Chapter 3 - The Woman Beside Martin Shaw
Claire stared at the photograph until Marcus lowered the phone.
“That isn't possible.”
Adrian said nothing.
Claire shook her head.
“My mother lives in Arizona.”
Marcus asked, “When did you last speak to her?”
“Sunday.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was gardening.”
Adrian's eyebrows rose slightly.
“At midnight?”
Claire shot him a look.
“You know what I mean.”
Marcus enlarged the image.
The woman beside Martin Shaw wore a dark coat and scarf.
Her face was partly turned.
But Claire knew that posture.
That profile.
That silver streak near the temple.
Elaine Mercer.
Her mother.
Claire called her immediately.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Claire typed a message.
Where are you?
No reply.
Adrian watched her.
“Could the photograph be old?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Timestamp confirms tonight.”
Claire felt anger replacing fear.
“My mother knew.”
“Knew what?” Adrian asked.
“Something about my father's case.”
“You don't know that.”
“She was here.”
“That doesn't mean she knew why Shaw was here.”
Claire turned toward him.
“You really think this is coincidence?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
“I think coincidence is what people call a pattern before they understand it.”
Claire hated that sentence because it sounded like something her father might have said.
Marcus received another call.
His team had recovered security footage showing Martin and Elaine leaving in separate cars.
Martin's sedan headed downtown.
Elaine's rental car headed west.
Toward Lake Bell.
Claire looked at Adrian.
“The cottage.”
He already understood.
“Your father's letter.”
“Yes.”
Marcus said, “We can send people.”
“No,” Claire replied.
“Claire.”
“My mother is involved.”
“That is exactly why you shouldn't go.”
Claire stepped closer to Adrian.
“My father told me to find the first agreement. If my mother knows where it is, I'm going.”
Adrian studied her face.
“You always this difficult?”
“Yes.”
“I believe you.”
They left within five minutes.
The road to Lake Bell took nearly ninety minutes.
Claire spent most of the drive calling her mother.
No answer.
She finally listened to the voicemail greeting.
Her mother's familiar voice made something hurt inside her.
Claire remembered being eight years old, sitting at the kitchen table while Elaine braided her hair.
She remembered college move-in day.
Her father's funeral.
The two of them standing beside the grave after everyone left.
Her mother had hated what Northstar did to Thomas.
Or Claire had believed she did.
Adrian sat across from her, reading scanned corporate records on a tablet.
“What are you looking for?”
“My father's connection to Halberd.”
“And?”
“Dominic invested in one of their early funds.”
Claire looked over.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Did he own part of Halberd?”
“No.”
“Could he have signed something with them?”
“Yes.”
“Would you know?”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“My father believed paperwork was for people who lacked loyalty.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It was.”
Adrian looked out the window.
“He built Vale Consolidated differently than I did.”
Claire understood what he meant without asking.
Dominic Vale's reputation had been darker.
Stories.
Nightclubs.
Unions.
Construction contracts.
People who vanished from negotiations and returned suddenly agreeable.
Adrian's public empire had been polished.
Legitimate offices.
Audited companies.
Political donations.
Luxury hotels.
But reputations have long shadows.
“Were you close?” Claire asked.
“No.”
“That's fast.”
“So was the question.”
She waited.
He finally said, “My father confused fear with respect.”
Claire looked down.
“My father confused obsession with survival.”
Adrian glanced at her.
“Maybe both of them had reasons.”
Lake Bell appeared shortly after 2 a.m.
The cottage development was nearly empty in September.
Claire directed the driver down a narrow private road.
The Mercer family's old rental cottage stood near the water.
Except it was no longer a rental.
Her mother had purchased it after Thomas died.
Claire hadn't visited in years.
A light glowed inside.
Elaine was there.
Claire got out before Marcus could stop her.
She crossed the porch and pounded on the door.
“Mom!”
Nothing.
“Mom, open the door!”
Locks turned.
Elaine Mercer appeared.
She looked sixty-four instead of the fifty-nine Claire remembered.
Tired.
Frightened.
And unsurprised.
“Claire.”
Claire stared at her.
“You were at my storage unit.”
Elaine looked past her toward Adrian and the security team.
“You shouldn't have come.”
“You were with Martin Shaw.”
Elaine's expression tightened.
“Inside.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You tell me here.”
Elaine lowered her voice.
“Please.”
Something in it made Claire step inside.
Adrian followed.
The cottage smelled like old wood and coffee.
Boxes stood near the kitchen.
