Chapter 4 - the photograph on the hidden wall)
Claire reached the Mercer estate in thirty one minutes.
Evelyn came with her despite the original instruction that she stay hidden.
Daniel met them at the gate.
Police lights painted the hedges red and blue.
"Where is Lily?"
"With Rosa in the east sitting room. Two officers are there."
Claire did not stop walking until she saw her daughter.
Lily was curled beneath a blanket watching cartoons.
Claire crossed the room and held her.
"Mommy, you're squeezing."
"Sorry."
"Are we going home?"
Claire looked at Daniel.
"Yes."
Margaret appeared in the hallway.
Her lawyer immediately tried to pull her back.
Margaret ignored him.
"This is still my property."
Daniel stood.
"Not tonight."
"You cannot order me out of my own home."
"I am taking my wife and daughter home."
Margaret looked at Lily.
"You are teaching her that a tantrum removes consequences."
Daniel moved so quickly Claire barely saw him cross the room.
He did not touch Margaret.
He simply stopped close enough that she stepped backward.
"If you speak to my daughter again without my permission, I will make sure the restraining order is the smallest problem you have."
Margaret's face hardened.
"You're emotional."
Daniel smiled without humor.
"I learned today that my mother may be my aunt, my aunt may be my mother, my daughter was chained outside and someone put a threat inside a hidden room. I think emotional is appropriate."
Margaret's eyes moved toward Evelyn.
"You."
Evelyn did not retreat.
Margaret stared at her sister.
"You always were weak."
Evelyn's voice shook.
"So weak that you needed Dad to lock me in a wall."
The lawyer whispered, "Margaret, stop."
Margaret ignored him.
"You begged me to take him."
Evelyn went pale.
Daniel looked between them.
"What?"
Margaret smiled.
It was the first cruel smile Claire had seen since the confrontation began.
"Did she leave that part out?"
Evelyn's breathing changed.
Margaret continued.
"She didn't want to be a mother. She wanted Michael Reyes."
"Stop," Evelyn whispered.
"You signed."
"Because Dad threatened Michael."
"You signed."
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"Did you?"
Evelyn cried.
"Yes."
Margaret lifted her chin.
"There. The truth."
Claire stepped between them.
"No. A signature under blackmail isn't the whole truth."
Margaret looked at her.
"You know nothing."
"I know you chained a child because you thought you could control who belonged in your family."
Claire leaned closer.
"And I know you're terrified because now someone is checking the paperwork."
Police officers entered the hall.
Margaret said nothing else.
Daniel took Lily upstairs to collect her overnight bag.
Claire joined Detective Lena Hart in the library.
The hidden room looked different now.
Several boxes had been opened.
One was missing entirely.
Detective Hart showed Claire the photograph.
It had been printed recently.
Lily at a playground.
Taken from a distance.
A red circle had been drawn around her face.
On the back were four words.
ASK WHO PAID HIM.
"Paid who?" Claire asked.
"We don't know."
Claire looked at the photograph again.
"When was this taken?"
"Can you identify the playground?"
Claire could.
Maplewood Elementary.
Three days earlier.
Someone had been photographing her daughter outside school.
Detective Hart continued.
"Mrs. Mercer says she has no idea how the photograph got here."
"Do you believe her?"
"I don't decide what I believe this early."
Claire appreciated the answer.
"What was stolen?"
"Hard to know. Ms. Evelyn Mercer says some boxes contained medical records."
"From Daniel's birth?"
"Possibly."
A uniformed officer entered.
"Detective."
Hart stepped aside.
They spoke quietly.
Then she turned back toward Claire.
"Do you know a man named Peter Lang?"
Claire searched her memory.
"No."
"Daniel might."
Daniel entered carrying Lily's suitcase.
"What about Peter Lang?"
Hart looked at him.
"You know him?"
"He was my grandfather's security director."
"Still alive?"
"I think so."
"Someone used a gate credential registered under his name at three twenty seven this afternoon."
Daniel frowned.
"That credential should have been disabled twenty years ago."
"It wasn't."
Margaret's voice came from the doorway.
"Peter is dead."
Everyone turned.
Hart looked at her.
"When?"
"Eleven years ago."
"How?"
Margaret crossed her arms.
"Car accident."
Evelyn appeared behind her.
"No."
Margaret looked at her sister.
Evelyn's face had lost all color.
"No, he didn't die in a car accident."
Daniel frowned.
"How did he die?"
Evelyn swallowed.
"He disappeared."
Margaret's lawyer closed his eyes as if physically pained.
Daniel looked at his mother.
"You told everyone he died?"
"He did."
"Do you have a death certificate?"
Margaret said nothing.
Detective Hart stepped forward.
"Mrs. Mercer, I think it would be best if you stopped volunteering information until your attorney can speak with you privately."
Margaret finally obeyed.
Claire watched her leave.
Daniel lifted Lily's bag.
"Let's go."
They returned to their own house shortly before midnight.
Claire checked every door twice.
Daniel activated every exterior camera.
Lily refused to sleep alone.
They placed her between them.
For almost an hour nobody spoke.
Then Lily whispered, "Daddy?"
"Yeah, bug?"
"Grandma said you're not my real daddy."
Daniel's face crumpled.
Claire turned toward him.
Lily continued.
"She said Mommy picked someone else."
Daniel moved closer.
"Listen to me."
Lily looked at him.
"I am your daddy."
"Forever?"
"Forever."
"Even if Grandma says no?"
"Especially then."
Lily considered this.
Then she touched the turtle on her cheek.
"Can I keep this forever too?"
Daniel laughed quietly through tears.
"We can redraw it."
She closed her eyes.
Twenty minutes later she was asleep.
Claire and Daniel remained awake.
Finally he whispered.
"She heard everything."
"More than we knew."
"I should have stopped my mother months ago."
"Yes."
Daniel stared at the ceiling.
"I don't deserve you forgiving me."
"I haven't."
He looked at her.
Claire's voice remained calm.
"But I haven't decided to leave either."
He nodded.
That was enough for tonight.
At two thirteen in the morning, the doorbell camera sent an alert.
Claire sat up.
A man stood outside their front gate.
Late sixties.
Gray hair.
Dark jacket.
He held both hands where the camera could see them.
Daniel opened the intercom.
"Who are you?"
The man looked directly into the lens.
"My name is Michael Reyes."
Daniel stopped breathing.
May you like
Michael continued.
"If Evelyn told you I'm your father, she told you only half the story."
