Chapter 4 - THE FATHER DANIEL NEVER KNEWDaniel sat beside Claire in a private interview room while police officers searched Silver Pines.
He could barely process one impossible truth before another appeared.
His wife was alive.
His daughter had nearly been killed.
His father had arranged both events.
And now Claire was telling him Graham Vale might not even be his father.
“Say it again.”
Claire held his hand.
“I found monthly payments.”
“To Thomas Reed?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Thirty-six years.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I’m thirty-eight.”
“I know.”
“Why would Graham pay my biological father?”
Claire shook her head.
“I didn’t understand at first.”
Daniel stood and paced.
“My mother never mentioned anyone named Thomas.”
Claire looked down.
“Maybe she couldn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
Before Claire could answer, Aaron entered carrying a file.
“You need to see this.”
He placed it on the table.
Silver Pines admission records.
Patient: Jane Miller.
Actual identity: Claire Vale.
Emergency guardian: Graham Vale.
Authorizing attorney: Nathan Brooks.
Daniel flipped through the pages.
Medication orders.
Restrictions.
No outside contact.
No visitors without guardian approval.
Then something else.
A psychiatric evaluation.
Claire Vale believes her husband and daughter are alive despite being informed of their deaths.
Persistent delusion.
Daniel’s hands shook.
“They called the truth a mental illness.”
Claire looked away.
“For three years.”
Daniel closed the folder.
Aaron said quietly, “Nathan has requested an attorney.”
“He is an attorney.”
“He wants a better one.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Aaron continued.
“Dr. Ward is cooperating.”
“Why?”
“Because she just discovered several documents she signed were falsified after her signature.”
Claire looked up.
“She didn’t know?”
“She knew enough to have problems.”
Daniel said, “But not everything.”
“Exactly.”
Aaron sat.
“There’s more.”
Daniel waited.
“The body buried under Claire’s name.”
Claire stiffened.
“What about it?”
“We’re opening the case.”
Daniel asked, “Who was she?”
Aaron hesitated.
“We don’t know yet.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Daniel felt sick.
Someone had died.
Someone had been placed in Claire’s car.
Someone had been buried under Claire’s name.
This was no longer simply fraud.
It was something darker.
Claire suddenly whispered, “The necklace.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What necklace?”
“The body.”
“You saw the body?”
“No.”
Claire’s face tightened as memories returned.
“At the road. Before I lost consciousness. I saw Nathan opening the back door of another car.”
Daniel waited.
“There was a woman inside.”
“Alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“She was wearing a silver necklace.”
“What kind?”
“A small bird.”
Aaron wrote it down.
Daniel froze.
“A bird?”
Claire nodded.
He pulled out his phone.
He searched old family photographs.
Then showed Claire a picture.
“Like this?”
Claire went pale.
“Yes.”
Daniel sat slowly.
The photograph showed his mother, Margaret Vale.
Beside her stood her younger sister.
Elaine.
Daniel’s aunt.
Elaine Vale had vanished thirty years earlier.
The family story was that she moved to Europe after a fight with Graham and cut off contact.
Daniel looked at Aaron.
“My aunt wore that necklace every day.”
Aaron understood.
“You think the woman in Claire’s car was your aunt?”
“I think nothing makes sense anymore.”
Claire squeezed his hand.
“Then we make it make sense.”
For the first time since seeing her, Daniel really looked at Claire.
She was thinner.
There were faint marks on her wrists from years of medical bands.
But the fire he remembered was still there.
“I thought I buried you.”
“I thought you buried me willingly.”
Daniel’s face broke.
“What?”
“They told me you saw me after the crash.”
“No.”
“They told me you signed the papers.”
“I never saw you.”
“They told me Sophie called another woman Mommy six months later.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Claire.”
She started crying.
“I hated you.”
He pulled her into his arms.
“They made us hate ghosts.”
They stayed like that until Aaron’s phone rang.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at Daniel.
“We found something in Nathan’s SUV.”
“What?”
“A passport.”
Nathan Brooks’s photograph.
Different name.
Flight reservation for tonight.
And one document.
Aaron handed Daniel a photograph.
It was a birth certificate.
Daniel Vale.
Mother: Margaret Vale.
Father: Thomas Reed.
Daniel stared at it.
Claire had been right.
Graham was not listed.
Then Daniel noticed the date of filing.
Six months ago.
“This is new.”
Aaron nodded.
“It was recently certified.”
“Why?”
“Maybe Nathan planned to use it.”
“Against me?”
“Or for something involving the trust.”
Claire leaned forward.
“The trust only passes if Sophie is Daniel’s legal descendant.”
Daniel nodded.
“But she is.”
Claire shook her head.
“It might require a direct descendant of Rosalind Vale.”
Daniel stopped.
“My mother was Rosalind’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“So my father doesn’t matter.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked at the certificate again.
Then why had Graham spent decades hiding Thomas Reed?
Unless Thomas was connected to something else.
Marcus called.
Daniel answered.
“Tell me Sophie is okay.”
“She’s safe.”
Daniel exhaled.
“But?”
Marcus rarely hesitated.
Now he did.
“Someone entered the estate before police sealed it.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“Where did they go?”
“The west wing.”
Daniel stood.
“The blue room?”
“Yes.”
“What did they take?”
“Almost everything.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“The red box?”
“Gone.”
Claire stood.
“My evidence.”
Marcus continued.
“But whoever did it left something.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
Daniel waited.
“Of Sophie.”
His heart stopped.
“What kind of photograph?”
“Taken this morning.”
Before the attack.
Sophie was walking toward school.
Someone had written a message on the back.
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“What does it say?”
Marcus read it.
GRAHAM ISN’T THE ONE YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF.
Daniel looked at Claire.
Aaron heard every word.
Marcus added:
“And there’s a phone number.”
Daniel called it.
Someone answered immediately.
A man.
Older.
Calm.
“Daniel.”
“Who is this?”
A long silence followed.
Then the man said:
“My name is Thomas Reed.”
Daniel forgot how to breathe.
The man continued.
“And before you believe everything Claire found, there is something you need to know.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“What?”
“Graham didn’t order your wife’s crash.”
Daniel looked toward Claire.
May you like
Thomas Reed said:
“Your mother did.”
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