Chapter 6 - the man with Daniel’s watch)
Police entered the apartment nine minutes later.
Sophie was found locked inside the bathroom.
Alive.
Unhurt.
The two officers assigned to protect her were unconscious in the hallway.
Both had been sedated.
The man was gone.
He had left no fingerprints.
No weapon.
No identification.
Only Daniel Carter’s watch.
Claire held it in an evidence bag.
Scratched silver casing.
Black leather band.
An engraving on the back.
C and D.
Always home.
She had given it to Daniel on their fifth anniversary.
Detective Hayes watched her.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Could someone have purchased a similar watch?”
“No.”
Claire pointed toward a tiny mark beside the crown.
“Sophie dropped it when she was two. Daniel tried to fix it himself and scratched it.”
Hayes looked toward the kitchen.
“So whoever entered this apartment had property from your husband’s crash.”
Claire corrected her.
“Property that police told me was never found.”
Hayes’s expression changed.
She made a phone call.
Within an hour, the original accident evidence inventory was retrieved.
Daniel’s wallet had been found.
Wedding ring found.
Phone found.
Watch listed as missing.
But another item disturbed Claire.
Passenger seat blood sample.
Claire looked at Hayes.
“There was someone else in the car?”
“The report says trace blood contamination.”
“Whose?”
“Unknown male.”
“Why did nobody tell me?”
Hayes read further.
“Because the sample was classified as insufficient.”
Claire stared at the page.
“Test it again.”
“I intend to.”
Sophie sat nearby wrapped in a blanket.
Claire joined her.
“Sweetheart, I need you to tell me about the man.”
Sophie nodded.
“What did he look like?”
“Old.”
“How old?”
Sophie thought.
“Like Grandpa but younger.”
“Hair?”
“Gray and brown.”
“Tall?”
“Yes.”
“Did he say his name?”
“No.”
“What did he tell you?”
Sophie twisted the blanket.
“He said Daddy saved him.”
Claire exchanged a glance with Hayes.
“Saved him from what?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Anything else?”
Sophie nodded.
“He said Daddy was brave because he didn’t sign.”
Claire felt something tighten in her chest.
“Sign what?”
“He said seventeen.”
The room went silent.
Hayes crouched.
“Sophie, did he tell you why he came?”
Sophie nodded.
“He wanted the key.”
Claire instinctively touched her pocket.
The locker key.
“He knew Mommy had it.”
“How?”
Sophie shrugged.
“I asked him if Daddy gave him the watch.”
“What did he say?”
Sophie’s expression became confused.
“He said Daddy gave him everything.”
Claire stared.
The apartment door opened.
Vanessa entered with Michael.
When Sophie saw Vanessa, she smiled faintly.
But Vanessa was not looking at Sophie.
She was looking at Daniel’s watch.
“Oh my God.”
Claire stood.
“You recognize it?”
“Not the watch.”
Vanessa pointed toward the clasp.
“There.”
Thomas Reed had noticed the same thing.
Inside the leather strap was a tiny raised seam.
Hayes used a knife to open it.
A microSD card slid onto the table.
Nobody spoke.
They loaded it into an isolated computer.
There was only one file.
Video.
Daniel appeared on screen.
Claire stopped breathing.
He sat inside a dark room.
His face was bruised.
The timestamp showed eleven days before his death.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“My name is Daniel Carter.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“If this recording is being watched, I failed to expose the Blackwood Continuity Program.”
Vanessa whispered, “Continuity?”
Daniel continued.
“Project 17 is not financial fraud.”
His eyes moved toward someone outside the frame.
“It is a system for replacing ownership.”
Claire leaned closer.
Daniel spoke slowly.
“People think dynasties protect money.”
He swallowed.
“They don’t.”
“They protect names.”
The video glitched.
Then Daniel said something that made Vanessa stagger backward.
“Arthur Blackwood is not Vanessa and Preston’s biological father.”
Vanessa whispered, “No.”
Daniel continued.
“And Margaret Blackwood knows exactly who is.”
The video abruptly ended.
But beneath it was another file.
Encrypted.
May you like
Filename:
CLAIRE ONLY.
