Chapter 4 - The Letter Never Delivered
Daniel didn't sleep.
By sunrise he had ordered a complete security review of Claire's neighborhood, requested every available camera recording near Aurelia, and moved Claire and Elise into a private residence owned by his company.
Claire protested immediately.
"I'm not hiding again."
"This isn't hiding."
"You put three security guards outside the elevator."
"Four."
"Daniel."
"One is downstairs."
Elise covered a smile.
Claire glared at both of them.
"This is exactly what your father used to do."
Daniel looked offended.
"That's deeply insulting."
For a moment they were siblings again.
Then Daniel's phone vibrated.
His attorney, Rebecca Sloan.
"I need to take this."
He stepped into the adjoining room.
Rebecca had worked for Mercer Hospitality for twelve years. She was discreet, brilliant, and one of the few people Daniel trusted completely.
Or had trusted completely.
After the previous night, the word trust felt suddenly dangerous.
"I need everything you can find on financial investigations involving Claire Mercer between 2001 and 2003," Daniel said.
Rebecca was silent.
"Your sister?"
"Yes."
"The one who died?"
"She's alive."
Another silence.
"I'm sorry. Did you say alive?"
"Long story."
"I assume Victor doesn't know."
"He knows."
Rebecca sighed.
"Then we have a problem."
"Why?"
"Because Victor called an emergency board meeting for this afternoon."
Daniel looked toward the window.
"About what?"
"You."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"He claims your judgment has become unstable and that you've been making unauthorized commitments using company resources."
Daniel laughed.
"I provided security for my sister."
"Victor apparently knows that."
"Already?"
"He's moving fast."
So would Daniel.
"Find those old records."
"Daniel—"
"And Rebecca?"
"Yes?"
"Do it personally."
"You don't trust my team?"
"I don't know who I trust."
Rebecca understood.
"I'll call you."
When Daniel returned, Claire was going through a cardboard box Elise had brought from home.
"What is that?"
"My letters," Claire said.
Daniel stopped.
She lifted bundles tied with faded ribbon.
Dozens.
Each addressed to him.
Most stamped.
Most returned.
Some carried labels:
UNDELIVERABLE.
Others:
ADDRESS UNKNOWN.
Daniel picked one dated fifteen years earlier.
The address was Mercer Tower.
His office had occupied that building at the time.
"This wasn't undeliverable."
"I know."
He opened it.
Claire didn't stop him.
The letter was short.
Dear Danny,
Today Elise turned ten. She made your mother's chocolate cake and destroyed my kitchen doing it. You would have laughed.
I saw you in a magazine. You look like Dad when you're serious.
I don't know if Victor is still reading these. Maybe he is. But I need you to know something in case one finally reaches you.
I never stopped loving you.
Daniel lowered the page.
Another envelope.
Elise at sixteen.
Another.
Daniel's first hotel opening.
Claire had followed his life from newspapers and television while he believed she was dead.
Every major moment had a letter attached to it.
Graduation.
First company.
Father's death.
Daniel's thirty-second birthday.
He opened that one.
Inside was a photograph of Claire and Elise standing on a beach.
On the back:
Maybe someday we'll stand in the same picture.
Daniel pressed the photograph to the table.
"You should have kept trying."
Claire's face tightened.
"I did."
"You could have come to me."
"I was afraid."
"I was your brother."
"And you were standing beside Victor every time I saw you."
Daniel pushed back from the table.
Elise stepped between them emotionally if not physically.
"You're both allowed to be angry."
Neither looked at her.
"But maybe be angry at the person who caused this."
Daniel exhaled slowly.
Claire wiped her eyes.
"She's annoyingly reasonable."
"Always?"
"No. Give it time."
Elise rolled her eyes.
Daniel laughed softly.
The tension broke.
Then Rebecca called.
"I found something."
Daniel put the phone on speaker.
"The original investigation into Claire was closed six months after her disappearance."
Claire nodded.
"I knew that."
"But here's what you probably don't know. The detective leading it requested additional subpoenas."
"For Victor?" Daniel asked.
"Not directly. For something called Hawthorne Holdings."
Claire sat upright.
"I remember that name."
"What was it?"
"One of the shell companies."
Rebecca continued.
"Hawthorne still exists."
Daniel's expression sharpened.
"Who owns it?"
"That's where it gets strange. Ownership moved through multiple entities, but its assets are currently valued at roughly four hundred eighty million dollars."
Elise stared.
"From nine million?"
"Apparently nine million was only the beginning."
Daniel understood Victor's fear now.
Claire hadn't uncovered an old theft.
She had discovered the foundation of an entire hidden fortune.
"Who controls Hawthorne?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"On paper? Nobody connected to Victor."
"And in reality?"
"I found payments to several companies associated with him."
Claire whispered, "That's why."
Daniel nodded.
"The original records could prove where the money came from."
And if Claire still had them, Victor's empire could collapse.
"But they're gone," Elise said.
Rebecca heard her.
"Who is that?"
"My niece."
"You have a niece now too?"
"It's been a complicated twelve hours."
Claire almost smiled.
Daniel continued, "Someone removed the documents from Mom's recipe book."
"Then we need to know who had access."
Elise began listing possibilities.
Their housekeeper.
A plumber.
Two neighbors.
Hospital nurses?
Daniel shook his head.
"Think further back."
Claire frowned.
"Why?"
"You said you last checked the compartment fifteen years ago."
Claire looked down.
"That's true."
"Who visited around then?"
She thought.
Then something flickered across her face.
"No."
"What?"
"Someone came to the house."
"When?"
"Fourteen years ago."
"Who?"
Claire stared at Daniel.
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"She said she was looking for a previous tenant."
Elise remembered.
"I was eleven."
Claire nodded.
"She stayed at the door."
Elise's face changed.
"No, she didn't."
Claire looked at her.
"What?"
"You went upstairs to get the old landlord's number."
"Yes."
"She came inside."
Claire froze.
Elise continued.
"She said she needed the bathroom."
"How long?"
"Five minutes. Maybe ten."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Describe her."
Elise tried.
"Blond hair. Mid-thirties maybe. Green coat."
Claire whispered, "I remember the coat."
Daniel asked Rebecca to investigate.
Before ending the call, Rebecca said, "There's one more thing."
"What?"
"The detective from Claire's case is still alive."
Claire sat up.
"Who?"
"Thomas Reed."
Daniel recognized the name.
"Where is he?"
"Retired. Vermont."
"Call him."
"I already did."
Daniel waited.
Rebecca's voice lowered.
"He refused to talk by phone."
"Why?"
"He said if Claire Mercer is alive, then the case wasn't what anybody thought."
Claire gripped Elise's hand.
"Did he say anything else?"
"Yes."
Rebecca paused.
"He told me to ask Claire about the second copy."
Claire's face went blank.
Daniel stared.
"What second copy?"
Claire shook her head.
"There wasn't one."
Rebecca continued.
"According to Detective Reed, there was."
"Where?"
"He wouldn't say."
Daniel remembered the invitation.
Mercer Tower.
Midnight.
Suddenly the trap didn't seem designed simply to frighten him.
Someone believed he now possessed something Claire herself didn't know existed.
May you like
And Victor was prepared to do whatever was necessary to find it first.
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