Chapter 5 - Daniel’s Sister
Rebecca looked nothing like the woman I remembered.
Six years earlier, she had been twenty-nine, loud, impulsive, always wearing bright lipstick and oversized sunglasses.
The woman who entered my hospital room wore no makeup.
Her dark hair was cut to her shoulders.
There were tired lines beside her eyes.
She stopped when she saw my injuries.
“Oh, Claire.”
I felt no comfort.
Only suspicion.
“Why are you here?”
She looked at my father.
“Can we speak alone?”
“No.”
“Claire—”
“He stays.”
Rebecca nodded.
“All right.”
She sat near the door.
“I heard Daniel was arrested.”
“How?”
“A former employee called me.”
“Why would one of Daniel’s employees have your number?”
“Because I’ve been waiting for this.”
The room became very still.
“For what?”
“For someone to finally stop being afraid of him.”
My father folded his arms.
“You have ten seconds to explain why my wife called you before she died.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“You’re Thomas.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry about Margaret.”
My father’s face hardened.
“Explain.”
Rebecca took a slow breath.
“Your wife contacted me eleven months ago.”
“How?”
“She found me online.”
“What did she want?”
“To know why I left.”
I watched her carefully.
“And what did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“Which is?”
Rebecca turned to me.
“I never stole from Daniel.”
I said nothing.
“He stole from me.”
“How?”
“When our father died, Daniel and I inherited Bennett Restoration equally.”
I knew their father had died seven years ago.
Daniel told me he inherited the company because Rebecca did not want it.
“He said you signed away your share.”
“I did.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I signed because he threatened me.”
My father stepped closer.
“With what?”
Rebecca’s eyes dropped.
“My son.”
I had forgotten she had a child.
A little boy named Caleb.
He would be around thirteen now.
“Daniel told me he had enough evidence to make me look like I was stealing from the business. He said he would report me, destroy me financially and make sure my ex-husband used it to take Caleb.”
“Did he have evidence?”
“He had fake evidence.”
My skin prickled.
“The same thing he may have been doing to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you fight him?”
Rebecca gave a bitter laugh.
“Why didn’t you leave the first time he hurt you?”
The question hit hard.
She immediately looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
I stared at her.
“That’s fair.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Daniel does not win because he’s smarter than everyone. He wins because he learns what people are afraid of.”
My father looked toward the window.
“What did Margaret discover?”
“She had found several accounts connected to Claire.”
“Yes.”
“She also found payments from Bennett Restoration to a consulting company.”
“What company?”
“Northline Advisory.”
I had never heard the name.
“Who owns it?”
“On paper? Nobody meaningful. It’s registered through layers.”
“And in reality?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“Daniel.”
I closed my eyes.
“Your mother believed Daniel was creating inflated restoration claims. He would subcontract work, bill insurers for substantially more, then move some of the difference through Northline.”
“Why use my identity?”
“Because some of the shell accounts needed clean names.”
My father’s jaw tightened.
Rebecca continued.
“Margaret wanted evidence strong enough that Daniel couldn’t explain it away.”
“So she called you.”
“Yes.”
“What did you give her?”
“Copies of old company records. Emails. Something Daniel did not know I still had.”
“What?”
“His backup ledger.”
“The notebook?”
“No.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“The notebook police found is probably recent. Daniel used to keep everything digitally.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
My father stared at her.
“What happened after you spoke to my wife?”
“We talked four times.”
“Four?”
“Yes.”
“The last time?”
“Two days before she died.”
I swallowed.
“What did she say?”
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
“She sounded scared.”
My father’s face changed.
“My wife was not easily scared.”
“I know.”
“What did she say?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“She said Daniel knew.”
I gripped the blanket.
“Knew what?”
“That she was investigating him.”
“How?”
“She didn’t explain.”
My father’s voice dropped.
“And you never contacted us after she died?”
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I called Claire.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“Twice.”
“I never got those calls.”
Rebecca went still.
“Then Daniel answered your phone.”
My breath caught.
“He told me not to contact you again.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Rebecca stared at me.
“He said, ‘Margaret should have learned when to stop digging. Don’t make Claire pay for the same mistake.’”
My father stood so fast the chair moved backward.
“Why did you not go to the police?”
“I had no proof he did anything to Margaret.”
“That was a threat.”
“Yes.”
“Against my daughter!”
“I had a thirteen-year-old son, Mr. Whitmore!”
“So you stayed quiet?”
“Yes!”
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“Yes. I stayed quiet. And I have hated myself for it every day.”
Silence filled the room.
Finally she reached into her handbag.
Hospital security had searched it before allowing her upstairs.
She removed a flash drive.
“I came because Margaret sent me something.”
My father stopped.
“When?”
“The morning she died.”
“What?”
“She emailed me a file.”
“What file?”
“I couldn’t open it.”
“For eleven months?”
“It’s encrypted.”
“Then why bring it now?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“Because of the message.”
“What message?”
“The email body contained one sentence.”
She opened her phone and showed us a screenshot.
The sender was my mother.
Margaret Whitmore.
The date was the morning of her death.
The message read:
If anything happens to me, Claire knows the password. She just doesn’t know she knows it.
I stared at the sentence.
“That makes no sense.”
My father took the flash drive.
“What kind of password would Margaret expect Claire to know?”
“I don’t know.”
I searched my memory.
Birthdays.
Addresses.
Pet names.
Anniversaries.
Nothing felt right.
Then Rebecca spoke again.
“There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“Daniel visited your mother the day she died.”
My father’s face emptied.
“No.”
Rebecca nodded.
“How do you know?”
“Because Margaret told me he was coming.”
“What time?”
“Around noon.”
My father looked at me.
My mother collapsed at 3:40 that afternoon.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“She said she was going to give Daniel one chance.”
“One chance to do what?” I asked.
“To tell you the truth himself.”
I stared at the flash drive.
Somewhere inside it was whatever my mother had discovered.
And for eleven months, Daniel had believed her evidence died with her.
Then my phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Daniel’s voice came through the line.
“Claire.”
Every muscle in my body locked.
“How are you calling me?”
He ignored the question.
“You need to stop.”
Rebecca went pale.
My father reached for the phone.
I held up one hand.
“Stop what?”
Daniel breathed quietly.
Then he said something that made the entire room disappear around me.
“Whatever Rebecca brought you, destroy it.”
I looked at Rebecca.
She looked terrified.
Daniel continued.
May you like
“Because if you open that file, you’re going to find out something about your mother you will never be able to forget.”
Then the call ended.
