Chapter 4
Nathan did not sleep.
At two in the morning, Jamie was finally resting in Nathan’s bed with Nora sitting in the nearby chair.
Eleanor had left with Victor after Detective Bennett finished the first round of interviews.
The police had not arrested her.
Not yet.
The evidence was disturbing, but the laboratory had not identified the insect or the other materials from the black box.
Nathan hated watching his mother walk out the front door.
But Detective Bennett had been clear.
“Do not confront her outside this house. Do not follow her. Let us work.”
Nathan agreed.
Barely.
Now he stood alone in his study holding the tiny brass key Claire had hidden inside Jamie’s wooden train.
Nora appeared at the doorway.
“He’s asleep.”
Nathan nodded.
“Thank you.”
She started to leave.
“Nora.”
She stopped.
Nathan looked at the key.
“You knew about this.”
“I knew about the train.”
“You knew there was something inside it?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Why did Claire trust you?”
Nora entered slowly.
“Because I listened.”
Nathan looked away.
The words hurt.
“I listened too.”
Nora didn’t respond.
Nathan turned back.
“Didn’t I?”
Her silence answered.
Nathan sank into the chair.
“Tell me.”
“Sir…”
“My wife was afraid. My son is afraid. My mother was recording my illnesses in a hidden notebook.”
He held up the key.
“And my dead wife hid this in our child’s toy.”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“I need the truth.”
She sat across from him.
“Claire loved you.”
“I know.”
“But she thought you would choose your mother.”
Nathan went still.
“She thought that?”
“She had watched you do it.”
He stared at Nora.
“When?”
“Small things at first.”
Nora folded her hands.
“Your mother choosing where you spent holidays. Which staff Claire could hire. What Jamie ate. Which charities Claire represented.”
“That’s not the same as—”
“No.”
Nora looked directly at him.
“But Claire would object, and Mrs. Harcourt would say Claire was emotional.”
Nathan remembered.
Too clearly.
“She told me that too.”
“I know.”
Nathan looked down.
“How?”
“Because Claire told me.”
Nora’s voice softened.
“She would come into the kitchen after arguments because it was the only room your mother rarely entered.”
Nathan almost smiled.
Claire had loved the kitchen.
He had assumed she enjoyed talking with the staff.
Maybe she had simply felt safe there.
Nora continued.
“Then you started getting sick.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She did.”
Nathan looked up sharply.
“She told you several times that food tasted strange.”
He remembered.
Claire asking if the wine tasted bitter.
Claire refusing soup one evening.
Claire telling him they needed a new chef.
He had laughed.
God.
He had laughed.
“She thought someone was tampering with my food?”
“At first, she thought it was hers.”
Nathan stared.
Nora’s voice dropped.
“Then she realized the worst episodes happened to you.”
Nathan stood and walked toward the window.
Outside, the Harcourt estate was dark.
Secure.
Protected.
He had always believed that.
“What did she find?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“Nora.”
“I swear.”
Nathan turned.
“She installed the pantry camera. She started keeping records. She asked me to watch what entered the kitchen.”
“And my mother?”
“Claire became convinced Mrs. Harcourt was involved.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“What happened when Claire confronted her?”
Nora hesitated.
“That was the night Jamie remembered.”
Nathan waited.
“Claire told her she was taking Jamie and leaving.”
His eyes opened.
“What?”
“She planned to stay with her sister in Boston.”
Nathan felt as though someone had struck him.
“She was leaving me?”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me?”
“She was going to.”
“When?”
“The night she died.”
Nathan couldn’t speak.
Nora wiped her eyes.
“She asked me to pack a small suitcase for Jamie.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You packed it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In the guesthouse.”
Nathan’s voice broke.
“And then?”
“She drove into the city.”
The accident happened forty minutes later.
Nathan sat again.
For two years, he had believed Claire left the house angry because of their argument.
Their last conversation had replayed in his head thousands of times.
He had told her she was becoming obsessed with his mother.
Claire had told him he refused to see what was happening.
He had said, “Not everything is a conspiracy, Claire.”
She had stared at him.
Then whispered, “One day you’re going to wish you had believed me.”
Those were the last words his wife ever spoke to him.
Nathan covered his face.
“I failed her.”
Nora shook her head.
“You didn’t know.”
“She tried to tell me.”
“You trusted your mother.”
“That was my mistake.”
He looked at the brass key.
“What does this open?”
Nora thought for a moment.
“Claire rented a storage unit.”
Nathan looked up.
“What?”
“She never told me where.”
“When?”
“A month before the accident.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I didn’t know it mattered.”
“It mattered!”
Nora flinched.
Nathan immediately regretted shouting.
“I’m sorry.”
She nodded.
“I was twenty-four. Your wife was dead. Your mother controlled the house. Mr. Sloan handled everything.”
“Victor.”
“Yes.”
Nora looked ashamed.
“He told staff not to discuss Claire’s behavior because it would hurt Jamie.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“Victor told you that?”
“All of us.”
Nathan stood.
