Chapter 12 - the friend who knew from the beginning)
Claire returned from the cemetery without telling Mara what David had said.
She wanted proof.
Not another accusation.
Mara had been Claire’s assistant for seven years.
Before that, she had been a junior analyst in the Morgan finance department.
She had become Claire’s closest friend after Thomas died.
She knew every secret.
Every password change.
Every fear.
Every piece of evidence Claire had collected over the past three weeks.
If Mara was involved, Claire had been handing the conspiracy its own investigation.
Reyes checked Mara’s background.
Nothing obvious.
Then Laura found it.
Mara’s birth name.
Mara Bennett.
Claire stared at the file.
“Bennett?”
Laura looked devastated.
“She’s my daughter.”
Claire felt as though the floor had vanished.
“You have a daughter?”
“I had one.”
“What does that mean?”
“Vivian took her.”
Claire stared.
Laura explained.
When she disappeared six years earlier, she left Mara behind.
Mara was twenty two.
Laura believed involving her would make her a target.
Instead Vivian approached Mara first.
She told her Laura had stolen millions and abandoned her.
She offered Mara a job at Morgan Urban Development.
Close to Thomas.
Close to Claire.
“She turned my daughter into a way to watch Thomas,” Laura said.
“Did Mara know you were alive?”
“No.”
“Until when?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire thought of every late night Mara had comforted her.
Every investigation she had assisted.
Perhaps some had been genuine.
Perhaps none.
“Was Mara in Ethan’s apartment when Dad called?”
Laura closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Charles found building security records before they were erased.”
“Why was she there?”
“She and Ethan knew each other.”
Claire felt another betrayal.
“How?”
“Vivian introduced them years before you met him.”
Claire sat.
“Were they together?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Mara was useful. Ethan was useful. Vivian used both.”
Claire called Mara.
“Come to my townhouse.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Mara arrived twenty minutes later.
Claire had Reyes waiting in the next room.
Laura stayed hidden upstairs.
Mara walked in carrying her laptop.
“You scared me.”
Claire locked the door.
Mara noticed.
“What happened?”
“My father called me the night he died.”
Mara’s face changed.
Claire saw everything.
Not guilt alone.
Grief.
Fear.
Recognition.
“He called my phone,” Claire continued, “but I was asleep at Ethan’s apartment.”
Mara sat slowly.
“Claire.”
“You answered.”
Tears filled Mara’s eyes.
“Yes.”
Claire felt pain move through her chest.
“Why were you there?”
“Ethan called me.”
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Years.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“You watched me fall in love with him.”
“I tried to stop it.”
“You helped plan my engagement party.”
“I know.”
“You sat beside me when I chose my wedding dress.”
Mara began crying.
“I know.”
“Tell me what happened to my father.”
Mara covered her face.
“Please.”
“Tell me.”
Mara lowered her hands.
“Thomas called. He sounded weak. Confused. He said he needed you.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I tried.”
“You weren’t in Ethan’s apartment with me.”
“No.”
Claire’s breath caught.
“Then how did you have my phone?”
“Ethan gave it to me.”
Claire stared.
“He took my phone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was leaving to meet Thomas. He wanted someone to monitor your calls.”
“And you agreed.”
“I was working for Vivian.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Mara sobbed.
“I was twenty eight and angry. I thought my mother abandoned me. Vivian told me Thomas helped her steal money and disappear. She said your father destroyed my family.”
“So you spied on him.”
“Yes.”
“And me.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked away.
“But that night,” Mara continued, “Thomas sounded like he was dying.”
Claire turned back.
“What did you do?”
“I went to the marina.”
“After Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“What did you find?”
“Thomas was on the dock.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Claire began shaking.
“He was conscious?”
“Barely.”
“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”
“I did.”
Claire stared.
“I called from a pay phone because Vivian monitored mine.”
“What happened?”
“Before help arrived, someone came.”
“Who?”
Mara looked toward the floor.
“Evelyn.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“Evelyn pushed Dad into the water.”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“She tried to pull him toward her car.”
“Why?”
“She said she would take him to a private hospital.”
Claire almost laughed from disbelief.
“And you believed her?”
“No.”
Mara wiped her face.
“Thomas didn’t either.”
“What happened?”
“He fought her.”
“Weak and poisoned?”
“Yes.”
“They argued. He stumbled backward.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“He fell?”
Mara nodded.
“Into the water.”
“And Evelyn?”
“She froze.”
“Did she try to save him?”
“No.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Mara was sobbing now.
“I jumped in.”
Claire stared.
“I tried. I swear to you, Claire, I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He was too heavy. He was barely conscious. I kept losing him.”
Mara covered her mouth.
“I screamed for Evelyn to help.”
“And?”
“She ran.”
Claire could see it.
Dark water.
Her father weak.
Mara trying.
“No ambulance came?”
“It did.”
“Too late.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did the official report say Dad was alone?”
“Because Martin Hale arrived before the paramedics.”
Claire froze.
“He was still police then.”
“Yes.”
“He told me if I said I had been there, Vivian would make sure I went to prison for Thomas’s murder.”
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
“For eighteen months.”
“Yes.”
Claire stood and walked to the window.
She wanted to hate Mara.
Part of her did.
Another part saw a frightened twenty eight year old who had made one terrible choice after another until truth became impossible.
“Were you the mysterious voice in the hotel recording?”
“No.”
“Did you plant the recorder?”
“No.”
“Did you know David was messaging me?”
“No.”
Claire turned.
“Are you still working for Vivian?”
“No.”
“For David?”
“No.”
“For Ethan?”
Mara shook her head fiercely.
“No.”
“Then prove it.”
“How?”
“The wedding.”
Mara stared.
Claire continued.
“They all still think I’m going through with it.”
“You are?”
“The ceremony.”
Mara understood.
Claire took out the black USB.
“I’m going to play this.”
Mara’s eyes widened.
“Ethan knows about that recording.”
“I know.”
“He’ll stop you.”
“I want him to try.”
“Claire.”
“I need every person who believes they control me in the same room.”
Mara whispered, “That’s dangerous.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at her bruised wrist.
“So is marrying Ethan.”
Mara lowered her eyes.
Claire placed the USB on the table.
“What comes after the unfinished sentence?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were involved with Vivian for years.”
“I never heard the full recording.”
“Who was the voice?”
Mara hesitated.
“I think I know.”
Claire waited.
“Martin Hale.”
That fit.
Former police.
Blackwood security.
The man who erased evidence.
The man positioned to control everyone’s movement during the wedding.
“What was his plan?”
Mara shook her head.
“Hale doesn’t work for Vivian anymore.”
“Then who?”
Mara looked frightened.
“David.”
Claire remembered David admitting he wanted Ethan removed.
The anonymous messages.
The manipulated footage.
The wedding was not merely a confrontation.
David intended to use it to eliminate Ethan, destroy Vivian, and seize Morgan afterward.
Claire smiled faintly.
“Then we let every one of them believe their plan is still working.”
Mara stared at her.
“And what is our plan?”
May you like
Claire picked up the USB.
“We change what’s on the screen.”
