Then why are you saying my father moved the money?
Because Emily said his name.
Margaret played the recorder.
Daniel listened to his dead wife say that his dead father was the person they should be watching.
His face emptied.
That recording could be from any time.
It was hidden behind her wardrobe.
Daniel stood abruptly.
No.
No what?
My father died.
We know.
I saw him.
In Switzerland?
Yes.
You identified him?
Daniel stopped.
Margaret understood before he spoke.
I identified his belongings.
Not his body.
The body was badly damaged after he collapsed down a stone stairway near the hotel.
The authorities advised against viewing.
Margaret stared.
Then who formally identified him?
Daniel whispered.
Vanessa.
Silence.
Reeves finally spoke.
You said Vanessa worked for your father.
Daniel looked at Margaret sharply.
Who told you that?
So you knew.
Of course I knew.
Why did you lie about when you met her?
Daniel’s face tightened.
Because Emily hated that connection.
Why?
My father trusted Vanessa.
Emily did not.
Why?
She thought Vanessa was covering for him.
Covering what?
Daniel walked to the fireplace.
My father was moving company money long before he died.
Into what?
Offshore development vehicles.
For what purpose?
I never knew.
Emily believed some of those companies were fake.
And you did nothing?
I confronted him.
He denied it.
Then he died.
Margaret stood.
And Vanessa?
She told me the accounts were being closed.
But they were not.
Apparently not.
Daniel looked at the recorder.
Why would Emily say he was the one to watch?
Reeves answered.
Because maybe she did not believe he was dead.
Daniel looked toward him.
That is insane.
Is it?
My father had heart disease.
Medical records?
Yes.
Death certificate?
Yes.
Body?
Daniel said nothing.
Reeves asked.
Who arranged the cremation?
Vanessa.
Daniel sat slowly.
For the first time, Margaret saw real fear.
Where did Vanessa go tonight? she asked.
Daniel stared at the carpet.
I confronted her.
About what?
The video.
And?
She said you were poisoning me against her.
Then?
I asked whether she knew about the second trust.
Her reaction made Daniel look away.
What reaction?
She knew.
Margaret’s voice hardened.
How?
I do not know.
What did she say?
Daniel hesitated.
She said Emily should have signed it sooner.
Margaret felt the room tilt.
Exactly?
Yes.
Then Vanessa said something else.
What?
Daniel swallowed.
She said the house had caused enough trouble already.
Reeves asked where Vanessa went.
She left.
In what car?
Her own.
Phone?
Off.
Cards?
Margaret checked before answering.
No activity.
Reeves looked at Daniel.
Do you know anywhere connected to your father where she might go?
Daniel shook his head.
Then stopped.
There was a property.
Margaret looked at him.
What property?
A lake house in New Hampshire.
My father owned it through a shell company.
After he died, we sold it.
To whom?
Daniel looked at the transfer sheets.
I never checked.
Reeves already knew where this was going.
Who owns it now?
Thirty minutes later they had the answer.
A limited liability company called North Pine Holdings.
The registered manager was Vanessa Bell.
By sunrise, Daniel and Reeves were driving north.
Margaret stayed with Clara.
She hated staying behind.
But Clara had spent too many days surrounded by adult chaos.
The baby needed breakfast, a bath, a nap, and someone whose face did not change every time the phone rang.
Margaret sat beside her on the living room rug.
Clara pushed wooden blocks together.
One fell.
She laughed.
Margaret nearly cried.
Children could do that.
They could stand in the middle of disaster and find something funny about a red block falling over.
Around noon, Daniel called.
We found the house.
And?
Empty.
Margaret closed her eyes.
But someone has been staying here.
How recently?
Coffee is warm.
Margaret stood.
Daniel continued.
There are files.
Financial?
Some.
And photographs.
Of what?
Silence.
Daniel.
Of Emily.
Margaret’s grip tightened.
What kind of photographs?
Following her.
Leaving the mansion.
Entering the bank.
Meeting Martin Cole.
Margaret felt sick.
There are photographs of you too, Daniel added.
Me?
With Clara.
After Emily died.
How recent?
Yesterday.
Margaret went cold.
Yesterday?
Taken outside your house.
She turned toward the front window.
The curtains were open.
Across the street, a dark SUV sat beneath a maple tree.
Margaret had seen it twice that morning.
She moved toward Clara.
Daniel was still talking.
Mom?
The SUV’s headlights came on.
Margaret lifted Clara.
Mom, what is it?
The SUV pulled away.
Margaret whispered.
Someone has been watching us.
That evening Reeves returned with a box from the lake house.
At the bottom was a photograph taken twelve years earlier.
Thomas Hawthorne stood beside a younger Vanessa.
On the back, someone had written a date.
May you like
And beneath it, one sentence.
Tell Daniel who she really is before she tells him herself.
