Chapter 6: The Woman in the Window
Lena took the phone from my hand.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she zoomed in on the photograph.
The woman in the upstairs window became a blur of pixels and pale skin.
“Do you know her?”” Lena asked.
“No.””
Claire leaned over the table.
“Send it to me.””
I did.
She stared at the image.
“She's standing in your bedroom.””
“I know.””
“No,” Claire said quietly.
“Look at where she's standing.””
I frowned.
Claire pointed.
“Behind her.””
There was a small shape on the nightstand.
A lamp.
And beside it, a rectangle of white.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What's that?””
“A document,” Claire said.
“How can you tell?””
“Because Renwick always leaves paperwork beside that lamp.””
I looked at her.
“You've been in my house?””
“No.””
“How do you know?””
“Because Elise's bedroom looked the same.””
The room fell silent.
Lena pushed the phone away.
“Okay. Nobody sleeps tonight.””
Claire nodded.
“We need somewhere secure.””
“My house is secure,” Lena said.
Claire shook her head.
“No offense, but that's exactly what I would have said before I learned how easily people get watched.””
Lena folded her arms.
“Then where?””
Claire looked at me.
“I know a place.””
I didn't like the certainty in her voice.
“What place?””
“An old attorney's office downtown.””
Lena frowned.
“An attorney's office?””
“It's closed.””
“That makes no sense.””
“It will.””
I stared at Claire.
“What aren't you telling us?””
She looked at the photograph again.
“Too much.””
“That isn't an answer.””
“No.””
She finally looked at me.
“It isn't.””
Before she could say more, headlights swept across the kitchen wall.
Lena turned off the lamp.
All three of us froze.
A vehicle had stopped outside.
No horn.
No footsteps.
Just an engine idling.
Lena whispered, “Could be a neighbor.””
Claire moved toward the window.
“Don't.””
She stopped.
The headlights stayed on.
Then went dark.
A car door opened.
Closed.
I heard footsteps on the sidewalk.
Slow.
A shadow passed across the curtains.
Lena reached for her phone.
“I'm calling the police.””
Claire caught her wrist.
“Not yet.””
“Why not?””
“Because we don't know who's outside.””
“That is exactly why I should call.””
Claire looked at me.
“Before you do, check your messages.””
My phone showed no new notification.
Then it buzzed.
All three of us stared.
I opened it.
*DON'T CALL THE POLICE.*
A second message followed.
*THE OFFICER AT YOUR LOCAL PRECINCT WHO HANDLES CIVIL PETITIONS KNOWS RENWICK.*
I looked at Claire.
She nodded grimly.
“That doesn't mean he's corrupt.””
“It means somebody warned us.””
Another message.
*GO TO THE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE. COME ALONE.*
Lena shook her head.
“No chance.””
The engine outside started again.
The vehicle pulled away.
We waited until the sound disappeared.
Claire exhaled.
“We leave in five minutes.””
Lena looked at me.
“You're not going anywhere alone.””
“I wasn't planning to.””
Claire collected the blue folder.
I stopped her.
“No.””
She looked at me.
“That stays with me.””
“You're right.””
I took it back.
Then I noticed something.
A corner of paper was sticking out from between two documents.
It hadn't been there before.
I pulled it free.
A handwritten note.
Four words.
*Ask him about the hospital.*
I looked at Claire.
“What hospital?””
She went pale.
“St. Vincent.””
Lena frowned.
“What happened there?””
Claire didn't answer.
I looked between them.
“Someone is going to explain.””
Claire sat down.
“After Elise disappeared, I found out she had checked into St. Vincent under a different name.””
“Why?””
“To hide from Renwick.””
“And?””
“She wasn't alone.””
My heartbeat quickened.
“Who was with her?””
“Her doctor.””
I stared at her.
“A doctor helped her disappear?””
“Yes.””
“Why didn't you tell me this before?””
“Because I didn't know whether he was still alive.””
The room seemed to tilt.
“Still alive?””
Claire nodded.
“Dr. Samuel Price.””
I knew the name.
I had seen it once.
Years ago.
In a letter Renwick had kept in his desk.
I remembered asking who it was.
He had answered casually.
“An old colleague.””
My mouth went dry.
“What happened to him?””
Claire looked at me.
“He died nine years ago.””
Lena whispered, “How?””
“A car accident.””
I felt cold all over.
“Was it investigated?””
“Yes.””
“Was anyone charged?””
“No.””
Claire looked at the blue folder.
“But two weeks before his death, Dr. Price changed his will.””
I stared at her.
“To whom?””
Claire didn't answer.
I already knew I wasn't going to like it.
“Renwick?””
Claire nodded.
Lena stood.
“This is insane.””
Claire's phone rang.
She checked the screen.
Her face changed.
“What?””
She answered.
“Hello?””
She listened.
Her shoulders stiffened.
Then she looked at me.
“It's him.””
My blood ran cold.
“Renwick?””
She put the phone on speaker.
His voice came through.
“Mara.””
I couldn't speak.
“Mara, are you there?””
