Chapter 4 - The Room with the MoonThe west wing smelled of dust, old wood, and something faintly metallic.
I unlocked the first door and switched on the lights. Nothing happened. The second switch flickered before the corridor brightened beneath a row of antique sconces.
The rooms were not undergoing renovations.
They had been preserved.
Claire's paintings still hung on the walls. Her favorite green armchair sat beside the fireplace. A music box rested on the mantel, its lid closed. Everything looked exactly as it had the week before her death.
At the end of the corridor stood a narrow door painted midnight blue.
A silver crescent moon had been carved above the handle.
I stared at it.
The room with the moon.
I tried the brass key.
The lock turned.
Inside was a small study lined with bookshelves. A desk stood beneath the window, facing the gardens where Claire used to take Lily for morning walks. On the desk sat a framed photograph of my wife holding our daughter.
Behind it was a narrow wooden box.
I opened the lid.
Inside lay a digital voice recorder, a stack of bank statements, an envelope addressed to me, and a second photograph.
This one showed Claire standing beside Victoria.
They were outside a hospital.
Victoria looked younger, her dark hair pulled into a ponytail. Claire wore the yellow raincoat she had been wearing on the day she died.
I stared at the photograph, unable to understand what I was seeing.
Victoria had told me she met Claire only once, briefly, at a charity event years earlier.
Why had they been together at a hospital?
And why had Claire kept the photograph hidden?
I picked up the envelope.
Daniel, the letter began, if you have found this, then the people I feared have finally made their move.
I wanted to tell you everything, but every time I tried, someone reminded me how easily the people we love can be hurt.
My hands tightened around the paper.
Richard has been taking money from Lily's trust. I found the evidence by accident while reviewing the company's accounts. When I confronted him, he said it was a temporary arrangement. Then I discovered the transfers had begun long before he asked me to marry into the Whitmore family.
I frowned at the wording.
Marry into the family?
Richard was already a Whitmore.
I continued reading.
I also discovered that Victoria Ashford is not the woman she claims to be. She approached Richard before she ever met you. He told me she was useful, but I believe she has another reason for wanting this family destroyed.
A floorboard creaked behind me.
I turned.
Victoria stood in the doorway.
Her wedding veil hung loose over one shoulder, and her makeup had begun to streak. For a moment, she looked like the woman from the photograph, the younger version of herself caught in a secret that had begun long before our engagement.
“You knew Claire,” I said.
Victoria nodded.
“I did.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she asked me not to.”
I held up the photograph.
“Why were you at a hospital with my wife?”
Victoria stepped into the room and shut the door.
“Because I was the one who told her Richard had been stealing from Lily.”
I stared at her.
“You helped Claire investigate him?”
“Yes.”
“And then you joined him?”
Her shoulders collapsed.
“I thought I could stop him from the inside.”
“That is the worst explanation I've ever heard.”
“I know.”
She moved toward the desk, but I blocked her.
“Don't touch anything.”
Her eyes settled on the envelope.
“Did you read the last page?”
I looked down.
The letter contained only one more paragraph.
Daniel, the money is not the worst thing Richard has taken. He has been searching for a woman for twenty-six years, and I have finally discovered why.
My heartbeat quickened.
I turned the page over.
There was nothing.
“What woman?” I demanded.
Victoria's lips parted.
Then someone pounded on the locked door.
“Daniel!” Richard shouted from the corridor. “Open this door immediately!”
I ignored him.
I picked up the recorder and pressed play.
Static crackled through the small speaker.
Then Claire's voice filled the room.
“Daniel, if you're hearing this, you must understand something. Richard didn't arrange the accident because of money.”
A pause.
A faint breath.
“He did it because I discovered who his real mother was.”
The recording ended.
I stood motionless.
Richard's pounding stopped.
For several seconds, the only sound was the faint hum of electricity.
Then a key scraped inside the lock from the other side.
Victoria looked at me with horror.
“Daniel,” she whispered, “there's something else you need to know about your brother.”
May you like
The door handle began to turn.
“He may not be your brother at all.”
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