Chapter 6 - Claire’s Last Letter
They found Meredith before sunrise.
She had not made it beyond the northern wall.
A security team located her inside an unused maintenance shed with a broken phone and a backpack containing cash.
She did not resist.
She did not ask for a lawyer.
She only asked one question.
“Is Lily alive?”
Adrian stood across from her in the security room.
“You know she is.”
Meredith lowered her head.
“I never wanted her dead.”
“You took her out of a secure room.”
“I was told to.”
“You keep saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“Then give me a name.”
“I don’t know his real name.”
Adrian slammed the photograph from the traffic camera onto the table.
“Is this you?”
Meredith stared.
Her face changed.
“That picture is three years old.”
“I know.”
“That can’t be me.”
“Look again.”
She did.
Her hands began shaking.
“It looks like me.”
“It is you.”
“No.”
“You were in the Laurent SUV behind Claire.”
“I had never met Claire.”
“You told me that.”
“It is true.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“Then explain the photograph.”
“I can’t.”
“Try.”
Meredith looked genuinely frightened.
“That woman is not me.”
Adrian studied her.
He had spent years dealing with negotiators who lied for a living.
Meredith had lied repeatedly.
But this reaction felt different.
“Do you have a sister?”
Her face went still.
Adrian saw the answer immediately.
“Name.”
Meredith looked away.
“Name.”
“Marianne.”
“Older or younger?”
“Older.”
“Where is she?”
Meredith closed her eyes.
“Dead.”
Adrian’s voice softened only slightly.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
His stomach tightened.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
The room went silent.
“Date?”
Meredith looked at him.
“March seventeenth.”
Claire died March eighteenth shortly after midnight.
Adrian sat slowly.
“What happened to Marianne?”
“She worked for Laurent Foundation.”
“In what capacity?”
“Private nursing.”
Adrian thought of the burgundy uniform.
“She knew Claire.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you tell me you had never met anyone connected to my family?”
“Because the man who hired me knew everything about Marianne.”
“What does that mean?”
“He sent photographs.”
“Of what?”
“My sister following Claire.”
Adrian stared.
“He said Marianne helped cause Claire’s accident.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first, no.”
“And later?”
“He sent documents.”
“What documents?”
“Payment records.”
“From whom?”
“Sebastian Laurent.”
Adrian’s pulse quickened.
“What did your sister tell you before she died?”
Meredith’s eyes filled.
“She called me.”
“When?”
“The night before her crash.”
“What did she say?”
“That she had done something unforgivable.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What?”
“She would not say.”
“What else?”
“She said a woman was going to die because of her.”
Adrian felt cold.
“Claire.”
Meredith nodded.
“I did not know the name then.”
“What happened the next day?”
“Marianne drove toward the coast.”
“Why?”
“She said she had to fix it.”
“Did she?”
“She never arrived.”
Meredith wiped her face.
“Her car went through a guardrail.”
“Was it investigated?”
“It was ruled an accident.”
Adrian almost laughed.
Two women.
Two car accidents.
Less than twenty-four hours apart.
Both connected to Sebastian Laurent.
Both tied to Claire’s medication.
And nobody had connected them.
“Who hired you nine months ago?”
“Someone calling himself Gray.”
“Voice?”
“Male.”
“Accent?”
“American.”
“Age?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did Gray want?”
“To put me inside this house.”
“Why you?”
“He said my sister had started a job and I was going to finish it.”
Adrian’s disgust returned.
“So you agreed to hurt Lily.”
“No.”
“You replaced her inhaler.”
“I was told I was gathering proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That her medication routine was unsafe.”
“By making it unsafe.”
Meredith looked down.
“I understand what it sounds like.”
“It sounds like you endangered a child.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
She flinched.
Adrian stared at her.
“Why did you lure Lily outside?”
“Gray called while I was in the tunnel.”
“How?”
“There is an old wired phone.”
“What did he say?”
“If I brought Lily to the north gate, he would give me proof that Marianne had tried to save Claire.”
“And you believed him.”
“I needed to know.”
“You used my daughter to find out.”
“Yes.”
The word was almost inaudible.
Adrian stood.
“You are going to prison.”
Meredith nodded.
“I know.”
“And whether you were manipulated or not, Lily will remember what you did.”
Meredith began crying again.
Adrian felt no pity.
