Chapter 8 - The Brother in the Photograph)
The photograph had been folded into the lining of an envelope.
Ethan stared at it for nearly a minute.
He was sixteen years old in the picture.
He stood beside his father outside a summer house.
Behind them was another man.
Same dark hair.
Same jaw.
Same eyes.
Older than Ethan by perhaps twenty years.
Samuel Pierce.
On the back, Thomas had written:
Sam, Ethan, Thomas.
Lake Briar.
1999.
Margaret sat at the kitchen table.
Ethan placed the photograph in front of her.
“Tell me.”
She began crying before he finished speaking.
“Your father made me promise.”
“No more promises to dead people.”
“Ethan.”
“Who is Samuel?”
Margaret looked at Lucy.
Ethan understood.
“Claire, take Lucy upstairs.”
Lucy crossed her arms.
“No.”
“Lucy.”
“This is about Mom.”
Ethan hesitated.
Then nodded.
She stayed.
Margaret drew a breath.
“Samuel was Thomas’s older half brother.”
“Why did nobody know?”
“Because their father disowned him.”
“For what?”
“Fraud. Theft. Violence.”
Nora stood near the doorway.
“Northstar.”
Margaret nodded.
“Samuel created it.”
“When?”
“Before Thomas met me.”
“Why did Dad get involved?”
“Samuel came back.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“He promised Thomas millions.”
“And Dad said yes.”
“At first.”
Ethan felt disgust.
“How long?”
“Years.”
“What changed?”
“You were born.”
Ethan frowned.
“Thomas became afraid of what Samuel was becoming. He wanted out.”
“Why didn’t he go to police?”
“Because he would have gone to prison too.”
Of course.
Thomas had not transformed into a hero.
He had simply become a frightened criminal with children.
Margaret continued.
“Samuel disappeared after an argument with Thomas.”
“When?”
“2000.”
“What kind of argument?”
“I never knew.”
“Was he dead?”
“Thomas said he was.”
“But there was no funeral.”
“No.”
“Body?”
“No.”
Ethan stared at the photograph.
Another Pierce.
A hidden brother.
A criminal network.
Olivia had discovered all of it by accident.
Lucy asked quietly, “Did my mom know him?”
Margaret looked at her.
“Yes.”
Ethan turned sharply.
“How?”
“Thomas introduced them.”
“Why?”
“Because Olivia found Samuel’s name in the records.”
Nora interrupted.
“Thomas wanted her to understand how dangerous the truth was.”
Ethan looked at Nora.
“You knew?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear.”
Ethan’s anger sharpened.
“You keep telling me fragments.”
“Because fragments kept me alive.”
“And left Olivia alone.”
Nora flinched.
Lucy stood.
“Stop.”
Both adults looked at her.
“My mom is missing. Fighting doesn’t find her.”
The eleven-year-old was right.
Ethan sat.
“Okay.”
He spread the documents across the table.
“What do we know?”
Nora pointed at the photograph.
“If Samuel is alive, Victoria may be working for him.”
“Why would Conrad allow that?”
“Maybe Conrad works for Samuel too.”
That possibility changed everything.
For years everyone had assumed Conrad Hale controlled the network.
What if he had only managed it?
Reed arrived with another discovery.
The DNA laboratory that tested Lucy’s paternity had sent its original file.
“There were two samples submitted under the Pierce name.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Two?”
“One was yours.”
“And the other?”
“Unknown male.”
Lucy frowned.
“Why?”
Reed placed the result on the table.
“The unknown sample is a close paternal relative of yours.”
Margaret went pale.
“Samuel.”
“Possibly.”
Ethan read the comparison.
“Why would Olivia test Samuel?”
Nora whispered, “Because she was trying to prove who he was.”
Reed looked at Ethan.
“Or whether he was still alive.”
The unknown DNA had been collected six months earlier.
Samuel Pierce had supposedly died twenty-six years ago.
If the sample was his, he had been alive within the year.
Lucy suddenly looked at one of the letters.
“This one.”
“What?”
“The handwriting.”
She handed Ethan an envelope.
Someone had written a forwarding address in the corner.
S.P.
Ethan’s pulse quickened.
“Samuel Pierce.”
The address belonged to a post office box in Boston.
Reed checked records.
The box was active.
Payments were made in cash.
Security footage showed a courier collecting mail every Thursday at 5 p.m.
It was Wednesday.
They set surveillance.
Thursday afternoon, Ethan waited with Reed inside an unmarked vehicle across from the post office.
At 5:07, a man entered.
Gray coat.
Hat.
He opened the box.
Reed quietly radioed officers.
The man left carrying two envelopes.
Police surrounded him.
He didn’t resist.
At the station, his identification named him Daniel Cross.
Former Pierce Meridian employee.
Former driver for Thomas Pierce.
Ethan recognized him.
“You drove me to school.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Do you work for Samuel?”
Daniel said nothing.
Reed placed the photograph on the table.
“We know he’s alive.”
Daniel’s eyes flickered.
That was enough.
Ethan leaned forward.
“Where is Olivia?”
Daniel looked at him for a long time.
Then he whispered, “You should ask where Victoria is.”
“I don’t care where she is.”
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because she stopped working for Samuel yesterday.”
Ethan stared.
“What happened?”
“She found out the truth.”
“What truth?”
Daniel almost looked sorry for him.
“That Samuel never intended to let her marry you.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why would he care?”
Daniel leaned back.
“Because marrying you was never Victoria’s idea.”
The room went still.
“He ordered it.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked through the glass toward Lucy sitting with Claire outside.
“Because Samuel needed a Hale inside the Pierce family.”
Ethan clenched his jaw.
“For what?”
May you like
Daniel answered softly.
“To inherit it when you died.”
