Chapter 5 - The Dead Brother
For several seconds, nobody reacted.
The name seemed too impossible to understand.
Richard finally spoke.
“My brother is dead.”
Vanessa tilted her head.
“Are you sure?”
Mrs. Howard stood so abruptly that her chair scraped the floor.
“Do not say his name.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“I know what you told everyone.”
Richard stared at his mother.
“What does that mean?”
Mrs. Howard’s lips trembled.
Elena forgot the pain in her shoulder.
She had known Daniel Howard only through photographs.
He had been Richard’s older brother.
Brilliant.
Reckless.
Charismatic.
At twenty-nine, he had driven his sports car off a mountain road in Colorado.
The vehicle burned before rescuers arrived.
Richard had identified him through dental records.
Or at least that was what Elena had always been told.
Detective Ruiz looked toward Mrs. Howard.
“Was Daniel’s body personally identified by your family?”
She did not answer.
Richard turned toward her.
“Mom?”
“He died.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mrs. Howard looked suddenly much older.
“Your father handled everything.”
Richard stepped back.
Elena could see memory moving across his face.
The closed casket.
His father refusing a second examination.
His mother disappearing into her bedroom for weeks.
The family attorney handling the insurance.
Gerald Pike.
Ruiz noticed the same connection.
“Mr. Pike handled Daniel Howard’s death documentation?”
Mrs. Howard nodded.
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Richard turned toward her.
“You’re claiming Daniel is alive?”
“I’m saying I received messages from someone claiming to be Daniel.”
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
Four months.
Exactly when the missing statements began.
Exactly when Richard’s behavior changed.
Exactly when Vanessa started appearing constantly.
Ruiz asked, “How were you contacted?”
“Encrypted email.”
“What did he want?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Richard’s voice hardened.
“What did he want?”
“He said your father stole his inheritance.”
Richard shook his head.
“My father adored Daniel.”
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
“Your father adored control.”
Mrs. Howard whispered, “Stop.”
Vanessa ignored her.
“He claimed the accident was staged because he discovered what your father had done.”
Elena watched Mrs. Howard.
The woman’s reaction frightened her more than Vanessa’s words.
She was not shocked.
She was afraid.
Ruiz noticed.
“Mrs. Howard.”
She looked at him.
“Do you know whether Daniel survived that crash?”
“No.”
It was not convincing.
Richard heard it too.
“Mom.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I never saw his body.”
Richard stared at her.
She continued.
“Your father told me the condition was too terrible.”
“Why didn’t you question him?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He threatened to have me committed.”
Silence.
Elena had never heard Mrs. Howard speak about her late husband with anything but respect.
Now her hands were shaking.
“He controlled the doctors.”
“He controlled Gerald.”
“He controlled every account.”
Richard looked toward the old portrait of his father hanging above the library doors.
The man in the painting had always seemed powerful.
For the first time, he looked dangerous.
Ruiz turned toward Vanessa.
“Show me the emails.”
“They disappeared.”
“Convenient.”
“I saved one.”
Vanessa reached slowly into her pocket.
Ruiz allowed her to remove her phone.
She opened a screenshot.
The message contained only one paragraph.
TELL RICHARD HIS SON WILL INHERIT WHAT HE STOLE FROM ME.
Elena read it twice.
Then looked at Vanessa.
“My baby is a girl.”
Vanessa stared back.
Richard’s face changed.
The message had been written by someone who thought Elena was carrying a boy.
Only five people had known the baby’s sex before Elena and Richard announced it publicly.
Richard.
Elena.
Dr. Lane.
Mrs. Howard.
And one more person.
Richard’s personal assistant.
Claire Benton.
Richard grabbed his phone.
“I need to call Claire.”
Ruiz stopped him.
“No.”
“Why?”
Ruiz’s own phone had begun ringing.
He answered.
His expression changed within seconds.
“When?”
He listened.
“Seal the scene.”
He ended the call.
Richard stared at him.
“What happened?”
Ruiz looked directly at him.
“Your assistant was found inside your Manhattan office twenty minutes ago.”
Elena’s breath caught.
Ruiz continued.
“She’s alive.”
May you like
“But someone searched the entire office.”
“And whatever they were looking for is gone.”
