Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Raised Them)
Arthur did not show Maya and Noah the photograph.
Not yet.
Grace saw his face.
"What?"
Arthur turned the phone toward her.
She went still.
"Explain."
Grace stared at the image.
"I can."
"Then do it."
"Not in front of the children."
Arthur hated the request because it sounded guilty.
Helen took Maya and Noah to the kitchen with Evelyn.
Once they were gone, Arthur locked the boardroom door.
Grace sat.
"Daniel couldn't drive that night."
Arthur frowned.
"You just told us he was driving."
"I told you what Caroline told me."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
Arthur's patience broke.
"What happened?"
Grace closed her eyes.
"Daniel was injured."
"How?"
"He'd been attacked earlier that day."
Samuel leaned forward.
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
"Why wasn't it reported?"
"Because Daniel didn't trust the police."
Arthur laughed bitterly.
Apparently nobody had.
Grace continued.
"His right wrist was badly sprained. He asked me to drive them to the meeting with Margaret Shaw."
Arthur looked at the photograph.
"So those are the keys."
"Yes."
"Did you drive?"
"For the first twenty miles."
"What changed?"
"Caroline received a call."
"From?"
"She never told me."
Grace looked toward the window.
"She ordered me to stop at a gas station. She said plans had changed."
"You got out?"
"Daniel told me to return to the babies."
Arthur stared.
"And Caroline drove."
Samuel whispered, "Vale said to ask who drove Daniel's car."
Grace nodded.
"Caroline."
Arthur felt the story shifting again.
"Then why did Caroline tell you Daniel drove?"
"I don't know."
"You raised her children for six years based on a lie."
Grace looked at him sharply.
"I raised those children because Daniel begged me to protect them."
Arthur saw genuine anger.
"You think I'm involved?"
"I think everyone involved has lied."
Grace's eyes filled.
"So have you."
Arthur stopped.
"You let Victoria control what you knew about those children for years because not knowing was convenient."
The words struck.
Grace stood.
"I lost my career. My name. My home. I slept with a chair beneath the door because I believed someone would kill Maya and Noah."
Arthur said nothing.
Grace continued.
"You were busy at board meetings."
The silence became painful.
Samuel finally spoke.
"Both of you can hate each other later."
Grace looked away.
Arthur's anger cooled.
He knew she was right.
"Who sent the photograph?"
"No idea."
Arthur checked the metadata.
Nothing useful.
Then another message arrived.
IF YOU WANT CAROLINE ALIVE, COME ALONE.
An address followed.
A parking garage downtown.
Samuel read it.
"No."
Arthur looked at him.
"It might be her."
"It might be Vale."
"Either way, somebody wants to talk."
"Come alone means come stupid."
Arthur almost smiled.
They compromised.
Arthur entered alone.
Samuel followed invisibly from another level.
The garage was nearly empty.
A woman stood near a concrete pillar.
Baseball cap.
Dark coat.
Arthur approached slowly.
"Caroline?"
She removed the cap.
Arthur stopped.
She was older.
Thinner.
A scar crossed her temple.
But he recognized her.
Caroline Blackwood.
Daniel's wife.
Maya's mother.
Noah's mother.
Alive.
Arthur could barely speak.
"Caroline."
She stared at him.
"You look like him."
Arthur's eyes filled.
"So do your children."
Caroline broke.
For six years she had apparently survived without allowing herself to cry.
Now she covered her mouth.
"They're alive?"
Arthur stared.
"You didn't know?"
Her expression changed.
"Grace kept them?"
"Yes."
Caroline nearly collapsed.
Arthur caught her.
She pushed him away.
"No. Don't touch me."
He stepped back.
"Victoria told you I killed them."
Caroline looked ashamed.
"At first."
"For six years?"
"No."
"Then why didn't you come back?"
Caroline looked around the garage.
"Because Daniel's crash wasn't an accident."
Arthur's jaw tightened.
"Who killed him?"
"I don't know."
"But you were driving."
Caroline froze.
Arthur saw it.
"The photograph," she whispered.
"You lied to Grace."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because someone was listening."
Arthur stared.
"What?"
"Grace's phone had been compromised. Daniel knew."
"Then why send her away?"
"To protect the children."
Caroline took a breath.
"We drove to meet Margaret Shaw. Halfway there Daniel realized another car was following us."
"What happened?"
"He told me to change route."
Caroline looked at her hands.
"The brakes failed."
Arthur felt cold.
"We hit the guardrail."
"Daniel?"
"He was alive after the crash."
Arthur stopped breathing.
Caroline continued.
"He got out."
"No."
"I saw him."
Arthur took a step closer.
"The report said he died instantly."
"The report lied."
Arthur's voice cracked.
"Did you see his body?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"I lost consciousness."
She swallowed.
"When I woke at the clinic, Victoria was there."
Arthur felt the entire world narrowing.
"If Daniel got out..."
"I don't know what happened to him."
Arthur stared at her.
Six years of grief.
A coffin he had never opened because the body was supposedly too damaged.
A funeral built on paperwork.
"Could Daniel be alive?"
Caroline's eyes filled.
"I spent six years trying to answer that."
Arthur whispered, "And?"
She reached into her coat.
She handed him a photograph.
Taken eleven months earlier.
A man walked through an airport in Prague.
Older.
Bearded.
Scarred.
But unmistakable.
Daniel Blackwood.
Arthur nearly dropped the photograph.
"He's alive."
Caroline shook her head.
"I don't know."
"That's him."
"It looks like him."
"That's him."
Arthur's voice broke.
Caroline whispered, "Then you need to understand something before you start searching."
"What?"
"Someone has been pretending to be Daniel for years."
May you like
Arthur stared.
"And I don't know whether the man in that photograph is your brother or the person who stole his identity."
