Chapter 7 - The Photograph From the Hospital
Clara called Chloe back.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
She called Victoria.
Declined.
Arthur.
Voicemail.
Naomi told Clara not to go to the house alone.
Clara ignored her.
Daniel drove.
Naomi followed.
They arrived to find the front door open.
Victoria stood in the foyer.
“You need to leave.”
“Where’s Chloe?”
“She’s fine.”
“Move.”
Victoria blocked the hallway.
“Your sister invaded your father’s private office.”
“Where is she?”
Arthur appeared from the study.
Calm.
Too calm.
“Clara.”
“Where is Chloe?”
“She left.”
“With her phone?”
Arthur smiled.
“Ask her.”
Clara stepped closer.
“Give me the hospital photograph.”
For the first time, Arthur’s expression cracked.
Just slightly.
“What photograph?”
“The one of Evelyn Reed.”
Victoria turned toward him.
Arthur did not look at her.
Clara saw another fracture.
Victoria had not known.
“Who is Evelyn Reed?” Victoria asked.
Arthur’s eyes sharpened.
“Go upstairs.”
Victoria stared.
“Arthur.”
“Now.”
The command was so familiar that Victoria obeyed before realizing she had.
Clara watched her mother reach the staircase.
Then Victoria stopped.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Victoria turned slowly.
“I’m not going upstairs.”
Arthur’s voice became quiet.
“Victoria.”
“I asked you a question.”
Arthur smiled without warmth.
“Not in front of outsiders.”
Naomi stepped into the foyer.
“I’m counsel, not an outsider.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
Clara said, “Where’s Chloe?”
“She left through the back.”
Clara walked toward the kitchen.
Arthur moved in front of her.
“Don’t.”
“Move.”
“This is my house.”
“No.”
Clara looked around.
“Grandma’s trust bought this house too, didn’t it?”
Arthur stopped.
Victoria whispered, “What?”
Clara pulled a deed printout from her bag.
“I checked this morning.”
She held it up.
“Eleanor purchased the property through a trust eighteen years ago. Dad transferred title to Vance Legacy Holdings after she died.”
Victoria stared at Arthur.
“You told me you bought this house.”
Arthur’s composure cracked further.
“Victoria, this is complicated.”
“You told me it was yours.”
“I manage the assets.”
“You put my name on loan documents.”
“Because you are my wife.”
“You said we owned it.”
Arthur turned toward Clara.
“Are you enjoying this?”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
That seemed to anger him more.
A car door slammed outside.
Chloe stumbled through the front entrance.
Her left cheek was red.
Her dress was torn at the shoulder.
Victoria gasped.
“My God.”
Clara rushed to her.
“What happened?”
Chloe lifted her phone.
“I got the pictures.”
Arthur moved.
Daniel blocked him.
Arthur snarled, “Get out of my way.”
Daniel did not.
“You already ruined my career once.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t make me finish it.”
Naomi raised her phone.
“I’m recording.”
Arthur stopped.
Chloe showed Clara the images.
The first photograph had been taken inside Clara’s hospital room.
Clara lay unconscious.
A woman stood beside her bed.
Evelyn Reed.
She held Clara’s limp hand around a pen.
Another person supported Clara’s wrist.
Only the person’s sleeve was visible.
Navy fabric.
Arthur had worn navy suits almost every day of his career.
The second photograph showed a document.
The signature line.
Clara Elizabeth Vance.
The third photograph was stranger.
Evelyn stood in the hallway arguing with someone outside the room.
A timestamp showed the picture had been taken twenty minutes later.
The fourth image showed Arthur leaving an elevator.
The fifth image showed Evelyn entering the parking garage.
The sixth showed the back of a gray sedan.
Clara zoomed in.
The driver was the man from the yacht club.
Grant.
Chloe whispered, “There’s more.”
She opened another photograph.
A page from Arthur’s private ledger.
ELIMINATION COSTS.
E.R.
75,000.
Clara’s blood turned cold.
Victoria sat down hard on the staircase.
Arthur stopped pretending.
He looked at Chloe.
“You stupid little girl.”
Chloe began shaking.
Clara stepped in front of her sister.
Arthur stared at both daughters.
Then he laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
Clara held the phone tighter.
“Then explain it.”
Arthur’s eyes moved to the ledger image.
“Evelyn Reed wasn’t paid to disappear.”
May you like
He looked at Clara.
“She was paid to keep you alive.”
