Chapter 9 - WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BASEMENT
Daniel contacted me the next morning.
Not by phone.
He left a note beneath my windshield.
COME ALONE. OLD TRAIN DEPOT. 6 P.M.
I should have called the police.
Instead, I went.
Because I needed answers.
Daniel stood inside the abandoned depot.
He looked older than the photograph.
Tired.
Scarred.
But unmistakably alive.
“You married Claire,” he said.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
He laughed without humor.
“She always finds someone willing to believe her.”
I stepped closer.
“Why is my stepdaughter afraid?”
His expression changed.
“Because Claire taught her to be afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of everyone.”
“What did Claire do?”
Daniel looked toward the broken windows.
“Three years ago, I found out she was stealing from me.”
I stared.
“You were partners?”
“She helped me create shell companies.”
“Fraud.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she betray you?”
“Because she found out I was going to leave her.”
I said nothing.
“Claire took the money,” he continued. “Then she staged my death.”
“You were in the crash?”
“Yes.”
“Did she try to kill you?”
Daniel looked at me.
“She left me in that car.”
I felt cold.
“How did you survive?”
“Someone found me.”
“Why didn't you come back?”
“Because I was afraid.”
I didn't expect that answer.
“Of Claire?”
“Of the people behind the money.”
He handed me a small folder.
Inside were documents.
Bank transfers.
Company names.
Photographs.
And one picture that made my stomach twist.
Claire standing beside a man I recognized.
My wife's father.
The man she had told me died fifteen years ago.
“What is this?”
Daniel said:
“Your wife was never the mastermind.”
I looked at him.
“Then who was?”
He pointed to the photograph.
“Her father.”
I stared.
“Her father is dead.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He leaned closer.
“Your wife has been protecting him.”
The truth hit me like a punch.
The monster wasn't a stranger.
But maybe it wasn't Claire either.
May you like
Maybe the monster had been living in the family long before I arrived.
And maybe Claire had spent years protecting the very man who had taught her how to lie.
