Chapter 6 - The Dead Man's Signature
The drive back to Seattle felt endless.
Lucas sat beside Claire in the back seat, holding the stuffed dinosaur Margaret had allowed him to bring.
Every few minutes, he looked at her as if he needed reassurance that she was real.
Claire kept her hand near his.
Adrian sat in the front passenger seat, staring at the photograph of the unknown woman.
“My father died five years ago,” he said finally.
Claire looked at him.
“Maybe Margaret was mistaken.”
“She wasn't.”
“You can't know that.”
Adrian turned.
“My father was declared dead in London. I identified his body.”
“Then what did Margaret see?”
He had no answer.
When they reached Seattle, Adrian arranged for Lucas to stay in a private guest suite at his home.
Claire refused to leave him.
Adrian didn't argue.
For the first time, all three children were under the same roof.
Ethan was thrilled.
“You're my brother!”
Lucas looked uncertain.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I'm Ethan. That's Emma. We have the same mom.”
Emma approached quietly.
She offered Lucas a colored pencil.
“You can draw with us.”
Lucas accepted it.
Within minutes, the three children were sitting on the living room floor.
Claire watched from the doorway.
She had imagined finding her missing son a thousand times.
She had never imagined seeing him surrounded by siblings who already loved him.
Adrian stood beside her.
“I should have protected you.”
Claire looked at him.
“You didn't know.”
“I should have known.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
He lowered his voice.
“I let Daniel control too much of my life.”
“And I let him convince me you didn't want us.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Did you ever stop loving me?”
Claire's heart tightened.
“This isn't the time.”
“I know.”
But his eyes didn't leave hers.
That evening, Marcus called.
He had found a former Park Meridian accountant willing to talk.
Her name was Susan Miller.
She had worked directly under Daniel for twenty years.
They met in a private office.
Susan looked frightened.
“Daniel wasn't just diverting money,” she said. “He was protecting someone.”
“Who?” Adrian asked.
“Your father.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“My father died.”
Susan opened a file.
“Your father was involved in a financial investigation before his supposed death. He had discovered that Daniel was using the family foundation to move money through offshore accounts.”
Claire frowned.
“Why would Daniel help him?”
“He wasn't helping him. He was trying to keep him quiet.”
Susan showed them a list of payments.
One account belonged to a private medical facility in Switzerland.
Another belonged to a company that specialized in identity protection.
Adrian's face hardened.
“Someone has been paying to keep a person hidden.”
Susan nodded.
“And the payments continued until last month.”
“Who authorized them?”
Susan hesitated.
Then she pointed at the signature.
Adrian recognized it immediately.
It was his own.
He stared at the page.
“I never signed this.”
Susan looked at him.
“That's what I told the board.”
A knock interrupted them.
Marcus opened the door.
“Adrian, we have a problem.”
He handed him a phone.
The security cameras at Adrian's mansion showed a figure entering the property through the rear gate.
A man in a dark coat.
Gray hair.
A familiar walk.
Adrian stared at the screen.
His father.
The man whose funeral he had attended.
The man whose death certificate he had signed.
The man who was supposed to have been buried five years ago.
May you like
Then the figure turned toward the camera.
And smiled.
