Chapter 3 - Clare denied it immediately.“No.”
Dominic watched her.
“No what?”
“No one connected to my husband has anything to do with this.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Mrs. Rowan, we need to examine the ring.”
Clare pulled her hand against her chest.
“You think that ring belongs to someone involved?”
“We don't know.”
“But you're asking like you do.”
Dominic raised his hand.
“Enough.”
Everyone stopped.
He looked at Clare.
“Tell me about Ellie’s father.”
Clare hesitated.
“His name was Daniel.”
“I know his name.”
“Then you know he died.”
“I know what the records say.”
Her face tightened.
“Records?”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Three years ago Daniel Rowan died in a warehouse fire.”
“Yes.”
“His body was identified?”
Clare looked away.
“By dental records.”
“Was there a funeral?”
“Yes.”
“Open casket?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the body was badly burned.”
Dominic stared at her.
For the first time, Clare looked afraid.
Not because of him.
Because of what the questions might uncover.
Ellie suddenly spoke.
“Daddy wasn't burned.”
Clare closed her eyes.
Dominic turned toward the child.
“What?”
Ellie hugged her toy.
“Daddy had a little room.”
Clare whispered, “Ellie.”
“Under the stairs.”
Dominic and Vincent exchanged a look.
“What little room?” Dominic asked.
Ellie shrugged.
“Daddy hid things there.”
Clare took her daughter by the shoulders.
“We're done.”
But Dominic was already thinking.
A burned body.
A hidden room.
A missing X-ray.
A stranger wearing a ring similar to Clare's.
And a man entering his rehabilitation room.
The pieces did not fit.
Which meant someone wanted them not to.
Dominic ordered a search of Daniel Rowan's former house.
Clare objected.
“You have no right.”
“It’s abandoned.”
“It belongs to me.”
“Then come with us.”
An hour later, the house stood dark and silent outside the city.
Clare remained in the car with Ellie.
Dominic, Vincent and two security officers entered.
The building smelled like dust and old wood.
Vincent checked the staircase.
Nothing.
Then Ellie pressed her face against the window.
“Daddy’s room.”
Clare looked up.
“What?”
Ellie pointed toward the staircase.
“There.”
Dominic followed the direction of her finger.
A narrow wooden panel sat beneath the stairs.
Vincent pried it open.
Behind it was a cramped storage space.
Old tools.
Boxes.
A broken lamp.
Nothing unusual.
Then Vincent moved one box.
A metal lockbox was attached to the wall.
Dominic stared at it.
“Get it open.”
The security officer tried.
The lock refused.
Ellie climbed from the car before Clare could stop her.
She ran inside.
“Ellie!”
The little girl knelt beside the box.
She pulled her wooden toy from her pocket.
“This one.”
Vincent stared.
“What?”
Ellie inserted the metal latch of the toy into a tiny opening beside the lock.
It clicked.
The box popped open.
Everyone froze.
Dominic looked at her.
“Who taught you that?”
“Daddy.”
Inside the box were photographs.
Medical records.
Bank statements.
And one envelope.
Dominic pulled it out.
His name was written across the front.
Not in Daniel’s handwriting.
In Dominic's own.
Vincent looked at him.
“You wrote this?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I've never seen it.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
Dominic standing beside a younger Arthur Voss.
The date was fifteen years earlier.
On the back were five words:
THE NIGHT YOU PICKED ARTHUR.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Vincent pulled out another document.
It was a medical authorization form.
Someone had authorized an experimental treatment for Dominic eleven weeks ago.
Dominic had never approved it.
Mercer scanned the page.
“That signature is forged.”
“Whose name?”
Mercer stared.
“Mine.”
Then Clare screamed from outside.
Everyone turned.
A black SUV had stopped across the road.
Two men were running toward the house.
Vincent drew his weapon.
“Get down!”
Gunfire shattered the windows.
Clare threw herself over Ellie.
Dominic grabbed the evidence box.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Vincent fired back.
One attacker fell.
The other ran.
Dominic rushed toward the rear door.
Then stopped.
On the ground beside the doorway was a small silver ring.
Clare recognized it instantly.
Her face went white.
“That belongs to Daniel.”
Dominic picked it up.
There was a symbol engraved inside.
A tiny letter.
V.
Vincent looked at Dominic.
“Vale?”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
He turned the ring.
Behind the V was another letter.
“R.”
Vale.
Rowan.
Reed.
The possibilities multiplied.
Then Dominic remembered the stranger's gait.
The external therapist.
Dr. Nathan Reed.
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“Find Reed.”
Vincent nodded.
“Dead or alive?”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Alive.”
From the car came Ellie's trembling voice.
“Mr. Dominic?”
He turned.
She was staring at the dark road.
“There were two men.”
“Yes.”
“But Daddy wasn't one of them.”
Dominic frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Ellie pointed toward the forest.
“There was a third man.”
Everyone went silent.
“Where?”
May you like
She pointed into the darkness.
“He was watching.”
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