Chương 6
Because Claire had said similar things.
Not to Lily.
To him.
Years ago, during an argument about his habit of hiding financial problems from her, Claire had stood in their kitchen and told him that silence did not protect people.
It only made them discover the truth later and feel more alone.
At the time, he had thought she was criticizing him.
Now he wondered if she had been preparing him.
"Go finish your cereal," he said.
Lily narrowed her eyes.
"You're changing the subject."
Daniel almost laughed despite himself.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I'm your dad and sometimes I get to do that."
She considered arguing.
Then she went back to eating.
It was such a normal moment that it hurt.
A child complaining about cereal.
A parent avoiding a difficult conversation.
A kitchen light flickering slightly because he still had not fixed it.
For a few minutes, the world felt ordinary.
Then Daniel's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
His body went still.
He answered without speaking.
The same voice returned.
"You went to Bellandi."
Daniel looked at Lily.
He walked into the hallway.
"Who are you?"
"You shouldn't have taken the photograph."
"I didn't take anything."
"You don't understand what you have."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"Then explain it."
Silence.
The person on the other end hesitated.
Only for a moment.
But Daniel noticed.
"You knew Claire."
Another pause.
"Yes."
The answer was different this time.
Not denial.
Not avoidance.
Confirmation.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who tried to warn her."
Daniel felt anger rise.
"Too late."
"I know."
The voice became quieter.
"That's what I regret."
Daniel gripped the phone.
"Did you kill her?"
The silence afterward was longer.
Long enough that he knew the question mattered.
Finally, the person said:
"No."
Daniel waited.
"Then who did?"
The call ended.
He stood in the hallway staring at the screen.
When he returned to the kitchen, Lily was watching him.
"Was that about Mom?"
He looked at his daughter.
He wanted to lie.
He wanted to say no.
But Claire's note was still in his pocket.
Do not make the same mistake I made.
"Yes."
Lily's face changed.
"Is she coming back?"
The question was so innocent that it nearly destroyed him.
Daniel sat beside her.
"No, sweetheart."
"Then why are people calling about her?"
He had no answer.
And that frightened him more than anything else.
That evening, after Lily fell asleep, Daniel opened the laptop again.
He accessed the file labeled meetings.
The first document was a calendar.
At first, it looked meaningless.
Dates.
Names.
Locations.
Then he saw Claire's notes beside several entries.
Short comments written in the margins.
"Doesn't match."
"Why approve this twice?"
"Ask Mara directly."
Daniel moved through the pages slowly.
Claire had been investigating something inside the company.
Not from the outside.
From the inside.
Then he reached the final entry.
A meeting scheduled for the day before she died.
The location was not the Bellandi office.
It was a small restaurant near the harbor.
The person meeting her was listed only by initials.
D.B.
Daniel stopped.
His fingers went cold.
Because he knew those initials.
He had spent fifteen years signing documents with them.
Daniel Carver.
The screen blurred.
He leaned closer.
No.
It could not be.
Claire had scheduled a meeting with him?
The date was correct.
The time was correct.
But he had no memory of it.
He searched through his phone.
Messages.
Calendar.
Emails.
Nothing.
Then he found something else.
A deleted calendar notification recovered from the old laptop.
"Meeting with D.C."
The reminder had been erased.
Daniel sat back.
The apartment was silent around him.
Someone had created a meeting between him and his wife.
Someone had removed it.
And someone wanted him to find out now.
Daniel stayed at the kitchen table until the laptop screen went dark.
He did not move because he was afraid that moving would make the discovery real.
For fifteen years, he had built his life around the belief that he knew Claire better than anyone.
He knew how she took her coffee.
He knew she hated driving in heavy rain.
He knew she cried during movies but pretended she had something in her eye.
He knew she kept old receipts in drawers because she believed every small piece of paper might eventually matter.
But apparently he did not know she had arranged a secret meeting with him the day before she died.
Or someone had made it look like she had.
Daniel reopened the file and searched every page again.
The calendar entry remained.
The initials remained.
The erased reminder remained.
His first instinct was to call Mara.
His second instinct was to throw the laptop across the room.
The first instinct won because anger had never helped him solve anything.
He found Mara's number from the card her assistant had given him.
She answered on the third ring.
"Daniel."
He noticed she already knew it was him.
"You knew Claire had a meeting scheduled with me."
A pause.
Not a long one.
But enough.
"I know what meeting you are talking about."
Daniel stood.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
Her voice stayed calm.
"Did you find it on the drive?"
"Yes."
"Then you understand why I didn't tell you."
"No."
Daniel walked toward the window.
"I understand that my dead wife knew something, you knew something, and everyone keeps deciding what information I deserve."
Mara was quiet.
Then she said, "The meeting was not with you."
Daniel stopped.
"What?"
"The initials were altered."
He looked back at the laptop.
"What were they?"
"I don't know."
"That's impossible."
"No."
Mara's answer was immediate.
"It is dangerous."
Daniel felt frustration building.
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Giving me half sentences and expecting me to trust you."
"I am giving you half sentences because the other half can get people hurt."
"People already got hurt."
The silence afterward was different.
May you like
Mara did not defend herself.
She did not argue.
