Chapter 3 - THE CLOCK IN THE EAST CORRIDOR
I found Daniel standing in the entrance hall with a glass of whiskey in his hand.
He had been my best friend since college, the man who stood beside me at my father's funeral and helped me rebuild Whitmore Holdings after a devastating financial scandal.
He was also the man who had told me to stop searching for Emily.
When he saw my face, his smile disappeared.
"What happened?"
"How much do you know about Emily's disappearance?"
Daniel's fingers tightened around his glass.
"Lucas, we've discussed this."
"That isn't an answer."
He glanced toward the staircase.
"Is this about your housekeeper?"
"Clara knows Emily was pregnant."
The glass slipped slightly in his hand.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
"Pregnant?" he repeated.
"With my daughter."
Daniel recovered quickly.
"That's impossible. Emily never told you?"
"No."
"Then how can you be sure the child is yours?"
I stepped closer.
"Careful."
He raised his free hand.
"I'm trying to protect you. You have no idea what Emily was involved in during those final weeks."
"What was she involved in?"
Daniel hesitated.
"She was asking questions about your father's company. She believed someone had been moving money through a subsidiary in Delaware."
I remembered Emily sitting at my kitchen island one night, surrounded by financial documents.
She had asked whether I trusted everyone on my board.
I had told her I trusted Daniel with my life.
She had gone quiet.
"What did she find?"
"Nothing conclusive."
"You're lying."
His jaw tightened.
"You're emotional. I understand that. But dragging an old tragedy back into the light won't bring her home."
"Then you won't mind helping me find the truth."
I walked past him before he could respond.
The east corridor was closed to visitors, its walls lined with portraits of dead Whitmores and antique furniture no one used anymore.
At the end stood a grandfather clock that had belonged to my grandmother.
I knelt beside it.
The wooden panel beneath the clock face was slightly loose.
Behind it lay a small brass key.
My hands shook as I pulled it free.
Clara's letter had mentioned the clock, but nothing about a key.
I examined the surrounding wall until I noticed a narrow seam behind a decorative molding.
The key fit a tiny lock hidden beneath the molding.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a black flash drive, a folded photograph, and a second envelope.
The photograph showed Emily standing outside a small brick building, holding a newborn baby wrapped in a white blanket.
On the back, she had written a date.
Three days after the night she supposedly disappeared.
I stared at the picture until my vision blurred.
Emily had been alive.
She had held our daughter.
And someone had hidden proof inside my own house.
I opened the envelope.
It contained a photocopied medical record from a private maternity clinic.
The mother's name had been obscured, but the baby's date of birth matched Emma's.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, find Dr. Samuel Reed. He knows why the baby had to disappear.
I turned toward Clara, who had followed me into the corridor.
"Who is Samuel Reed?"
Her face went white.
"Emily's doctor."
"Where can I find him?"
"I don't know."
"Clara."
"He left Massachusetts shortly after Emily disappeared. He called me once, months later, and said he was afraid someone was following him."
I slipped the flash drive into my pocket.
"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?"
"Because I thought telling you would put Emma in danger."
"She's my daughter!"
The words echoed down the corridor.
Clara flinched.
I immediately regretted raising my voice.
"I'm sorry," I said, forcing myself to breathe. "I should have known. I should have been there."
Clara's expression softened.
"Emily wanted you to be there more than anything."
I looked at the photograph again.
"Then why didn't she come back?"
Clara hesitated.
"Because the last time I saw her, she believed you had betrayed her."
The words struck harder than any accusation.
"What?"
"She showed me a document. It said you had agreed to send her away in exchange for keeping a company scandal from becoming public."
"That's a lie."
"I know that now."
"Who showed it to her?"
Clara looked toward the entrance hall.
Before she could answer, my phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
Stop digging into Emily Carter's disappearance.
Another message arrived immediately afterward.
If you want your daughter to grow up safely, forget the woman who abandoned her.
My blood ran cold.
I typed a reply.
Who is this?
The response came almost instantly.
Ask your father what happened to the first baby.
I stared at the screen.
The first baby?
There had never been another child.
At least, not according to anything I knew.
Then I heard a small voice behind me.
"Mr. Lucas?"
Emma stood at the far end of the corridor, clutching a stuffed rabbit.
"Why is Mommy crying again?"
I crouched in front of her.
"She isn't crying because of you, sweetheart."
Emma studied my face.
"Are you sad because your Emily went away?"
My heart stopped.
I had never mentioned Emily's name to her.
"Who told you about Emily?"
Emma hugged her rabbit tighter.
"Mommy has a picture of her."
"Where?"
Emma pointed toward Clara's quarters.
"Under my bed. Mommy says I mustn't show it to bad people."
I stood slowly.
"Emma, sweetheart, what does Emily look like?"
The little girl considered the question.
Then she touched two fingers to her temples, pulled her eyebrows together, and made that familiar stubborn pout.
"Like me," she said.
May you like
And behind her, Clara whispered something that made my entire world tilt.
"Lucas, there's another child."
