Chapter 11 - the man behind the wedding)
David Morgan requested a meeting.
Not through the burner phone.
Through Claire’s corporate calendar.
Location: Morgan family cemetery.
Time: midnight.
Reyes called it obvious bait.
Claire agreed.
Then she went anyway.
With precautions.
Police watched from outside the cemetery.
Laura wore a concealed transmitter.
Mara tracked Claire’s location.
Claire carried no USB, no documents, nothing David could steal.
At midnight, she found her uncle standing beside Thomas’s grave.
David looked older than Claire remembered.
Sixty three.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
His face resembled her father’s enough to hurt.
“Claire.”
“Uncle David.”
He looked at the gravestone.
“He would hate this.”
“You standing here?”
“You becoming a Blackwood.”
“I’m not becoming one.”
David smiled.
“Good.”
Claire kept her distance.
“You sent the messages.”
“Yes.”
“Why hide?”
“Because you would have called your father’s favorite detective.”
Claire said nothing.
David looked toward the cemetery gate.
“You did anyway.”
He knew Reyes was watching.
Claire felt a chill.
“You planted the evidence.”
“Some.”
“The marina video.”
“Yes.”
“You altered the timestamp.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make you question Charles.”
“You told me not to trust him.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“But he wasn’t at the marina.”
“No.”
“You manipulated me.”
“I educated you.”
Claire laughed.
“You sound like Vivian.”
David’s face hardened.
“Never compare me to that woman.”
“Why? You’re both trying to control me.”
“I’m trying to save what your father stole from our family.”
There it was.
Not justice.
Ownership.
“What did Dad steal?”
“My half.”
“You left Morgan voluntarily.”
“I was forced out.”
“Because you embezzled company funds.”
David smiled.
“That is what Thomas told everyone.”
“Was it true?”
“No.”
Claire studied him.
“Prove it.”
His smile faded.
“Your father controlled the records.”
“Convenient.”
“You inherited his suspicion.”
“And you inherited his resentment.”
David stepped closer.
“Do you know why Thomas arranged for you to meet Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Claire frowned.
“He wanted peace with Blackwood.”
“That came later.”
David took out his phone.
He showed her an old email.
Thomas to David.
I need Ethan close enough to Vivian that we can see what she is planning. Claire may be the only person he trusts.
Claire stared.
“My father used me.”
“He told himself he was protecting you.”
Claire felt nausea.
Thomas had arranged the introduction not only for peace, but as a way to observe Ethan.
“Did Dad know Ethan would fall for me?”
“He hoped Ethan would choose you over Vivian.”
Claire thought of the father she loved.
A good man.
A complicated man.
A man who had made a catastrophic decision.
“And when Ethan didn’t?”
“Thomas tried to separate you.”
“Then he died.”
David looked toward the grave.
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know he was going to die?”
David hesitated.
Claire saw it.
“You knew something.”
“I knew Vivian planned to frighten him.”
“How?”
“She wanted him to stop searching for Laura.”
“What was the plan?”
“To disable his boat. Make him believe an accident could happen.”
Claire’s voice shook.
“They poisoned him.”
“That was not supposed to happen.”
“You sound exactly like Evelyn.”
David looked at her sharply.
“Evelyn told you that?”
“Yes.”
He cursed.
“What?”
“Evelyn is the one who changed the plan.”
Claire went still.
“What did she do?”
“She added the chemical to Thomas’s drink.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw her.”
Claire stared.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“At the marina.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was meeting Vivian.”
Claire felt disgust.
“You were working together.”
“Temporarily.”
“Against Dad.”
“Against Thomas’s control of the company.”
“What happened?”
David looked toward the grave again.
“Vivian wanted his boat disabled. Evelyn was supposed to switch a bottle in his cabin with one containing a sedative.”
“But?”
“She used something stronger.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know until later.”
“Then Ethan arrived.”
David’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
“What did Ethan do?”
“He found Thomas barely conscious.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“And?”
“He called Vivian.”
“Not police.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had evidence that could destroy his family.”
Claire felt tears sting her eyes.
“What did Ethan do?”
David hesitated.
“Tell me.”
“He took the evidence.”
“And left Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“When Ethan left, Thomas was alive.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Her father could have been saved.
Ethan had chosen evidence over a dying man.
“Did Ethan push him into the water?”
“No.”
“Then how did he drown?”
David looked at her.
“That is the part you have not found.”
“Tell me.”
“There was one more person on the dock.”
“Who?”
David smiled sadly.
“The only person Thomas trusted enough to call after he realized Ethan had abandoned him.”
Claire’s mind moved instantly.
Reyes?
Charles?
Laura?
Evelyn?
David shook his head.
“Not them.”
“Who?”
“Your father called you.”
Claire stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“You were asleep.”
“I never received a call.”
“Because someone answered your phone.”
Claire remembered that night.
She had stayed at Ethan’s apartment.
She had fallen asleep before midnight.
Her phone had been on the bedside table.
Ethan had left the apartment.
Claire whispered, “Vivian?”
“No.”
“Who?”
David leaned closer.
“Your maid of honor.”
Claire froze.
“Mara?”
David nodded.
“She was in Ethan’s apartment that night.”
Claire stepped backward.
“No.”
“She answered Thomas’s call.”
“No.”
“She went to the marina.”
Claire shook her head.
“Mara didn’t even know Ethan then.”
David looked almost pitying.
“You still believe the first meeting you remember was the first meeting that happened.”
Claire’s phone vibrated.
A text from Mara.
Where are you? Your tracker stopped moving.
May you like
Claire stared at the message.
David whispered, “Ask her why.”
