Chapter 12 - PHASE TWO
Claire’s doctors wanted her back in the hospital.
She refused until Mason explained what phase two meant.
Nobody knew.
That was the problem.
Nathan’s apartment was empty.
His bank accounts had been drained two days earlier.
Rebecca had apparently lived under multiple identities for more than twenty years.
Mason placed guards at every entrance to Sterling Manor.
Lucas moved Claire into a downstairs bedroom.
He slept outside the door.
At three in the morning, Claire opened it.
“You don’t have to sit there.”
“Yes, I do.”
She studied him.
“You lied to me.”
“I know.”
“You hid your father’s investigation.”
“I know.”
“You found a document with my name on it and didn’t tell me.”
Lucas looked down.
“I was afraid.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You were afraid.”
“That if I told you, you would leave.”
“You should have been afraid that silence would get me killed.”
He accepted the words.
No defense.
That mattered.
Claire sat beside him.
“Do you believe your mother.”
“About Rebecca.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Claire nodded.
“Neither do I.”
Lucas looked toward the dark hallway.
“My mother never tells a complete lie.”
“She gives you eighty percent truth.”
“And hides the twenty percent that changes everything.”
Claire leaned back.
“So what is she hiding now.”
A crash sounded upstairs.
Lucas stood instantly.
Police rushed toward the sound.
Then the fire alarms activated.
Claire smelled smoke.
“Lucas.”
He grabbed her hand.
“Outside.”
They reached the courtyard as smoke poured from Henry’s former office.
Fire crews arrived within minutes.
The fire was contained.
But one object had vanished.
Henry’s safe.
Mason stared at the blackened wall.
“Someone removed it before starting the fire.”
Claire remembered Henry’s video.
The original trust documents are stored somewhere only one member of this family knows.
Perhaps the safe had contained the location.
An officer hurried outside.
“Detective.”
“What.”
“We caught someone near the west gate.”
Nathan.
Claire expected Mason to say his name.
Instead, the officer brought forward Rosa.
She was carrying a heavy leather bag.
Mason opened it.
Inside were stacks of cash.
A passport.
Plane tickets.
And the black remote seen in Rebecca’s hand.
Rosa began crying.
“I didn’t put those there.”
Helena appeared behind them.
She stared at the evidence.
Then at Claire.
“You trusted the wrong woman.”
Claire looked at Rosa.
Rosa shook her head desperately.
“Mrs. Sterling.”
“Please.”
Claire remembered Henry’s warning.
Do not assume the person shouting the loudest is the person you should fear.
Rosa was terrified.
Helena was calm.
Claire turned toward Mason.
“Search Helena’s room.”
Helena’s expression changed.
Only for one second.
May you like
But Claire saw it.
And she knew she had finally touched the nerve they had been hiding.
