Chapter 3 - what happened to daniel rowe)
Daniel Rowe had officially died seventeen years earlier.
Unofficially, no one knew where his body was.
Claire discovered that before sunrise.
Police records available online described him as a nineteen-year-old volunteer working with an archaeological preservation project at Saint Orison.
He disappeared during a storm.
Search teams found his backpack near the northern trail.
No body was recovered.
Three weeks later authorities declared the case an accidental death.
Claire read the article twice.
Then she noticed the name of the foundation funding the preservation project.
Ashford Foundation.
At seven in the morning Ethan entered Lily's bedroom carrying coffee.
Claire did not look up.
"Tell me about Daniel."
He stopped.
"Claire."
"Tell me."
Ethan placed the cup on the dresser.
"I never met him."
"That wasn't my question."
"He disappeared at Saint Orison."
"I know."
"My father funded the restoration project."
"I know that too."
Claire turned the laptop toward him.
"My mother was there three days before Daniel vanished."
Ethan sat on the edge of the chair opposite her.
"There were rumors."
"What kind?"
"Daniel accused someone on the restoration team of moving artifacts out of the site."
"Stealing them?"
"Maybe."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Your father?"
"No."
"You're certain?"
"No."
That answer was at least honest.
Claire stood.
"What does the key open?"
"I don't know."
"You recognized the necklace."
"My grandmother had one like it."
Claire stared.
"What?"
"Saint Orison belonged to her family before the Ashfords bought the surrounding land."
"So the necklace is connected to the ruins."
"Probably."
"Probably?"
"Claire, I was fifteen when all this happened."
"But you've spent years around your father. You know how he operates."
Ethan looked toward Lily sleeping in her crib.
"Yes."
The single word frightened Claire more than denial would have.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Ethan looked at her.
"My father asked me about your mother's belongings six months after we started dating."
Claire felt sick.
"What did he ask?"
"Whether you had inherited jewelry."
"And you didn't think that was strange?"
"I did."
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing."
"Did you ask why?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He said Eleanor had taken something from the foundation."
Claire laughed once.
"My mother was dead."
"I know."
"And he was still looking for something she supposedly stole?"
"Yes."
Claire walked toward the window.
Morning traffic moved far below.
For the first time, she imagined their entire relationship from another angle.
Had Ethan met her by accident?
Had Richard encouraged him?
Had her life been watched?
"Ethan."
He knew the question before she asked.
"No."
She turned.
"No what?"
"No, I didn't date you because of your mother."
"How did we meet?"
"At the hospital gala."
"Who invited me?"
He went silent.
Claire felt the answer.
"The Ashford Foundation."
"Claire."
"Who put me on the guest list?"
"I don't know."
"Find out."
She moved toward the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To my mother's storage unit."
Ethan stood quickly.
"You still have it?"
"My aunt kept everything after Mom died. When she passed, the unit transferred to me."
"Claire, if there really is something connected to Saint Orison, we shouldn't go alone."
"We?"
"Yes."
"You lied to me for years."
"I kept information from you."
"That's what people say when they want lying to sound polite."
He flinched.
Claire hated that part of her still cared.
She looked toward Lily.
"I'm taking her to my sister."
"I'll drive."
"No."
"Then Marcus will."
"No."
"Claire."
"I need one hour where nobody named Ashford decides what is best for me."
Ethan lowered his head.
"Okay."
She expected an argument.
Instead he said, "But take this."
He removed a small black device from his pocket.
A panic button.
"Press it and Marcus gets your location immediately."
Claire almost refused.
Then she thought of the anonymous photograph.
Vanessa.
Richard.
Daniel.
She took it.
The storage facility was in Queens.
Claire spent forty minutes opening boxes she had avoided for years.
Her mother's winter coats.
Old tax records.
Lesson plans.
A music box.
Then she found a suitcase.
Inside were journals.
Claire opened the first.
Most pages contained ordinary notes.
Groceries.
Appointments.
Books to read.
The final notebook was different.
Names.
Dates.
Bank transfers.
Richard Ashford appeared repeatedly.
So did Daniel Rowe.
Claire turned another page.
A sentence had been underlined twice.
Daniel found the lower chamber.
Another page.
Richard knows.
Then the final entry.
If anything happens to me, Claire must never know about the key until she is old enough to decide what to do with it.
Claire stopped breathing.
Something moved behind her.
May you like
She turned.
The storage unit door slammed shut.
