Chapter 10 - Daniel’s Sister Was Not DeadDaniel felt as if every secret in the family had been waiting for the same week to surface.
“What do you mean I have a sister?”
Margaret looked older than seventy-two.
“Her name is Claire.”
“Is?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It is.”
“My father had another child?”
Margaret shook her head.
“We did.”
Daniel stood.
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“No. I grew up in this family. There are photographs of every Christmas since I was born.”
“Claire was born before you.”
“What happened to her?”
Margaret began crying.
“She was sixteen when she left.”
Daniel stopped.
Sixteen.
Not a baby.
Not a secret pregnancy.
A teenager who had lived in the same house.
“Why have I never heard her name?”
“You were four.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“She and your father fought constantly.”
“About what?”
“Everything. School. Money. Her boyfriend. She wanted nothing to do with the company.”
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“One night she ran away.”
“And?”
“We found her three days later.”
“Where?”
“In Boston.”
“So she came home.”
“For a month.”
Daniel waited.
“Then she disappeared again.”
“And you just let her?”
“No. We searched for years.”
“Police?”
“Yes.”
“Private investigators?”
“Yes.”
“Why tell me she never existed?”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“Your father believed it would protect you.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“That word again.”
“Please.”
“No. Everyone in this family keeps destroying the truth and calling it protection.”
Margaret lowered her eyes.
Daniel forced himself to breathe.
“What does Claire have to do with the trust?”
“Your father never removed her.”
“So she still owns part of Whitmore Development?”
“If she is alive, yes.”
“How much?”
“Forty percent of the original family shares.”
Daniel stared.
That was enormous.
Enough to change control of the company.
“Does Vanessa know?”
“She knows someone exists.”
“How?”
“I think Caleb found an old reference while reviewing trust records.”
Daniel paced.
“And they want the original because?”
“The current corporate records list you as sole heir.”
“Because Claire was presumed dead?”
Margaret nodded.
“Seven years after she disappeared, your father petitioned the court.”
Daniel understood.
If Claire reappeared with the original trust amendment, she could claim a fortune.
“Is that what Northline wants?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Why would Vanessa care about an heir who vanished forty years ago?”
Maria, who had remained quiet near the door, suddenly spoke.
“Because maybe she didn’t vanish.”
Daniel turned.
Maria looked uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry. But if someone is searching this hard for a document about her…”
Daniel finished the thought.
“They may already know where Claire is.”
Margaret’s face went pale.
Daniel noticed.
“Mom?”
“I received something last year.”
“What?”
“A Christmas card.”
“From Claire?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There was no name.”
Margaret opened her purse.
From a side compartment, she removed a worn card she had apparently carried for months.
The front showed a lighthouse.
Inside, only one sentence was written:
THE GIRL YOU BURIED IS STILL ALIVE.
Daniel read it twice.
“Girl you buried?”
“I thought it was cruelty.”
“Did Claire die?”
“No.”
“You said she disappeared.”
“She did.”
“Then what does buried mean?”
Margaret covered her face.
Daniel felt dread move through him.
“Mom.”
She lowered her hands.
“The family told everyone she died.”
“What?”
“After seven years, William held a private memorial. There was no body, but we installed a marker in the family cemetery.”
Daniel stared.
“You literally gave her a grave.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To stop living in uncertainty.”
Daniel looked at the card.
THE GIRL YOU BURIED IS STILL ALIVE.
His phone buzzed.
Detective Brooks.
“We identified the person who broke into the mansion.”
“How?”
“Street camera.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
Brooks sent a still image.
Daniel opened it.
The woman appeared to be in her late fifties.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Thin face.
She was leaving the Whitmore property carrying a folder.
Margaret saw the screen.
The blood drained from her face.
Daniel looked at her.
“You know her.”
Margaret’s lips trembled.
“Claire.”
Daniel stared at the image.
His sister had walked into their family home less than an hour earlier.
Alive.
May you like
And she had not come back to see them.
She had come back looking for the same document Vanessa wanted.
Related Stories
