Chapter 3 - Michael’s SecretThe police arrived twenty minutes later.
They found no intruder.
No fingerprints.
No blood.
No sign anyone had entered.
Only the message remained.
Claire stood in the middle of the apartment, staring at it.
Daniel stood beside her.
“You knew Michael was involved in something.”
“I suspected.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
Claire turned on him.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the room.
Daniel did not react.
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“My husband died, and for two years I've been raising our daughter alone. I thought I knew who he was.”
She pointed toward the message.
“Now strangers are hunting my child because apparently he had secrets.”
Daniel spoke quietly.
“I’m sorry.”
“I don't want your apology.”
“I know.”
“What do you want?”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“To keep her alive.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“But somebody already did.”
He reached into his coat and handed her a thin photograph.
Claire stared.
It showed Michael leaving a warehouse.
Not alone.
He was walking beside Daniel's older brother, Ethan.
Claire's breath caught.
“That's your brother?”
“Yes.”
“My husband knew him?”
“They knew each other.”
“How?”
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “My brother disappeared eleven years ago.”
Claire looked up.
“Disappeared?”
“Officially, he ran away.”
“And unofficially?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“He was murdered.”
Claire stared at the photograph again.
“Then why was Michael with him?”
“That is what we're going to find out.”
Emma wandered into the room carrying her coloring book.
“Mom?”
Claire immediately wiped her face.
“What is it, honey?”
Emma held up a drawing.
She had drawn three people holding hands.
Claire.
Emma.
Daniel.
At the bottom, she had written:
MY FAMILY
Daniel stared at it.
Claire noticed.
“Emma likes you.”
He swallowed.
“I know.”
“You shouldn't encourage that.”
“I’m not.”
Emma smiled.
“Daniel, you're coming to Christmas, right?”
Claire opened her mouth.
Daniel answered first.
“Yes.”
Claire looked at him sharply.
“You are not deciding that.”
Daniel's eyes moved to the window.
“Actually, I think someone else already did.”
A dark sedan passed the building.
Daniel watched it disappear.
Then he said, “We're moving.”
“To where?”
“My house.”
Claire shook her head.
“Absolutely not.”
“You think your apartment is safer?”
“No.”
“You have no money for a hotel.”
Claire went silent.
“And you have a child who needs to be protected.”
“I don't want your protection.”
“Then call the police.”
“I will.”
“Tell them armed men tried to kill your daughter because of a dead construction worker's secret.”
Claire hesitated.
Daniel leaned closer.
“They'll take a report.”
He paused.
“They won't understand what they're dealing with.”
A phone rang.
Not Daniel's.
Claire's.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a distorted voice whispered:
“Mrs. Bennett.”
Claire froze.
Daniel immediately reached for the phone.
The voice continued.
“Your husband left something unfinished.”
“What do you want?”
“Not from you.”
Claire looked at Emma.
The voice whispered:
“From the girl.”
The call ended.
Daniel took the phone.
His expression became ice.
A text arrived.
One photograph.
Emma sleeping.
Taken through the window.
Claire screamed.
Daniel looked at the timestamp.
Three minutes ago.
He turned toward the window.
The curtains were closed.
The photograph had been taken from inside the apartment.
Daniel moved instantly.
He grabbed Emma.
“Everyone out.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
Daniel pointed toward the Christmas tree.
A tiny red light blinked beneath it.
A listening device.
Daniel's voice became very quiet.
“They've been listening to us all night.”
Then he noticed something else.
A second red light.
Inside Emma's stuffed rabbit.
And beneath the rabbit's stitched eye, someone had hidden a tiny metal key.
Daniel picked it up.
Claire whispered:
“What does that open?”
May you like
Daniel stared at the key.
“My father had one exactly like it.”
