Chapter 4 - THE DAUGHTER WHO VANISHED
Emily pulled Clara's envelope from her handbag.
Her fingers moved quickly through the folded papers until she found the faded photograph.
It showed the same woman standing beside Richard Whitmore, younger and smiling, with a little girl sitting on her lap.
Daniel leaned over her shoulder.
"Where did you get that?"
"Clara gave me the envelope. I didn't notice this picture until now."
Evelyn placed both photographs side by side.
The woman wore the same distinctive silver pendant in each image.
"This isn't a coincidence," the attorney murmured.
Daniel's face had gone pale.
"My father never told me I had a sister."
"Perhaps he believed she was dead," Emily said.
Evelyn shook her head.
"Richard never mentioned a daughter, but he did establish a confidential education fund for a child under another name."
Daniel looked at her.
"You knew about this?"
"I knew about the fund. I didn't know the beneficiary's identity."
She searched her computer records and found a scanned letter from Richard dated six years earlier.
The letter contained a single instruction: If Margaret ever discovers the beneficiary's identity, notify me immediately.
Richard had died two months later.
Evelyn had never received another instruction.
Daniel sank into a chair.
"Why would my father hide a daughter from his own family?"
"That's what we need to find out," Emily replied.
Before they could investigate further, Marcus received a call from Clara.
She was alive.
She was staying in a small hotel outside Philadelphia and had agreed to meet them that afternoon.
When Clara arrived, she looked exhausted but determined. She was in her early sixties, with gray streaks running through her dark hair.
Emily rushed to embrace her.
"I'm so sorry they fired you."
Clara held her tightly.
"You have nothing to apologize for, sweetheart."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Clara, I owe you an apology. I should have listened when you first called."
"You were overseas, sir. Your mother made sure every message reached you late."
"What did you find in my father's study?"
Clara placed a small brass key on the table.
"Your father asked me to keep this safe if anything happened to him. He said it opened a private cabinet in the old Queens office."
Daniel recognized the key.
He'd seen it in his father's desk as a child.
"Why didn't you give it to me earlier?"
"Because your mother threatened to have me arrested for theft. Then she accused Emily of stealing the bracelet. I realized she was searching for something, and I feared she'd destroy it if she found it first."
Emily touched Clara's arm.
"And the woman in the photograph?"
Clara's eyes filled with sorrow.
"Her name was Rebecca. She worked with your father on a foundation for children who'd lost their parents. She and Richard became close, but not in the way your mother believed."
Daniel frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Rebecca was his daughter."
The room went silent.
"Your father discovered her existence after her mother died," Clara continued. "He wanted to bring her into the family, but Margaret refused to accept her. She said Rebecca would destroy the Whitmore name."
Daniel stared at the photographs.
"Where is she now?"
Clara shook her head.
"I don't know. But before I was fired, I found a letter indicating she was still alive."
Marcus suddenly stepped toward the window.
"Someone's watching the building."
A black sedan sat across the street.
Its engine was running.
Daniel moved toward the door, but Clara grabbed his arm.
"Don't. Your mother isn't the only person involved."
"Who else?"
Clara reached into her coat and removed a torn piece of paper.
It contained a handwritten name.
THOMAS REED.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
Thomas was his father's former financial adviser, a man who had vanished shortly after Richard's funeral.
"Thomas helped prepare the trust," Daniel said. "He knew everything."
Clara nodded.
"And he was the last person to visit Rebecca before she disappeared."
Daniel took out his phone.
"Marcus, find Thomas Reed."
Marcus began typing.
Then he stopped.
"Sir, there's something wrong."
"What?"
Marcus turned the screen toward Daniel.
Thomas Reed had died six years earlier.
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But the death certificate had been issued under a different name.
And the photograph attached to the record showed a man Daniel had seen at his mother's dinner the night before.
