Chapter 13 - The Man at Midnight)
Marcus arrived in Brooklyn with Daniel and two former federal security officers.
The address led to an old warehouse near the river.
No Thomas Reed.
No Adrian.
Only a black sedan.
Its rear door was open.
Inside sat a tape recorder.
Marcus pressed play.
Thomas Reed's voice.
"Marcus, if Adrian gave you this location, he wants you angry before you find me."
Marcus looked around.
Nothing moved.
Thomas continued.
"Your father's death was not a heart attack."
Daniel swore quietly.
"He died from cardiac arrhythmia triggered by a drug interaction."
Marcus gripped the recorder.
"I put one of the medications in his drink."
His chest tightened.
"I did so because Richard asked me to."
Marcus frowned.
The recording continued.
"He had been suffering severe episodes for months. He did not want Eleanor to know how ill he had become because he believed she would take control of the investigation."
Daniel whispered, "So Thomas didn't poison him."
"Not intentionally," Marcus said.
Thomas's voice returned.
"But I made a mistake. Richard had taken another medication that evening. I did not know. The combination may have accelerated the arrhythmia."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"I have lived with that for five years."
A pause.
"Adrian knows enough to make it sound like murder."
Marcus stared at the recorder.
"Do not underestimate him. Adrian is not insane. He is not evil. He is a man who has spent his life believing he was robbed of a name, a mother, and an inheritance."
Thomas's voice softened.
"Some of that is true."
Marcus exchanged a glance with Daniel.
"His mother was not Laura Cole."
There it was again.
"Laura agreed to raise him because Richard asked her to."
Marcus's pulse quickened.
"His biological mother is alive."
The recording stopped.
Marcus hit play again.
Nothing.
"That's it?"
Daniel examined the device.
"Another track."
He pressed a button.
Thomas continued.
"If you want her name, find the woman who witnessed Richard's first marriage."
Marcus froze.
First marriage.
Richard Hale had been married before Eleanor?
Marcus had never heard it.
"Her name is Clara Bell."
The tape ended.
Daniel immediately searched.
Within an hour they found Clara.
Eighty-one years old.
Living in Queens.
They visited the next morning.
Clara Bell opened the door wearing a lavender robe and looking entirely unimpressed by Marcus Hale.
"I knew somebody would come eventually."
Inside, her apartment was filled with books and photographs.
Marcus showed Richard's picture.
Clara smiled sadly.
"He was handsome then."
"Was he married before Eleanor?"
"Yes."
"To whom?"
Clara looked at Marcus carefully.
"You really don't know."
"No."
She sat down.
"Your father married a woman named Catherine Mercer when he was twenty."
Marcus had never heard the name.
"What happened?"
"Jonathan Hale had the marriage annulled."
"Why?"
"Because Catherine worked in housekeeping at one of his hotels."
Marcus felt anger.
"Was she pregnant?"
Clara nodded.
"Adrian."
"Yes."
Everything shifted.
"Then why did Richard say Laura wasn't Adrian's mother?"
"Because Laura was Catherine's sister."
Marcus sat down slowly.
"Where is Catherine?"
Clara's expression changed.
"That's the part Richard never learned."
"What do you mean?"
"Jonathan told him Catherine died."
"Did she?"
"No."
Marcus stared.
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw her eight years later."
"Where?"
"At the Riverside Motor Lodge."
October 14, 1988.
Marcus remembered Lydia's date.
"Was Eleanor there?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Clara looked toward the window.
"Catherine wanted her son back."
Marcus felt the room become colder.
"Adrian was four?"
"No."
Clara frowned.
"He was seven."
Marcus's mind caught.
The false birth date.
Eleanor had told him.
"Why was his age changed?"
"Jonathan's lawyers changed everything. Birth records. Names. School records."
"Why?"
"Because if Richard's marriage to Catherine was valid, Eleanor's marriage to Richard might not have been."
Marcus went still.
Daniel said, "That affects legitimacy clauses."
Clara nodded.
"And inheritance."
Marcus stared at the floor.
If Richard and Catherine's annulment had been fraudulent, Adrian could be the legal firstborn.
Not merely a claimant through Laura's bloodline.
A direct Hale heir.
"Where is Catherine now?"
Clara looked at him.
"I don't know."
"Who saw her last?"
"Your mother."
Marcus closed his eyes.
Of course.
"What happened at the Riverside?"
Clara took a long breath.
"Catherine and Eleanor argued. Richard arrived. So did Jonathan."
"Then?"
"I left before midnight."
"Why?"
"Jonathan threatened me."
"What did he say?"
"That if I ever spoke about Catherine again, my family would regret it."
Marcus clenched his jaw.
"Did Catherine leave alive?"
Clara looked straight at him.
"Yes."
Relief came briefly.
Then she added, "But she was not alone."
"With Adrian?"
"No."
Marcus waited.
Clara's voice became almost a whisper.
"She had a baby girl with her."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Whose child?"
Clara looked at Marcus.
"Richard's."
Marcus's heartbeat seemed to stop.
Another sibling.
A younger sister.
Hidden before he was born.
"Name?"
"I only heard Catherine call her Rose."
Marcus stood slowly.
Adrian wasn't the only hidden child.
The anonymous message had told the truth.
He had two unknown siblings.
Possibly more.
Clara reached into a drawer.
She removed a photograph.
Richard.
Catherine.
A seven-year-old Adrian.
And a baby girl.
Marcus took it.
On the back was a handwritten address.
A town in Maine.
"What's this?"
"Where Catherine said she was going."
Marcus looked up.
"Why didn't you give this to Richard?"
Clara's face filled with regret.
"I tried."
"When?"
"The week before he died."
Marcus felt cold.
"What happened?"
"He told me someone had already found Catherine."
"Who?"
Clara shook her head.
"He wouldn't say."
Marcus's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman's voice.
Older.
"Marcus Hale?"
His skin prickled.
"Yes."
"You visited Clara Bell."
He looked at Clara.
"Who is this?"
A long silence.
Then the woman said, "My name is Rose."
May you like
Marcus could not breathe.
"And if you care about those little boys, stop searching for me before Adrian finds out you're close."
