Chapter 3 - THE DEAD MAN'S SIGNATURE
Ethan spent the next morning in the county records office.
He requested his father's death certificate.
The clerk returned with a certified copy.
Ethan read it once.
Then again.
Accidental drowning.
Location: Lake Harrison.
Cause: suspected alcohol intoxication.
He remembered his mother telling him the story.
His father had gone fishing alone.
His boat overturned.
A tragic accident.
Except there was one detail Ethan had never questioned.
His father had never drunk alcohol.
Not once.
Ethan photographed the document.
Then he noticed the signature of the medical examiner.
Dr. Samuel Vale.
Vale.
The same last name as Daniel.
His pulse quickened.
He searched public records and found Daniel Vale's father had been a physician.
Samuel Vale.
Ethan sat in his car for twenty minutes.
Then he called Claire.
“Did you know Daniel's father was the doctor who signed my father's death certificate?”
Silence.
“No.”
“I believe you.”
“Ethan…”
“I need you to tell me everything.”
Claire began crying.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“When I was pregnant with my first child, Daniel told me his father could make problems disappear.”
Ethan's grip tightened on the steering wheel.
“What problems?”
“Any problems.”
That evening, Ethan returned home.
Margaret was sitting in the living room as if nothing had happened.
“You came back.”
“This is still my house.”
“No,” she said. “It is your family's house.”
Ethan dropped the death certificate on the table.
Margaret looked at it.
For the first time, fear appeared in her eyes.
“Where did you get that?”
“Why was Dr. Samuel Vale at my father's death?”
Margaret stood.
“Stop digging.”
“Why?”
“Because your father was not the man you think he was.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“You've spent my entire life telling me he was a victim.”
“He was.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Margaret said nothing.
Ethan stepped closer.
“What happened at Lake Harrison?”
“You weren't supposed to know.”
“Know what?”
Margaret's face collapsed.
“Your father found out.”
“Found out what?”
“That Daniel Vale was involved with our family.”
Ethan froze.
“Involved how?”
Margaret whispered, “Business.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
She reached into a drawer and pulled out an old key.
“Your father kept records.”
“Where?”
“The lake house.”
Ethan stared at the key.
“You knew all this.”
“I knew enough to be afraid.”
“Then why attack Claire?”
Margaret's voice cracked.
“Because she has the missing piece.”
“What piece?”
Margaret looked upstairs.
“The baby.”
Ethan's stomach tightened.
“Nora?”
Margaret nodded.
“Your daughter is connected to everything.”
Before Ethan could ask another question, the front door exploded inward.
A masked man rushed inside.
Ethan tackled him.
The two men crashed into the floor.
The intruder dropped a knife and escaped through the back door.
Ethan chased him outside but lost him near the trees.
When he returned, Claire was standing on the stairs holding Nora.
She was trembling.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
Claire pointed toward the nursery.
Someone had entered.
May you like
The crib was empty.
===
