Chapter 4 - The Last Night On the drive to Storage 218, I remembered the last night I had seen Claire.
She had arrived at my house furious.
She was still wearing her office badge.
“Vanessa has access to Dad's trust portal.”
Vanessa had laughed from the dining room.
“I'm your brother's wife. I help with family finances.”
Claire ignored her.
“Daniel, someone approved nineteen million dollars in consulting transfers using my credentials.”
I had been exhausted.
Our father had died six months earlier.
Carter Meridian was struggling.
Everyone seemed to want something.
“Talk to Elliot,” I had told her.
“Elliot is part of it.”
“Then bring me proof.”
Claire stared at me.
“I am trying to keep you from becoming proof.”
I didn't understand what she meant.
I wish I had.
The next morning, she was gone.
Her phone was found in a rideshare two counties away.
Three days later, I received the first email.
I need distance.
Don't look for me.
I wanted to believe she meant it.
Believing it was easier than admitting she might be in danger.
At Storage 218, Detective Ruiz met us with two officers.
The unit was almost empty.
A black duffel.
A folding chair.
A metal lockbox.
Claire's passport.
Cash.
Two sweaters.
And the silver compass necklace our mother had given her in college.
Noah touched it.
“She never took this off.”
The lockbox contained a digital recorder.
But no memory card.
“Somebody got here first,” Ruiz said.
An officer called from the hallway.
“Detective!”
We followed him.
The rear fire door stood open.
Fresh tire tracks cut across wet gravel.
Blue paint had scraped the frame.
The same shade as the sedan outside my house.
My phone buzzed.
A new email.
From Claire's account.
The subject line read:
YOU STILL DON'T LISTEN.
The message contained one sentence.
Daniel, Marcus is going to kill you too.
I looked at Ruiz.
“Who is Marcus Hale?”
She stared at me.
“You already know.”
“Yes.”
“No,” she said quietly.
May you like
“You know the name.
You don't know the man.”
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