Chapter 14 - The Body in Daniel's Car)
Bell stared at the sentence for a long time.
Claire watched him.
"Well?"
"I don't know."
"Daniel thought you did."
"He thought a lot of things."
"Whose body was in the car?"
Bell called the original medical examiner's office.
Records were requested.
Dental files retrieved.
The body had never been genetically tested because investigators believed identification was straightforward.
Fourteen months later, an exhumation order was obtained.
Claire did not attend.
She stayed with Sophie.
Two days later Bell arrived at the rental home.
His expression told her the answer before he spoke.
"It wasn't Daniel."
Claire sat.
"Who?"
"We don't know yet."
"Male?"
"Yes."
"Age?"
"Approximately Daniel's age."
"Cause of death?"
Bell hesitated.
"Claire."
"Tell me."
"The victim was dead before the vehicle caught fire."
She closed her eyes.
"Murdered?"
"Possibly."
"Daniel put a dead man in his car?"
"We don't know that."
"He disappeared. His car crashed. Another man was inside."
"That's what the evidence currently shows."
"Was Daniel running from Northbridge, or was he part of it?"
Bell said nothing.
Claire stood.
"That is the question now, isn't it?"
"Yes."
It hurt more than she expected.
She had spent days moving between grief and hope.
Now suspicion entered.
Daniel had hidden evidence.
Daniel had staged something.
Daniel had contacted Robert and Margaret but not Claire.
Daniel had traveled with Thomas Vale, a corrupt former investigator.
Love did not erase those facts.
Evidence.
Bell's word returned.
Start with evidence.
That afternoon, Robert requested another interview.
This time Claire agreed.
He looked older behind the glass.
"You found out about the body."
"Yes."
Robert lowered his head.
"I hoped you wouldn't."
"Why?"
"Because this is where Daniel stops looking innocent."
Claire sat across from him.
"Was he?"
Robert looked up.
"I don't know anymore."
"Did he kill that man?"
"No."
"You answered quickly."
"Because I know who did."
Claire's pulse jumped.
"Who?"
"Thomas Vale."
"Who was the victim?"
Robert looked toward Bell.
Then at Claire.
"Eric Nolan."
Bell became still.
Claire asked, "Who is that?"
"A junior accountant at Hart Fiduciary."
Robert continued.
"Eric found some of the same transfers Daniel found. He panicked. He contacted Vale because Vale claimed to be investigating Northbridge."
"What happened?"
"Vale killed him."
"How do you know?"
"Daniel told me."
"And then Daniel put Nolan's body in his car."
Robert looked sick.
"He said it was the only way to make Northbridge believe he was dead."
Claire leaned back.
"Daniel helped cover a murder."
"Yes."
The word landed heavily.
"Why would he do that?"
"Because Vale told him you and Sophie would be dead within forty-eight hours if Northbridge believed Daniel was still cooperating with federal agents."
Claire stared.
"So Daniel disappeared."
"Yes."
"And let me believe he was dead."
"Yes."
"And contacted you."
"Because he needed money."
"You helped him?"
"At first."
"Why?"
Robert laughed bitterly.
"Because he was my son."
"You stole from his daughter."
"I never said I was a good father."
At least he had stopped pretending.
"Where is Daniel now?"
"I don't know."
"You spoke to him two days ago."
"That wasn't Daniel."
Claire froze.
"The recording."
"Someone imitating him."
Bell leaned forward.
"You told us it was Daniel."
"I needed you to trace the call."
"You manipulated a federal investigation."
"Yes."
Bell's expression hardened.
"Who called?"
Robert looked toward Claire.
"Thomas Vale."
Claire felt cold.
"Why would Vale sound like Daniel?"
"To make us believe Daniel was still working with him."
"Is he?"
Robert shook his head.
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because Daniel stopped contacting me five months ago."
"Maybe he was done with you."
Robert's eyes filled with something Claire had never seen there.
Fear.
"He sent one final message."
"What?"
Robert swallowed.
"He said Vale discovered where Sophie was."
Claire went still.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Daniel told me to keep you in the house and act normal."
Claire wanted to hate him completely.
It would have been easier.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"You should have told Bell."
Robert looked at the agent.
"I didn't know whether Bell was compromised."
Bell's jaw tightened.
Robert continued.
"Daniel trusted him once. Then he stopped."
"Why?"
"He discovered someone inside Bell's task force had accessed Sophie's file."
Bell immediately reached for his phone.
Claire stared.
"When?"
"Five months ago."
The same time Daniel disappeared again.
Bell walked out while making calls.
Robert leaned forward.
"Claire."
"What?"
"You need to leave."
"I'm already in a protected location."
"No."
Robert looked toward the mirrored window.
"Not the house."
"Then what?"
"The country."
Claire almost laughed.
"Why?"
"Because Northbridge doesn't care about the trust anymore."
"What do they care about?"
Robert whispered.
"Daniel's evidence."
"I don't have it."
"They think Sophie does."
Claire felt ice move through her.
"Why?"
"Because Daniel built everything around her memory."
Claire thought about Orion.
The games.
The keys.
The clues.
Sophie had been a child.
Daniel had turned that childhood into a map.
Robert stared at her.
"If Vale comes for anything, he won't come for money."
May you like
Claire stood.
"He'll come for Sophie."
