Chapter 5 - The Man Daniel Called UncleRichard Vale had been part of Daniel’s life for thirty years.
Victor Hale had not always been Victor Hale.
Twelve years earlier, he had been Victor Rowan.
Before that, Victor Mercer.
And before that, investigators found a marriage license issued to a thirty-year-old man named Vincent Hall.
Different surnames.
Same face.
Same birth date.
Three states.
Four wealthy women.
Daniel stared at the photographs spread across the hospital conference table.
Celeste Rowan.
Laura Mercer.
Kathleen Hall.
Evelyn Carter.
Four marriages.
All women with substantial assets.
Laura died after falling from a balcony.
Kathleen drowned in a private swimming pool.
Celeste disappeared in a boating accident and had been legally declared dead seven years later.
Only Celeste had survived.
“Why was nobody connecting these cases?” Noah asked.
Detective Brooks tapped the files.
“Different states. Different identities. Different methods. None of the earlier deaths were ruled homicide.”
Daniel rubbed his temples.
“And Victor inherited?”
“Not everything. But enough.”
“How much?”
“Approximately nine million from Kathleen Hall. Nearly six from Laura Mercer.”
Noah laughed bitterly.
“And then he found Mom.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
Evelyn had fallen asleep again.
“What about Celeste?”
Brooks closed the folder.
“We’re trying to locate her.”
“She was meeting Mom six weeks ago.”
“She hasn’t been seen since.”
Daniel thought of the payment ledger.
E.C. Final delivery.
Two million dollars.
His stomach turned.
“Do you think Victor killed her?”
“We don’t know.”
Noah stood.
“What we know is that Victor drugged Mom, forged her death, put her in a coffin, and planned to move her somewhere.”
Brooks gave him a sharp look.
“We know someone did those things.”
Noah stared back.
“You still think he might be innocent?”
“I think cases fall apart when investigators decide the ending before they finish the beginning.”
Daniel respected that.
Noah didn’t.
At three in the morning, Daniel finally left the hospital to shower.
Noah stayed with Evelyn.
Daniel had been awake for nearly thirty hours.
He drove home automatically.
His house stood twenty minutes from his mother’s estate.
A modest two-story place compared with Evelyn’s mansion.
His wife, Rachel, had taken their seven-year-old daughter Lily to her sister’s home after the funeral chaos.
Daniel was grateful.
He didn’t want Lily anywhere near this.
He entered through the garage.
The kitchen light was on.
Daniel froze.
He remembered turning everything off.
“Rachel?”
No answer.
He reached for a golf club beside the pantry.
Then he heard a voice behind him.
“You always were the cautious one.”
Daniel spun.
A woman stood near the back door.
Dark hair.
Scar above her eyebrow.
Celeste Rowan.
Daniel raised the club.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
“You broke into my house.”
“You should improve your locks.”
“Police are looking for you.”
“I know.”
“Then why aren’t you talking to them?”
“Because the last detective I trusted ended up dead.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Who are you?”
“You know who.”
“Prove it.”
Celeste slowly reached into her coat.
Daniel tightened his grip.
She removed an old photograph.
Victor stood on a beach beside a younger Celeste.
His arm was around her waist.
A wedding ring glinted on his hand.
On the back someone had written:
Victor & Celeste — Maui — 2014.
Daniel lowered the club slightly.
“What happened to you?”
Celeste looked toward the window.
“I survived.”
“Mom said you were supposed to be dead.”
“I was.”
She sat at the kitchen table without invitation.
“Twelve years ago Victor took me sailing off San Diego. I remember drinking champagne. I remember feeling dizzy. Then I woke up in the water.”
Daniel said nothing.
“He thought I drowned.”
“How did you survive?”
“A fishing boat found me.”
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Victor had already told them I was suicidal. He showed them fake emails. He produced medical records I’d never seen. By the time I reached shore, I realized he had been planning it for months.”
Daniel slowly sat opposite her.
“You disappeared.”
“I was terrified.”
“And you let everyone think you were dead for twelve years?”
“I changed my name. Moved. Built another life.”
“Then why contact Mom?”
Celeste’s face tightened.
“I saw Victor in a business article.”
Daniel understood.
“He married her.”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Everything.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What is he planning?”
“I thought he’d kill her and make it look natural.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Celeste hesitated.
“That’s what scares me.”
Daniel frowned.
“If Victor wanted Evelyn dead, she would be dead.”
Daniel felt cold.
“He deliberately kept her alive?”
“I think so.”
“For what?”
Celeste reached into her bag again.
This time she pulled out a folder.
Inside were diagrams.
Building plans.
Corporate ownership charts.
A map.
“What is this?”
“Carter Advanced Systems owns a private research division.”
Daniel nodded.
“My father started it.”
“Project Meridian.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“That program shut down years ago.”
“That’s what everyone thinks.”
“What does this have to do with Mom?”
“Evelyn has access.”
“To what?”
Celeste looked directly at him.
“A secured encryption vault containing patent keys and government-contract data worth billions.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Mom would never give Victor access.”
“Exactly.”
“So he needed her alive.”
Celeste nodded.
“Long enough to unlock it.”
Daniel’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Then why put her in a coffin?”
“Because everyone needed to believe she was dead.”
Daniel thought of the nighttime cemetery transfer.
A fake burial.
A secret relocation.
A living woman disappearing after the world had already mourned her.
Celeste continued.
“They would have kept Evelyn hidden until she gave them what they wanted.”
“Them?”
Daniel caught the word.
Celeste looked away.
“Victor isn’t running this alone.”
“Leonard?”
“He’s logistics.”
“Then who?”
Celeste opened her mouth.
The kitchen window exploded.
Daniel threw himself down.
Glass sprayed across the floor.
Celeste screamed and dropped behind the table.
A bullet struck the refrigerator.
Daniel crawled toward the wall.
Another shot.
Then tires screamed outside.
Silence.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
Celeste stood first.
Blood ran from a small cut on her cheek.
“They found me.”
“Police are coming.”
Celeste shook her head.
“I can’t be here.”
“You just got shot at.”
“That’s why I can’t.”
She moved toward the back door.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Who is ‘they’?”
Celeste stared at him.
Then she said the sentence that changed the entire investigation.
“Victor isn’t the person you should be most afraid of.”
“Then who is?”
Celeste pulled free.
“Your mother’s business partner.”
Daniel went still.
Evelyn had only one longtime business partner.
A man Daniel had known since childhood.
A man who had spoken at his father’s funeral.
A man who called Evelyn his sister.
“Richard?”
Celeste opened the door.
May you like
“Richard Vale hired Victor.”
Then she disappeared into the night.
Related Stories