“Tell me everything Gray ever said.”
“He talked about Claire’s birthday.”
“Why?”
“He said Claire had created a safeguard.”
“What safeguard?”
“I don’t know.”
“He mentioned Lily turning five.”
Adrian remembered the torn note.
LAURENT BEFORE THE GIRL TURNS FIVE.
“What happens when Lily turns five?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian frowned.
Her birthday was nineteen days away.
Meredith continued.
“Gray said everything had to be finished before then.”
“What does finished mean?”
“I assumed the custody case.”
“After yesterday, do you still believe that?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“Get me every version of Claire’s trust.”
Marcus nodded.
“And find Marianne Sloan’s accident report.”
“Yes, sir.”
Adrian turned toward the door.
Meredith spoke.
“There’s one more thing.”
He stopped.
“Gray asked me to find a letter.”
“What letter?”
“One Claire wrote before she died.”
“Where?”
“He thought it was hidden in the nursery.”
“We found a letter.”
Meredith shook her head.
“Not that one.”
Adrian turned fully.
“How do you know?”
“Because Gray told me what the first line says.”
“What?”
Meredith swallowed.
“Adrian, if you find this before Lily’s fifth birthday, run.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Run from what?”
“He never said.”
“Where is the letter?”
“I couldn’t find it.”
Adrian thought of Claire.
If she had hidden one message inside the wall, she could have hidden another.
He returned to the nursery.
For three hours, security dismantled shelves, inspected floorboards, scanned walls and emptied old furniture.
Nothing.
At ten thirty in the morning, Lily entered holding Grace’s hand.
Adrian immediately stopped the search.
“Sweetheart, you shouldn’t be here.”
Lily looked around.
“Why are you breaking Mommy’s room?”
Adrian crouched.
“We’re looking for something she left.”
Lily considered that.
“A present?”
“Maybe.”
“For me?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily walked toward the reading chair.
She touched one of the silver stars.
“Mommy already gave me one.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“A letter.”
Everyone stopped.
“When?”
Lily pointed toward an old stuffed rabbit on the shelf.
“Bunny has it.”
Adrian stared.
Claire had sewn that rabbit herself during pregnancy.
He lifted it.
Nothing appeared unusual.
Lily pointed toward one ear.
“Mommy put paper there.”
Adrian felt along the seam.
A small hard edge rested beneath the fabric.
Grace brought scissors.
Adrian carefully opened two stitches.
A tightly folded envelope slid out.
His name was written on it.
The handwriting was Claire’s.
His hands trembled as he unfolded the page.
Adrian,
If you find this before Lily’s fifth birthday, run.
Do not take her to the foundation.
Do not sign anything Conrad gives you.
Do not let Julian become her guardian.
And do not trust anyone who tells you Sebastian Laurent is dead.
Sebastian discovered the clause I added to Lily’s trust.
On her fifth birthday, an independent forensic audit automatically begins.
It covers every withdrawal from my foundation and every medical grant made in Lily’s name.
Someone has stolen millions.
I think the theft is connected to the medication substitutions.
Marianne tried to warn me.
She is not my enemy.
If something happens to her, believe that she was trying to help.
I am going to meet her tonight.
If I do not come home, look under the glass.
I love you.
Claire.
Adrian read the page twice.
Then he looked up.
“Under the glass.”
Grace frowned.
“What glass?”
Lily pointed toward the large framed family photograph above the fireplace.
“That one?”
Adrian approached it.
He removed the photograph.
Behind it was nothing but wall.
He looked at the frame itself.
The glass front felt unusually thick.
Owen brought tools.
They opened the backing.
Between the family photograph and the glass was a second picture.
A photograph Adrian had never seen.
Claire stood beside Marianne Sloan.
Sebastian Laurent stood behind them.
And beside Sebastian stood Conrad Hale.
All four were looking toward the camera.
Except Conrad was not smiling.
He was staring directly at Claire.
On the back, she had written a single date.
March 18.
And one sentence.
One of these men is going to kill me.
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
YOU FOUND THE WRONG LETTER.
A second message followed.
NOW WE HAVE TO MOVE FASTER.
A photograph loaded beneath it.
Adrian’s blood turned cold.
It had been taken less than a minute earlier.
Lily stood in the nursery beside him.
The camera angle came from inside the room.
May you like
Someone was watching them.
Right now.
