Chapter 6 - The Woman Everyone Hated
By morning, Harper's photograph was everywhere.
Richard Vale stood before cameras claiming his daughter had disappeared after being threatened by an "unstable domestic employee" who had manipulated Damian Costa.
It was an elegant lie.
Harper had motive.
Public humiliation.
Access.
No money for attorneys.
And Claudia was conveniently missing.
"Don't respond," Damian said.
Harper stared at the television.
"He made me a murderer."
"He wants you emotional."
"Congratulations. It worked."
Damian's attorney entered carrying worse news.
Police had found blood in Harper's apartment.
Claudia's blood.
Harper laughed in disbelief.
"I haven't been there since someone destroyed it."
"Exactly," Damian said.
Evidence had been planted.
Police arrived that afternoon.
Damian could have prevented the arrest.
Harper refused.
"If you stop them, I look guilty."
So she walked outside voluntarily.
Cameras waited beyond the gates.
Someone shouted, "Did you kill Claudia Vale?"
Harper didn't answer.
She spent seventeen hours in custody.
Then forensic analysis delivered Richard's first problem.
The blood was Claudia's.
But it contained an anticoagulant commonly used when blood was collected medically.
Someone had planted stored blood.
Harper was released.
Outside the station, Damian waited.
"You look terrible," she said.
"I've had a difficult day."
"I was arrested."
"I said what I said."
She laughed.
He opened the car door.
Instead of returning to the estate, Damian drove to a small cemetery.
Harper recognized the name on the stone.
Evelyn Reed.
Her mother.
Damian placed flowers beside the grave.
"Why?"
"Because she saved my life without knowing me."
Harper looked at him.
"She also lied to me for twenty-seven years."
"Parents do terrible things while trying to protect their children."
Harper sat beside the grave.
For the first time since Evelyn died, she cried.
Damian didn't touch her.
He simply sat nearby.
That mattered more.
The next morning, an anonymous message arrived.
I CAN PROVE HARPER DIDN'T HURT CLAUDIA.
COME ALONE.
The location was a motel outside Albany.
Harper insisted on going.
Damian insisted she wasn't going alone.
They compromised by lying to each other.
Harper entered the motel room while Damian's men surrounded the property.
Inside sat Claudia.
Alive.
Harper stopped.
Claudia looked nothing like the woman from the Costa estate.
No makeup.
No diamonds.
Bruising around one eye.
"You."
Claudia laughed weakly.
"Disappointed?"
"Actually, relieved."
That surprised her.
Claudia handed Harper a phone.
"My father did this."
"Why?"
"Because I wouldn't kill you."
Harper stared.
Claudia looked away.
"I hated you. I wanted you fired. Humiliated. Gone."
"Charming."
"But murder?"
Her voice cracked.
"I couldn't."
Richard had beaten his own daughter after she refused his order.
Then Claudia revealed the final secret.
"The ledger isn't the real evidence."
Harper's blood chilled.
"What is?"
"Your mother made copies of everything Vittorio collected. Video. Audio. Bank records. She hid the archive somewhere inside the Costa estate."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Claudia looked toward her.
"But your mother left a clue."
She handed Harper an old photograph.
Evelyn stood in the estate's west solarium.
Behind her was the ficus tree Claudia had forced Harper to clean.
Harper stared.
"You're kidding."
Claudia almost smiled.
"I wish."
A gunshot exploded outside.
The motel window shattered.
Harper dropped.
Claudia screamed.
Damian burst through the door.
"Move!"
Harper crawled toward Claudia.
Then she saw the blood.
Claudia had been hit.
May you like
And before losing consciousness, she grabbed Harper's wrist.
"Don't let my father win."