Claire noticed several framed photographs had been removed from the walls.
“Are you leaving?” she asked.
Elaine closed the door.
“I was trying to.”
“Why?”
“Because Martin found me.”
“You were standing beside him.”
“I know.”
“You let him take Dad's case.”
“Yes.”
Claire laughed in disbelief.
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted him to.”
The room went silent.
Claire stared at her.
“What?”
Elaine sat at the kitchen table.
“Thomas knew that if anyone came looking after his death, they would expect the evidence to be in that case.”
“He wrote that.”
Elaine's eyes filled.
“He wrote dozens of letters.”
“You knew about mine?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“Because he told me not to unless somebody opened the storage unit.”
Claire's anger rose.
“You let me believe he destroyed himself over nothing.”
Elaine flinched.
“I tried to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From becoming him.”
Claire's voice broke.
“He was right.”
“Yes.”
The word silenced her.
Elaine looked toward Adrian.
“So was your father.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“About what?”
Elaine rubbed both hands over her face.
“Dominic Vale funded Halberd's first major expansion. But he discovered what they were doing.”
“What exactly?”
“Acquiring companies through control clauses that looked temporary.”
Claire whispered, “Like Northstar.”
Elaine nodded.
“Like tonight.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“My father worked with them.”
“At first.”
“And then?”
“He tried to leave.”
“What happened?”
Elaine looked at him for a long moment.
“Three months later, he died.”
Adrian stopped moving.
Officially, Dominic Vale had died of a heart attack at fifty-eight.
Claire knew that much from newspapers.
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“You're saying Halberd killed my father?”
“No.”
Elaine shook her head.
“I'm saying your father believed they would.”
Claire sat across from her mother.
“What did Dad find?”
“The first agreement.”
“Where?”
Elaine looked toward the windows.
“Thomas hid it here.”
Claire remembered the letter.
The last good summer.
The sailboat.
Her eyes widened.
“The boat.”
Elaine nodded.
“Your father spent that entire summer restoring it because Dominic Vale had hidden documents inside the hull years earlier.”
Adrian stared at her.
“My father knew Thomas Mercer?”
“Very well.”
Nobody spoke.
The pieces were moving into place.
Dominic discovered Halberd's scheme.
Thomas became involved.
Northstar collapsed.
Dominic died.
Thomas was discredited.
Years later, Halberd tried the same strategy against Adrian.
Claire stood.
“Where's the boat?”
Elaine's face changed.
“What?”
“The boat.”
“Claire—”
“Where is it?”
Elaine looked toward the lake.
“In the boathouse.”
Claire moved immediately.
Marcus went first.
The old boathouse stood thirty yards from the cottage.
Its doors groaned in the wind.
Inside, beneath a dusty canvas tarp, sat the twenty-two-foot wooden sailboat Claire remembered.
Her father had named it Second Chance.
Claire had hated that name.
Now it made her chest ache.
Adrian helped remove the tarp.
Claire ran her hand along the restored wood.
“Where?”
Elaine pointed to the cabin floor.
“Third panel.”
Marcus removed the screws.
The panel lifted.
Nothing.
Claire stared at the empty compartment.
Elaine whispered, “No.”
Someone had already been there.
The wood around the screws showed fresh marks.
Claire turned.
“Who knew?”
“Thomas. Me.”
“Anyone else?”
Elaine hesitated.
That hesitation answered the question.
“Mom.”
“Your father trusted one other person.”
“Who?”
Elaine looked at Adrian.
“Dominic's son.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“I never met Thomas Mercer.”
“Not you.”
Claire slowly turned toward him.
Adrian had one older half brother.
Sebastian Vale.
A man who had left the family empire twelve years ago after a bitter fight with Adrian.
Claire had seen his name in old society pages.
“He told me Sebastian was dead,” Adrian said.
Elaine shook her head.
“No.”
“When did you last see him?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Adrian went completely still.
Claire felt the room tighten around them.
“What did he want?” Adrian asked.
“The agreement.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
“Then how did he know where to look?”
Elaine didn't answer.
Marcus's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
Then looked at Adrian.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Your downtown office.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Someone accessed the executive floor twelve minutes ago.”
“Who?”
Marcus turned the screen around.
Security footage showed a tall man entering Adrian Vale's private office.
Silver at his temples.
Dark overcoat.
Face turned toward the camera.
Adrian looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
Sebastian Vale.
His brother.
May you like
The man Adrian had buried in his mind twelve years earlier.
And Sebastian was carrying the missing first agreement.
