Chapter 7 - The House in Cambridge)
Daniel went to Cambridge anyway.
He did not go alone.
Sarah argued against it.
Ethan insisted on bringing a private security team.
Daniel agreed to both precautions and left Mia with his mother at a secure property outside Boston.
Before leaving, he knelt in front of his daughter.
“I will be back before you wake up.”
Mia studied his face.
“Promise?”
Daniel hesitated only because promises had begun to frighten him.
Then he touched her cheek.
“Promise.”
Mia handed him the lock of hair Vanessa had cut.
He stared at it.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“So you remember.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I don’t need help remembering.”
Mia wrapped the hair in a tissue.
“Mommy said people forget scary things when they want to be happy.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What did you say?”
Mia shrugged.
“She said it in the video.”
“What video?”
“The ladybug one.”
Daniel’s heartbeat changed.
“What ladybug?”
But Mia could not explain.
She only remembered Claire talking into a camera when Mia was very small.
Another recording.
Another hidden message.
Daniel kissed her forehead.
“We will find it.”
The Cambridge address belonged to a narrow brick townhouse on a quiet street.
Victor’s envelope contained a key.
It opened the front door.
Daniel entered behind Ethan.
The electricity was on.
No alarms.
No furniture.
The place looked abandoned except for one room on the second floor.
There, beneath a white sheet, stood a metal filing cabinet.
Sarah arrived behind them.
“This is too easy.”
Daniel agreed.
Ethan checked for obvious devices.
Then he opened the cabinet.
Empty.
Daniel stared.
“Victor sent us here for nothing.”
Sarah walked to the window.
“No.”
She pointed toward the wall.
A rectangle of paint was slightly lighter than the rest.
Something had hung there for years.
Daniel touched it.
Then noticed a tiny hole near the baseboard.
Ethan crouched.
He removed a loose piece of trim.
Behind it was a cable.
“Old data line.”
“Going where?”
“Basement.”
They followed it downstairs.
The basement smelled of dust and damp concrete.
A steel door stood behind shelves filled with paint cans.
The brass key from Victor opened it.
Inside was a room Daniel had never expected.
Servers.
Old monitors.
Boxes of documents.
Photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Mercer family photographs.
Daniel as a teenager.
Claire leaving a hospital.
Mia at preschool.
Victor entering courthouses.
Martin meeting strangers.
It was an investigation archive.
Sarah whispered, “Jonathan.”
Daniel walked toward a desk.
A notebook lay open.
The last written entry was dated four years earlier.
M.C. believes register survived. V.M. claims he destroyed it. C. created duplicate trail before accident. D. still unaware.
Daniel knew the initials.
M.C. Martin Cole.
V.M. Victor Mercer.
C. Claire.
D. Daniel.
Daniel turned pages.
The handwriting grew increasingly rushed.
There were references to offshore companies, medical records, insurance policies, guardianship petitions.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
The Custodian.
No real name.
Only that title.
Sarah pointed to an entry.
Custodian approved Phase Two if Claire removed.
Daniel stared.
“Removed.”
Ethan said quietly, “That could mean many things.”
Daniel looked at him.
“No. It cannot.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Ethan raised a hand.
Everyone went silent.
Another sound.
Footsteps.
Security moved toward the stairs.
Then the lights went out.
Daniel heard Sarah curse.
A crash came from the server room.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Ethan shouted, “Stay down.”
Someone moved in the darkness.
Daniel felt an arm brush his shoulder.
Then a door slammed.
Security rushed upstairs.
Daniel followed.
The front entrance stood open.
A motorcycle accelerated at the end of the street.
One guard ran outside.
Too late.
Ethan returned to the basement.
A laptop was missing.
“So was somebody waiting for us?” Daniel asked.
Ethan shook his head.
“Worse.”
He pointed to an opened access panel behind the server rack.
“Someone was already here.”
Sarah searched the desk.
“One notebook is gone.”
“Which?”
“The one we were reading.”
Daniel stared at the empty space.
Then a printer on the far side of the room suddenly activated.
One sheet of paper emerged.
Nobody had touched the computer.
Daniel approached cautiously.
Three sentences were printed in the center.
CLAIRE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE.
MARTIN CHANGED THE PLAN.
ASK VICTOR WHAT HE DID WITH THE DRIVER.
Daniel read the message twice.
Sarah looked at him.
“The driver who hit Claire?”
Daniel’s phone rang.
Victor.
Daniel answered immediately.
“Where is the driver?”
Silence.
Then Victor whispered, “You went to Cambridge.”
“Yes.”
“You should not have.”
“Where is the driver?”
Victor breathed heavily.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
“No. You listen. Someone inside that house just told me to ask you what you did with the driver.”
Victor did not answer.
“Where is he?”
Finally, Victor said, “Alive.”
Daniel’s hand tightened around the phone.
“The police report said he died at the scene.”
“I know.”
“Where is he?”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“Your grandfather’s hunting lodge in Vermont.”
Daniel stared at the dark server room.
“Why?”
“Because three years ago the driver woke up from a medically induced coma under another name.”
Daniel felt the air leave his lungs.
“And what did he say?”
May you like
Victor answered with five words.
“Claire’s crash was not accidental.”