“Yes.””
“I know where you are.””
Lena mouthed, How?
I ignored her.
“How?””
“I had your sister's number years before you met me.””
“That doesn't answer the question.””
“No.””
His voice was unusually calm.
“I suppose nothing does anymore.””
“What do you want?””
“I want you to come home.””
“No.””
A pause.
Then:
“You're making a serious mistake.””
“I've made several.””
“You haven't heard everything.””
“I've heard enough.””
He sighed.
“You've been talking to Claire.””
“Yes.””
“She will destroy you.””
Claire whispered, “He's scared.””
Renwick heard her.
“Claire, you should leave this alone.””
“No.””
“You don't understand what you're protecting.””
“I understand what you did to Elise.””
Silence.
Then Renwick said:
“Do you know why Elise disappeared?””
Claire's face went white.
I looked at her.
Renwick continued.
“Ask her.””
I said, “Why did Elise disappear?””
Claire didn't speak.
“Claire?””
Still nothing.
Renwick's voice softened.
“Because she wasn't running from me.””
My stomach tightened.
“She was running from you.””
Claire stood abruptly.
“Don't listen to him.””
“Why?”” I demanded.
Renwick answered before she could.
“Because Claire wasn't Elise's friend.””
I looked at Claire.
“What does that mean?””
Renwick laughed quietly.
“She was Elise's sister.””
The room went silent.
I turned toward Claire.
She didn't deny it.
“Is that true?””
“Yes.””
“You said you made a mistake trusting him.””
“I did.””
“You knew Elise.””
“Yes.””
“You knew everything.””
Claire nodded.
“I knew enough.””
“Then why did you lie to me?””
Her eyes filled.
“Because if I told you who I was, you would never have trusted me.””
I stepped back.
“What else did you lie about?””
Claire looked down.
“Not everything.””
“That isn't what I asked.””
She swallowed.
“I worked for Renwick.””
Lena stared at her.
“What?””
“For four months.””
My mouth went dry.
“You worked for my husband?””
“I didn't know what he was doing at first.””
“And when you found out?””
“I left.””
Renwick's voice came through the phone.
“She didn't leave.””
Claire closed her eyes.
“I fired her.””
“You stole files.””
“Yes.””
“You helped Elise.””
“Yes.””
“And now you're doing the same thing again.””
“Because I know what happens if I don't.””
I grabbed the phone.
“Renwick, why are you afraid of Claire?””
He didn't answer.
“Tell me.””
His voice lowered.
“Because she knows where the bodies are.””
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Lena stared at me.
“Did he just—”
“Yes.””
Claire looked at the phone.
“He wants you to think he was talking literally.””
I stared at her.
“Wasn't he?””
“No.””
“Then what did he mean?””
She looked toward the blue folder.
“Financial bodies.””
“What?””
“People whose identities disappeared.””
I didn't understand.
She opened the folder and pulled out several pages.
“Renwick didn't just move money. He moved ownership.””
She pointed to names.
Some were companies.
Some were individuals.
“People signed over properties. Businesses. Investments.””
“Why?””
“They died.””
I frowned.
“People can inherit.””
“Not when the signatures appeared after their deaths.””
My chest tightened.
Claire spread the papers across the table.
“This is what Elise discovered.””
Then she pointed to one name.
My pulse stopped.
I knew it.
Not personally.
But I had seen it on old family paperwork.
“Eleanor Vale?””
Claire nodded.
“Your father's business partner.””
I stared at the signature.
“She died seven years ago.””
“Yes.””
“But this transfer was dated three years later.””
Lena leaned over the table.
“Where did the money go?””
Claire looked at me.
“To a trust.””
“Whose trust?””
Claire's silence lasted too long.
“Whose?””
She pointed.
My name was printed there.
But I had never created it.
I felt dizzy.
“That's impossible.””
Claire shook her head.
“No.””
She pointed to the trustee name.
“Look underneath.””
I did.
The trustee wasn't Renwick.
It wasn't an attorney I recognized.
It was someone else.
Someone I had never heard of.
Lena whispered, “Who is that?””
Claire looked at me.
“Your father.””
I stared.
“My father has been dead for twelve years.””
“I know.””
The room went silent.
Then my phone buzzed again.
Unknown number.
One final message.
*NOW YOU KNOW WHY RENWICK NEEDS YOU DECLARED INCOMPETENT.*
Another appeared.
*BECAUSE THE PERSON WHO CONTROLS THE TRUST IS STILL ALIVE.*
Then a name.
*MARA'S FATHER.*
I stared at the screen.
My father had been dead for twelve years.
But if the message was telling the truth, then someone had spent twelve years using his name.
Someone with access to his signature.
Someone who knew everything about my family.
And someone who was apparently alive.
Claire looked at me.
“Mara…”
I couldn't answer.
Because beneath the two messages, another photograph had arrived.
This one wasn't of my house.
It was a hospital room.
A man lay in the bed with his face turned toward the camera.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakable.
My father.
May you like
And beneath the photograph were six words:
*He never died in that hospital.*
