Chapter 5 - twenty three stolen letters
The storage unit smelled of dust and cardboard.
Claire insisted on going.
Daniel argued.
She won.
Marcus had already contacted law enforcement, but Daniel's attorneys advised preserving the scene until investigators arrived.
They entered only far enough to see the evidence.
Twenty-three envelopes sat inside a plastic storage bin.
Every one carried Claire's handwriting.
Every one was addressed to Daniel.
Some had been mailed to Ashford Holdings.
Some to Daniel's Manhattan residence.
Some to hotels where Claire knew he had been staying.
One was addressed to a hospital in Boston where Daniel had undergone shoulder surgery.
Claire remembered that letter.
She had written it while eight months pregnant.
Daniel,
I don't know whether you will read this.
I don't know whether you care.
But your daughter kicked for the first time today hard enough that I saw my stomach move.
I laughed.
Then I cried.
I hate you for missing it.
I hate myself because I still wish you were here.
Claire covered her mouth.
Daniel stood behind her.
"You remember that one?"
"Every word."
He looked at the envelopes.
"I never saw any of them."
Claire believed him now.
That realization hurt almost as much as the original abandonment.
Because anger had once been simple.
Now grief belonged to both of them.
Marcus pointed toward another evidence bag.
Inside was the photograph.
Thomas Ashford stood outside a private terminal in Montreal.
The image was dated three months earlier.
He looked older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
Claire whispered, "Why fake his death?"
Daniel did not answer.
A police detective named Evelyn Hart arrived twenty minutes later.
She took statements separately.
When Claire explained Thomas's threats, Detective Hart asked a question Claire had never seriously considered.
"Did Thomas know the baby's exact due date?"
"Yes."
"Hospital?"
"I changed hospitals at the last minute."
"Why?"
Claire paused.
"I received anonymous calls."
"What kind?"
"Someone would call and say nothing."
"How many?"
"Maybe twelve."
Daniel looked furious.
Detective Hart continued.
"Any other incidents?"
Claire thought.
"A car followed me once."
"Once?"
"Maybe twice."
"Did you report it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I thought I was paranoid."
Hart wrote something down.
Daniel said, "You weren't."
The detective turned toward him.
"Mr. Ashford, I understand your brother was declared legally dead."
"Yes."
"Who benefited financially?"
Daniel did not hesitate.
"I did."
Claire looked at him.
Daniel continued.
"Thomas's voting shares transferred to me."
"How much were they worth?"
"At the time?"
"Approximately."
"Four hundred million."
Hart raised an eyebrow.
"And now?"
"Closer to nine hundred."
Claire stared.
Nine hundred million dollars.
Suddenly the elaborate deception did not feel impossible.
It felt cheap.
Hart asked, "Would your brother have known his disappearance increased your control?"
"Yes."
"Then why fake his death if it enriched you?"
Daniel leaned against the metal wall.
"Because it also removed him from an investigation."
"What investigation?"
"Embezzlement."
Claire looked at him.
Daniel had never mentioned this.
"Our internal auditors discovered irregular transfers from several Ashford subsidiaries. Roughly sixty million dollars."
"Did you suspect Thomas?"
"I did."
"Did he know?"
"We argued about it three days before his boat disappeared."
Detective Hart closed her notebook.
"Then this is no longer primarily about family interference."
"What is it about?" Claire asked.
Hart looked at the photograph of Thomas.
"Money."
A technician called from deeper inside the unit.
They had found another box.
Inside were copies of Claire's tax records.
Old photographs.
Lily's preschool enrollment form.
Her pediatrician's address.
Dance-school schedules.
And photographs taken through the fence at Lily's elementary school.
Claire's legs weakened.
Daniel caught her.
"He was watching her."
Marcus's voice came from behind them.
"Not just him."
He held up another picture.
It showed Elena Ward standing across the street from Lily's school.
Claire stared.
Her former assistant.
"She knew everything about my schedule."
"Which is probably why she was hired," Daniel said.
Claire's mind raced backward.
Elena had joined her company four years ago.
Who recommended her?
A recruiter.
Who paid the recruiter?
Claire had never asked.
Marcus was already checking.
Then Detective Hart lifted another document.
A birth certificate.
Lily Bennett.
Mother: Claire Bennett.
Father: Daniel Ashford.
Claire stared.
"I never put Daniel on the certificate."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"I left it blank."
Hart examined the seal.
"This isn't the original."
"What is it?"
"A certified amended copy."
Claire shook her head.
"I never amended it."
Hart read the authorization.
Then frowned.
"According to this, someone filed a paternity acknowledgment six years ago."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Signed by whom?"
Hart showed him.
Daniel Ashford.
Daniel stared at his own signature.
"I never signed that."
Claire whispered, "Then why would someone secretly establish your paternity while trying to keep you away?"
No one answered.
A second technician opened a steel lockbox.
Inside was a passport.
Thomas Ashford's photograph.
Different name.
David Mercer.
Alongside it sat three passports belonging to Elena.
Three names.
Three identities.
At the bottom of the box lay a sealed envelope.
Written across the front were two words.
For Daniel.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Claire watched his eyes move across the page.
"What does it say?"
Daniel handed it to her.
You were never supposed to find the letters.
But if you did, understand this.
Lily was not hidden from you because I hated you.
She was hidden because Father left something to his first legitimate granddaughter.
Something none of us could afford for her to inherit.
Claire read the sentence twice.
Then looked at Daniel.
"Your father died before Lily was born."
"Yes."
"How could he leave something specifically to her?"
May you like
Daniel's expression had become unreadable.
"Because apparently he knew about her before I did."
