Chapter 6 - What Claire Knew
That night Ethan opened Claire’s old storage boxes for the first time since her funeral.
He hated himself for waiting so long.
Grief had made those boxes untouchable.
Her sweaters still smelled faintly like her perfume.
Her handwriting covered old birthday cards.
Then Ethan found a photograph.
Claire and Arthur stood inside Arthur’s study.
Between them was a blue leather ledger.
Ethan’s pulse jumped.
The blue book.
He flipped the photograph over.
Claire had written one sentence:
Arthur finally believed me.
That was all.
Ethan searched every box.
No ledger.
No explanation.
Then Ethan Jr. wandered into the room clutching his stuffed dinosaur.
“Daddy?”
Ethan quickly wiped his eyes.
“Hey, buddy.”
The boy saw the photograph.
“That’s Great-Grandpa’s blue book.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You’ve seen this?”
“He showed me.”
“When?”
“At his house.”
Ethan pulled out the brass key.
“Did he tell you what this opens?”
The boy pointed at the photograph.
“Behind the horse.”
Arthur’s study contained an old bronze statue of a racehorse.
Ethan suddenly understood.
He called Naomi.
Twenty minutes later, they were driving toward the mansion.
But Vanessa was already there.
A black SUV sat in the circular driveway.
The front doors were open.
Inside, drawers had been emptied.
Paintings leaned against walls.
Arthur’s study looked like it had been torn apart.
Someone had searched it.
Ethan crossed to the bronze horse.
Behind its pedestal was a tiny brass keyhole.
His key fit.
A hidden panel clicked open.
The compartment was empty.
Except for one torn strip of blue leather.
Vanessa had found the hiding place first.
Then Ethan noticed something on the floor.
A small drop of fresh blood.
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And beside it...
Helen Mercer’s broken eyeglasses.