“Was there anything else?”
Nora hesitated.
“A receipt.”
“For the storage unit?”
“Claire kept it in her handbag.”
“Where is the handbag?”
Nora looked at him.
“Mrs. Harcourt took Claire’s personal belongings after the funeral.”
Nathan’s blood ran cold.
“She told me she was packing them for Jamie.”
“I know.”
Nathan left the study.
“Nathan?”
He stopped at the doorway.
“Where are you going?”
“My mother moved most of Claire’s things into the attic.”
The attic door was locked.
Nathan had the household master key.
It didn’t work.
Nora stared.
“Mrs. Harcourt changed the lock.”
Nathan almost laughed.
Of course she had.
He called security.
Ten minutes later, the lock was opened.
Nathan entered first.
Boxes filled one side of the attic.
Claire’s name was written on several.
Her dresses.
Books.
Photographs.
Nathan felt pain with every box he opened.
Then Nora found the handbag.
“Sir.”
Nathan took it.
Empty.
Almost.
Inside a small zippered pocket was a faded receipt.
Riverside Storage.
Unit 214.
Nathan looked at the brass key.
They drove there before sunrise.
Security accompanied them.
The storage manager verified Claire’s old rental using records from two years earlier.
The account had never been closed.
Payments had been made automatically from an account Nathan didn’t recognize.
Unit 214 stood at the end of a narrow indoor corridor.
Nathan inserted the brass key.
It turned.
Inside were six boxes.
A folding chair.
A suitcase.
And an old laptop.
Nathan’s hands shook.
The first box contained copies of bank statements.
The second held medical records.
The third contained photographs.
Several showed Victor entering the Harcourt estate on nights Nathan had been traveling.
Others showed Eleanor meeting him privately.
Nora opened another box.
“Sir.”
Inside were documents with highlighted transfers between Harcourt family accounts.
Millions of dollars.
Nathan stared.
“What was Claire investigating?”
Nora shook her head.
Nathan opened the laptop.
Password protected.
He tried Jamie’s birthday.
Wrong.
His wedding date.
Wrong.
Then he tried the date Claire first met him.
The desktop opened.
Nathan stopped breathing.
A folder sat in the center of the screen.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME.
Nora covered her mouth.
Nathan clicked.
There were letters.
Documents.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
And a video.
Nathan opened it.
Claire appeared on screen.
Alive.
Her brown hair was pulled behind her shoulders.
She looked exhausted.
But determined.
Nathan forgot how to breathe.
“If you’re watching this,” Claire said, “then I didn’t get the chance to explain everything myself.”
Nathan sat down.
Nora turned away, crying.
Claire continued.
“Nathan, I’m sorry.”
His eyes filled.
“I know you think I’ve become paranoid. I know Eleanor has convinced you that I need rest.”
Nathan lowered his head.
“But I found proof that someone has been manipulating your medical episodes.”
Nathan looked up.
Claire held papers toward the camera.
“I don’t know yet whether Eleanor is trying to hurt you or only control you.”
Nathan swallowed.
“But I know Victor is helping her.”
Nora gasped.
Claire continued.
“And there is something else.”
Her expression changed.
Fear.
“I discovered your father changed his trust six months before he died.”
Nathan leaned closer.
“The version Victor read to the family was not the final version.”
Nathan froze.
Claire looked directly into the camera.
“Your father did not leave Eleanor control over the emergency family trust.”
Nathan’s heart hammered.
“He left it to Jamie.”
Nora stared at Nathan.
Claire continued.
“Which means if something happens to you before Jamie turns twenty-five, Eleanor cannot control the Harcourt voting shares.”
Nathan’s breath caught.
“Only Jamie can inherit them.”
Claire paused.
“And that makes our son the most valuable person in this family.”
Nathan’s blood turned cold.
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“If you believe nothing else I say, believe this.”
She leaned toward the camera.
“Do not let Eleanor become Jamie’s guardian.”
The video ended.
Nathan couldn’t move.
Then his phone rang.
Rebecca.
He answered.
Her voice was shaking.
“Nathan…”
“What?”
“I need to tell you something.”
Nathan stood.
“What happened?”
“Mom came to my apartment.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“What did she want?”
Rebecca began crying.
“She wanted money.”
Nathan frowned.
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Rebecca.”
“She said she has to leave.”
Nathan’s pulse jumped.
“Leave where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is she still there?”
“No.”
“Did she say anything else?”
Rebecca went quiet.
“Rebecca.”
“She asked me whether Jamie remembered the night Claire died.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
Nora stared at him.
“What did you tell her?”
“I said I didn’t know.”
Rebecca sobbed.
“Nathan, I think she’s scared.”
“So am I.”
“No. You don’t understand.”
Her voice dropped.
“She said if Claire’s storage unit still exists, everything is over.”
Nathan looked around at the boxes.
At the laptop.
At Claire’s evidence.
Then at the video frozen on the screen.
May you like
His mother knew about the storage unit.
And now she knew Nathan might find it.
