Chapter 9 - The Pages Henrietta Tore OutPierce could not speak.
Claire died three years earlier after her SUV slid off a rain-soaked road and struck a tree.
Police called it an accident.
She had been driving home from Lake Winfield.
Alone.
Pierce had been in Seattle.
Rowan had been staying with a babysitter.
Henrietta arrived at the hospital before Pierce’s plane landed.
Pierce remembered waking in a hotel room to fourteen missed calls.
He remembered the flight home.
He remembered Henrietta holding him while he collapsed inside the airport.
Now she was telling him Claire had written something about the night she died.
“What did the pages say?”
Henrietta’s attorney interrupted.
“We are done.”
Pierce slammed his palm against the table.
“What did they say?”
Henrietta flinched.
Mara stood.
“Pierce.”
He forced himself back.
Henrietta stared at him.
“I did not kill Claire.”
No one had accused her.
Yet.
Pierce felt cold.
“I didn’t ask if you did.”
Her face changed.
“What happened?”
Henrietta looked away.
“She came to Winfield.”
“When?”
“The afternoon she died.”
“Why?”
“To confront me.”
“You were at the lake house?”
“Yes.”
Pierce had never known.
“About what?”
“The trust.”
“Which one?”
“The larger one.”
Pierce stared.
“Claire knew?”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She was trying to gather evidence first.”
Pierce felt grief rise.
Claire had been living inside another secret.
“What evidence?”
“Withdrawals.”
Henrietta’s voice shook.
“I had borrowed money.”
“From Rowan’s trust.”
“I intended to replace it.”
Pierce laughed bitterly.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand then.”
“And Claire found out.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She threatened to report me.”
“She should have.”
“I know.”
The answer surprised him.
Henrietta continued.
“We fought.”
“At Winfield?”
“Yes.”
“What did she write?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You tore out the pages.”
“Years later.”
“Then you read them.”
Henrietta closed her eyes.
“She wrote that I threatened her.”
Pierce’s blood went cold.
“With what?”
“That if she destroyed me, I would destroy her marriage.”
“How?”
“The DNA test.”
“That had already been disproven.”
“There were other things.”
“What things?”
Henrietta shook her head.
“Nothing real.”
“You made things.”
“Yes.”
Pierce felt sick.
“Then what?”
“Claire left.”
“In the rain.”
“Yes.”
“Were you angry?”
“Yes.”
“Did you follow her?”
Henrietta’s eyes opened.
“No.”
Pierce stared.
“Did anyone?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“I stayed at Winfield.”
“Can anyone prove that?”
Silence.
Pierce looked at her.
She whispered:
“Raymond came later.”
Of course.
“What time?”
“Maybe twenty minutes after Claire left.”
“Why?”
“I called him.”
“For what?”
“I was frightened.”
“Because Claire would report the trust theft.”
“Yes.”
“What did Raymond do?”
“We talked.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then police called?”
“No.”
Henrietta swallowed.
“I saw emergency vehicles on the road.”
Pierce closed his eyes.
Winfield Road fed into the highway where Claire crashed.
“You went?”
“Yes.”
“Was she alive?”
Henrietta began crying.
“No.”
Pierce looked away.
He remembered Claire’s hands.
Her laugh.
The way she sang badly in the car.
All reduced again to wet pavement and flashing lights.
“Why tear out the pages now?”
“Because Rowan read them.”
“What did he understand?”
“Enough to ask questions.”
“What question?”
Henrietta whispered:
“Did Grandma make Mommy crash?”
Pierce’s stomach dropped.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“Then?”
“He said he would ask you.”
Pierce stood.
“And that is when you decided to send him away?”
“No.”
“You already planned Hawthorne.”
“Yes.”
“But finding the notebook accelerated it.”
Henrietta did not answer.
Pierce understood.
The school transfer had already been prepared.
The discovery made Henrietta move sooner.
“How soon was he supposed to leave?”
“Next week.”
“But you changed it to yesterday.”
Silence.
“Because of the notebook.”
“Yes.”
Pierce turned away.
He could barely look at her.
Mara asked:
“Where are the torn pages?”
Henrietta shook her head.
“I destroyed them.”
Pierce turned.
“How?”
“Fireplace.”
“Where?”
“My house.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
No pages.
No direct record.
But maybe Claire had copies.
Pierce thought of her habits.
She photographed everything important.
Emailed herself documents.
Pierce had never searched because grief made him avoid her digital life.
That night, with legal advice and access to Claire’s preserved devices, Pierce opened an old cloud account.
Thousands of photographs.
Recipes.
Rowan as a baby.
Screenshots.
Scanned pages.
He searched:
Henrietta.
Dozens of results.
Then:
Winfield.
One folder.
PRIVATE.
Password protected.
Pierce tried birthdays.
Wedding date.
Rowan.
Nothing.
Then he remembered Claire’s favorite phrase when they argued about his mother.
KEEP THE PEACE.
He typed:
keepthepeace
Wrong.
Then:
peacekeeper
Unlocked.
Pierce closed his eyes.
Even her password had been about him.
Inside were photographs of journal pages.
Including the missing ones.
Pierce began reading.
Henrietta threatened me today.
Said Franklin destroyed her future and I’m helping him do it from the grave.
Next page:
She admitted taking money from Rowan’s trust.
Says she will repay it after a property deal closes.
I told her I’m telling Pierce tonight.
Pierce swallowed.
Next:
She said if I tell him, she’ll make Pierce believe I’ve been planning to leave him and take Rowan.
She has fabricated things before. I believe she’ll do it again.
Then the final photographed page.
Dated the day Claire died.
H is at Winfield. I’m going there.
If she doesn’t agree to resign as trustee, I’m calling Mara tomorrow.
Pierce stared.
Claire had planned to contact the same attorney he used today.
Then a final line had been added later.
Written shakily.
Back in the car. She won’t resign. Raymond arrived while I was leaving. He looked terrified when he saw me.
Pierce’s heart stopped.
Claire had written after leaving the lake house.
Meaning she had been alive, in her car, after Raymond arrived.
Then:
May you like
Someone is behind me.
That was the final line.
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