Chapter 7 - June Whitmore's Last Warning
Clara photographed every reconstructed strip.
She did not call Adrian immediately.
Trusting powerful people had never been one of Clara's survival skills.
Instead, she called Daniel's former fire captain.
Thomas Reed was seventy-one now and lived in Pennsylvania.
When Clara read June Whitmore's sentence aloud, the line went silent.
"Tom?"
"You need to get out of that house."
Clara's blood turned cold.
"What?"
"Take Lily and go somewhere public."
"Why?"
"I should've told you years ago."
Clara gripped the phone.
"Told me what?"
"Daniel made me promise."
Before he could continue, Clara heard a car door outside.
Then another.
Their apartment was on the second floor.
Through the curtains, she saw two men in dark jackets.
Not police.
One looked up toward her window.
Clara moved instantly.
"Lily. Shoes."
Her daughter looked up from homework.
"What's wrong?"
"Now."
They left through the rear stairwell.
Clara took no suitcase.
Only her purse, Lily's backpack, and Daniel's old metal lockbox from beneath the bed.
They reached the laundromat on the corner before Clara called Adrian.
He answered on the first ring.
"Clara?"
"Did you send men to my apartment?"
"No."
"Then someone did."
Adrian's voice changed.
"Where are you?"
"Public place."
"Stay there."
"No, you listen. June left a letter mentioning Daniel."
Silence.
"What letter?"
"Marilyn shredded it."
Adrian swore.
Twenty minutes later, Whitmore security surrounded the laundromat.
Clara hated the attention.
But she hated fear more.
Adrian arrived himself.
Lily handed him the grocery bag.
"We taped some."
He looked at the strips.
Then at Lily.
"You stole shredded documents from Marilyn's office?"
"Borrowed."
"This is extremely serious."
"I know."
Adrian stared at her.
Then sighed.
"My lawyers are going to love you."
They moved Clara and Lily into a secure guesthouse owned by the Whitmore family.
Clara refused Adrian's mansion.
"I'm not living in your house."
"Why?"
"I've seen enough movies."
He almost smiled.
Thomas Reed arrived the next morning.
His hands shook when he saw Lily.
"She has Daniel's eyes."
Clara sat across from him.
"Tell me."
Tom explained.
After the mill fire, Daniel discovered the electrical explosion had not been an accident.
Safety systems had been deliberately disabled.
Why?
Because Richard Pierce had been running unauthorized equipment overnight, producing components for a side company he secretly owned.
The scheme could have destroyed Whitmore Industries.
Daniel found proof.
He brought it to June.
Not Walter.
"Why her?" Adrian asked.
"Because Daniel didn't trust Richard."
Tom looked at Adrian.
"And your father did."
June investigated quietly.
She discovered something worse.
Richard had been stealing from the family trust created for Elena Russo and Samuel.
"Who was Samuel?" Adrian asked.
Tom looked uncomfortable.
"That's not my story."
"It became my story when my father said he was my brother."
Tom nodded.
"Then Walter told you more than Daniel ever told me."
According to Tom, June intended to expose Richard.
Before she could, Elena and Samuel disappeared.
Daniel began receiving threats.
He left Whitmore.
Joined the fire academy.
He told June that if anything happened to him, she should contact Clara.
"Why didn't she?" Clara asked.
"Maybe she tried."
Everyone looked toward the shredded letter.
Then Tom revealed the final piece.
Daniel's death fourteen years later might not have been an accident.
Clara stood so fast her chair fell.
"No."
"His engine failed."
"It was a warehouse collapse."
"That's what you were told."
Tom's voice broke.
"Daniel entered after a mayday call. There was nobody inside."
Clara stared.
"What?"
"The radio transmission was false."
Adrian swore.
"Someone lured him in?"
"Internal investigation couldn't prove it."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Clara screamed.
Tom looked devastated.
"Because Daniel made me promise that if anything happened, you and Lily would stay away from the Whitmores."
Clara's knees weakened.
Adrian caught her elbow.
She yanked away.
"Don't."
He stepped back.
Lily stood completely still.
Her father had been dead six years.
She had spent those years believing he'd died saving strangers.
Now adults were telling her somebody might have sent him into an empty burning building.
"Who?" she whispered.
Nobody answered.
Then Walter spoke from the doorway.
They hadn't heard him arrive.
A nurse stood behind him.
Walter looked older than he had the day before.
But his eyes were clear.
"Richard."
Adrian moved toward him.
"Dad?"
Walter's voice cracked.
"Richard killed Daniel."
Clara went pale.
May you like
Walter began crying.
"And I knew."
