Chapter 8 - The House Was Already Open
Claire called Rebecca three times.
No answer.
She drove straight to Fairfield.
Rebecca’s front door was open.
Claire stopped on the porch.
“Rebecca?”
Silence.
A lamp was overturned inside.
A drawer stood open.
Papers covered the floor.
Claire called 911 before entering.
Then she heard movement.
“Rebecca?”
A figure appeared from the hallway.
Claire nearly screamed.
Rebecca raised both hands.
“I’m fine.”
Her lip was bleeding.
“What happened?”
“Someone searched the house.”
Claire helped her sit.
“Julian knows about you.”
Rebecca gave a humorless smile.
“I suspected he might.”
“Did you see who did this?”
“No.”
Police arrived minutes later.
Nothing obvious had been stolen.
That worried Rebecca.
“They weren’t looking for money.”
“The original trust?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Fortunately, I moved it years ago.”
“Where?”
Rebecca looked at the officers.
“Not here.”
Later, after police left, Rebecca handed Claire a small brass key.
“Thomas gave me two documents and one key.”
Claire stared at it.
“What does it open?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Whitmore Federal.”
Claire almost laughed.
Her father’s old bank.
“Under whose name?”
Rebecca looked directly at her.
“Yours.”
The following morning Claire entered the bank alone.
The box contained no cash.
No jewelry.
Only an old leather binder.
Inside was Alexander Voss’s original trust instrument.
A letter from Thomas.
And a sealed hospital envelope.
Claire read Thomas’s letter first.
My Claire,
If you are reading this, I failed to tell you myself.
I am sorry.
Nothing in these papers changes the fact that you are my daughter.
Alexander Voss was your biological father.
Your mother hid the truth from both of us for eighteen years.
When I discovered it, I also discovered that Julian Mercer’s family had been searching for Voss’s missing heir.
They found you before I did.
Claire’s hands shook.
The next paragraph was worse.
Julian did not meet you by accident.
His father arranged your introduction.
Their objective was never marriage.
It was access.
Claire pressed a fist against her mouth.
At the bottom Thomas had written one final warning.
Do not assume Natalie is your enemy merely because she betrayed you.
There is one person in this family who has lied longer than all the others.
Your mother.
Then Claire opened the hospital envelope.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Her birth certificate.
But Evelyn Whitmore was not listed as her mother.
May you like
A woman named Sarah Hale was.
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