Chapter 13 - The OrganizerI stopped answering everyone.
Robert.
Mom.
Amanda.
Daniel.
I needed proof.
Not stories.
Proof.
I hired a private investigator.
Her name was Mara.
She spent forty-eight hours digging into the financial records.
Then she called.
"You were right."
"About what?"
"Your father's trust."
"What did you find?"
"The trust was never transferred."
"Then whose money was Amanda stealing?"
"Not your father's."
"Whose?"
"Yours."
My stomach tightened.
She explained that the identity theft began years earlier.
But there was something stranger.
The forged accounts weren't designed to steal money from me.
They were designed to create a financial trail.
My name was being attached to companies that moved dirty money.
Whoever controlled those companies would eventually have evidence making me look guilty.
"Why?"
"Because someone wants you to take the fall."
"Who?"
Mara sent me a file.
One line made my blood freeze.
Robert Hale received payments from Horizon Harbor Holdings.
"How much?"
"Enough."
"How long?"
"Eight years."
I stared at the report.
Robert had been paid every month since Dad's death.
He wasn't protecting me.
He was managing me.
I called him.
He answered.
"Claire."
"How much?"
Silence.
"How much did Victor pay you?"
Robert exhaled.
"So you've found it."
"Did you kill my father?"
"No."
"Did you help cover up his disappearance?"
"Yes."
"Did you help forge my identity?"
"I helped create the structure."
I gripped the desk.
"Why?"
"Because your father asked me to."
That made no sense.
"My father asked you to turn me into a criminal?"
"No."
"Then explain."
Robert's voice softened.
"Victor had infiltrated everything."
"The family?"
"The trust."
"The companies."
"The banks."
"The police."
"Then who was left?"
"Your father needed someone outside the system."
"Me."
"Yes."
"He sacrificed me."
"No."
"You forged documents in my name."
"I created false trails to make Victor believe you were involved. It kept him from killing you."
I laughed bitterly.
"You call this protection?"
"I call it survival."
"Where is my father?"
"Alive."
"Where?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because Victor is listening."
I looked at the ceiling.
"What happens Thanksgiving?"
Robert was silent.
Then:
"Your father plans to walk into the lodge."
"And Victor?"
"Will follow."
"Why?"
"Because he thinks the list is there."
I held the metal box.
"The list is here."
Robert whispered:
"Then you're holding the bait."
A car door slammed outside.
Mara looked through the window.
"Claire."
"What?"
"Someone is here."
I turned.
A black SUV.
Again.
Mara locked the door.
"Call the police."
I reached for my phone.
Then stopped.
A message appeared.
From an unknown number.
Tell Robert the list is in the lodge.
I stared at it.
Whoever sent it knew I had the list.
And they knew Robert was talking to me.
The game had changed.
Someone wanted all of us in one place.
Thanksgiving.
The lodge.
The family.
Victor.
Robert.
My father.
And me.
Twenty-three people.
May you like
One trap.
And only one person knew how it would end.
