Chapter 5 - the abandoned Mercer house)
Claire said she had never been inside Daniel's childhood home.
Daniel wanted to believe her.
Her confusion looked genuine.
But by then genuine confusion had become difficult to separate from excellent deception.
The Mercer house stood near Hollow Creek, five miles beyond Westbridge.
Daniel's father had built it when Daniel was four.
Daniel remembered summers catching fireflies there.
Victor teaching him to swim.
Their mother calling them inside for dinner.
After their father's death, Victor managed the property.
Then a caretaker died there nine years earlier.
Gas explosion.
The house was closed permanently.
Daniel had not returned since.
Police reached it before he did.
Alvarez insisted he remain outside until the structure was cleared.
Windows were broken.
Vines covered the stone walls.
The building looked less like a childhood home than a grave.
Daniel stood beside Claire near the gate.
"Who died here?" she asked.
"Thomas Reed."
Marcus turned.
"Reed?"
Daniel nodded.
"Any relation?" Claire asked.
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
"My uncle."
Daniel stared at his security chief.
"You never told me that."
"You never asked."
"You knew this was my house."
"Yes."
"Your uncle died inside."
"Yes."
"Why did you work for me?"
Marcus looked toward the building.
"Because I never believed the gas explosion story."
Daniel felt another layer of reality crack.
Alvarez emerged.
"We found something."
Inside the house, dust covered everything.
Daniel followed Alvarez down a hallway he remembered from childhood.
She stopped near the old dining room.
A section of the wall had been recently disturbed.
Behind it was a narrow metal door.
Daniel had never known it existed.
The room beyond contained filing cabinets.
Most were empty.
One held photographs.
Mara.
Victor.
Jonathan Hayes.
Evelyn Cross.
Claire.
Daniel.
And Lila.
Hundreds of surveillance images.
Years of them.
Daniel's hands shook.
Someone had tracked his family long before Mara died.
One photograph showed Claire entering a Boston restaurant nine years earlier.
Another showed Victor meeting Evelyn outside a bank.
Another showed Mara holding newborn Lila.
Marcus found a photograph of his uncle.
Thomas Reed stood beside Daniel's father, Robert Mercer.
On the back were four words.
HE FOUND THE SECOND ACCOUNT.
Alvarez opened another drawer.
Financial records.
Hollow Creek Holdings had been created twenty years ago.
Daniel's father owned fifty-one percent.
Victor owned twenty-four percent.
A third shareholder owned twenty-five percent.
The name had been redacted.
Millions of dollars moved through the company.
Then nine years earlier, almost everything vanished.
Three weeks later, Thomas Reed died.
Daniel stared at Marcus.
"Your uncle found something."
Marcus nodded.
"And someone killed him."
Claire was examining the wall of photographs.
She suddenly stopped.
"Daniel."
He approached.
She pointed.
One image showed Claire at age twenty-four standing beside Evelyn Cross.
Daniel looked at her.
"You said you'd never met her."
"I haven't."
"That's you."
"I know."
"Then explain it."
Claire stared at the photograph.
"I don't remember this."
Daniel's anger rose.
"You don't remember standing beside my dead wife's twin?"
"I didn't know your wife had a twin."
The photograph had been taken at a medical conference.
Claire recognized the badge around her neck.
"Bennett Foundation funded pediatric trauma research there. Hundreds of people attended."
Alvarez studied Evelyn's badge.
"Cross Meridian."
Claire shook her head.
"I may have spoken to her for thirty seconds."
Daniel wanted to believe that.
Then Alvarez found another image.
Claire and Evelyn sitting together at a restaurant.
No conference.
No crowd.
Claire covered her mouth.
"I don't remember this."
"Stop saying that."
"I don't."
Daniel walked away.
Behind him, Lila's voice echoed through his mind.
No ring.
A sound came from upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps.
Police officers moved first.
Alvarez shouted.
"Westbridge Police!"
A door slammed.
Someone ran.
Daniel ignored Alvarez and followed.
He knew the house better than the officers.
The upstairs hallway divided near his old bedroom.
One path led toward the balcony.
The other toward the servants' stairs.
Daniel chose the stairs.
At the bottom, a figure in black pushed through the kitchen door.
Daniel chased.
Outside, the figure ran toward the trees.
Daniel gained ground.
"Stop!"
The person turned.
A woman.
Mara's face.
Daniel stumbled.
Every instinct screamed his wife's name.
The woman stared at him.
Then raised a gun.
Daniel stopped.
Her voice was almost identical to Mara's.
"Don't come closer."
"Evelyn."
Something flickered in her expression.
"So you know."
"Where is Mara?"
The woman smiled without warmth.
"You still don't understand."
"Where is my wife?"
Behind Daniel, officers approached.
Evelyn backed toward the woods.
Daniel shouted.
"Did you kill her?"
For the first time, anger entered Evelyn's face.
"No."
"Then what happened?"
She looked directly into his eyes.
"Your brother chose which sister was supposed to die."
A gunshot cracked.
Daniel dropped instinctively.
Evelyn ran.
Police returned fire toward the ground but quickly lost her among the trees.
Nobody had been hit.
Daniel remained kneeling.
May you like
One sentence repeated in his mind.
Your brother chose which sister was supposed to die.
