Chương 6
Daniel looked down.
Claire said, “Why the bracelet?”
Daniel’s eyes moved to her hand.
“I don’t know.”
“You said you thought she was wearing it.”
“She was when she came to my apartment.”
Claire opened her palm.
“She gave it to me before that.”
Daniel stared at the bracelet.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That can’t be the same one.”
“It is.”
“How do you know?”
“The initials.”
Daniel walked closer but did not touch it.
“There were two.”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
“Two bracelets.”
Claire felt the first true shift in the mystery.
Not an answer.
A door.
Daniel pointed toward the engraving.
“Turn it over.”
Claire did.
The underside looked plain.
“Near the clasp.”
She held it closer to the light.
There was a tiny scratch.
No.
Not a scratch.
A seam.
Daniel said, “Emily had them made.”
Victoria stared at him.
“Why?”
“One for her. One for Ethan.”
Ethan looked genuinely confused.
“I never got one.”
“No.”
Daniel reached into his coat.
Ethan immediately stepped forward.
Daniel stopped.
“It’s my phone.”
“Slowly.”
Daniel gave him an irritated look.
For one strange second, they were simply old friends annoyed with each other.
Then Daniel removed his phone and opened a photograph.
He placed it on the table.
The picture showed Emily at a restaurant.
Claire recognized her immediately: dark hair, crooked smile, one eyebrow slightly raised at whoever held the camera.
On her wrist was a silver bracelet.
Beside it sat an identical one.
Daniel zoomed in.
Both were engraved E.M.
“She showed them to me about a month before she disappeared,” he said. “She said Ethan’s was a present.”
Ethan stared at the photograph.
“For what?”
Daniel looked at him.
“For telling the truth.”
Nobody spoke.
Ethan sat down.
“I never got it.”
“No.”
“Because I didn’t tell the truth.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire examined the seam near the clasp.
“What’s inside?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“Emily called it insurance.”
That startled him.
Claire saw it clearly.
“What?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Her bracelet had a storage chip.”
Victoria frowned.
“In a bracelet?”
“A tiny encrypted drive. Custom housing.”
“What was on it?”
“Copies of evidence.”
“And this one?”
“I assumed nothing.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Do you have a laptop?”
“Of course.”
“Get it.”
Daniel said, “Don’t.”
Everyone turned.
“Why?”
“If that drive is encrypted, plugging it into a networked computer could alter metadata or trigger something.”
Claire stared at him.
“You sound very informed for a man who knows nothing.”
“I’m an attorney.”
“You’re also a liar.”
Daniel accepted that without protest.
Ethan said, “We call the FBI.”
Daniel looked at him.
“No.”
Victoria laughed in disbelief.
“No?”
“If this is what I think it is, we call your criminal attorney first.”
“You are his attorney.”
“Not anymore.”
Ethan stared at him.
Daniel met his eyes.
“I should never have been.”
There was history in the sentence.
Claire did not care about it yet.
“Where is Emily?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“Where did you send her?”
“A hotel in Queens.”
“What name?”
“Laura Mitchell.”
“How long did she stay?”
“She never checked in.”
Victoria gripped the back of a chair.
“Then what did you do?”
“I called her.”
“You said you had her phone.”
“She had a second phone.”
“Of course she did.”
“She didn’t answer.”
“Did you call police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she had specifically told me not to.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“The next morning, I learned her car had been found.”
“Before the police found it,” Claire said.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
There it was.
The thing Ethan had been circling.
Daniel said, “Yes.”
“How?”
“My investigator.”
“Why was he looking?”
“Because I hired him after Emily left my apartment.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked tired now.
“Because I didn’t believe she was being followed until I looked out my window and saw a car leave after her.”
“What car?”
“Black Escalade.”
“Who was driving?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“License plate?”
“My investigator eventually got it.”
Ethan stood.
“Daniel.”
Daniel did not look at him.
“The vehicle was leased to Morgan Hale.”
Victoria slowly turned toward her son.
Ethan’s face went white.
“I didn’t send anyone.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I did.”
The next thunderclap seemed to break directly above them.
Ethan stared at his oldest friend.
“What?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“I had someone watching Emily.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“From my sister?”
“From what she might do.”
Claire watched Ethan cross the room.
His movements were controlled until the last two steps.
Then he grabbed Daniel by the shirt.
Victoria said, “Ethan.”
Daniel did not fight back.
“Was your guy following her that night?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he lost her.”
“When?”
“After she left my apartment.”
“You told me she was probably dead.”
“I believed she might be.”
“You told me there was too much blood in the car.”
“There was.”
“How did you know?”
Daniel’s silence answered before his mouth did.
Ethan released him.
“Your investigator found the car.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Daniel straightened his shirt.
“He found blood.”
“Did he touch anything?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you call the police immediately?”
“I did.”
“How long?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Three hours.”
Victoria made a small sound.
Claire felt suddenly sick.
Three hours.
In stories, three hours sounded like a clue.
In life, three hours was enough time for a person to bleed out, board a plane, cross state lines, destroy evidence, change her mind, or sit somewhere alone waiting for someone to choose her over his own fear.
“What did you do for those three hours?” Claire asked.
Daniel looked at her.
“I tried to find Emily.”
“No. What did you actually do?”
“I called hospitals. I called the hotel. I sent my investigator to places she might go.”
“And you cleaned up Ethan’s financial mess.”
Daniel did not answer.
Victoria whispered, “You used her disappearance.”
“No.”
May you like
“You used those hours.”
“I was trying to protect both of them.”
