Chapter 3 - The Man Who Inherited a Ghost
Nathan Rowan invited them to dinner two days later.
Daniel almost laughed when the invitation arrived.
“Why would he invite us?”
Vivian looked at the card.
“He knows we're searching.”
Emma looked uncomfortable.
“So he wants to intimidate us.”
“Or control the meeting,” Reed said.
Daniel read the message again.
Private dining room. Rowan House. Friday, 7:00 p.m.
No signature.
No explanation.
Daniel hated both.
Rowan House stood at the end of a narrow private road lined with ancient trees.
Daniel had not been there since he was twenty-six.
Nothing had changed.
That somehow made everything worse.
Nathan opened the door himself.
He wore a dark suit and an expression that seemed permanently designed for expensive photographs.
“Daniel.”
“Nathan.”
Nathan looked at Emma.
For half a second, something flickered in his eyes.
Recognition.
Then it disappeared.
“Emma Bell.”
She looked directly at him.
“You know me.”
Nathan smiled.
“I know of you.”
Daniel noticed her hands tightening.
They entered the dining room.
There were four places set.
Nathan poured wine for himself and ignored the others.
“We should discuss why you're investigating me.”
Daniel sat.
“We're investigating Richard.”
Nathan's smile thinned.
“My father.”
“You called him uncle.”
“Family gets complicated.”
Nathan leaned back.
“My father believed Clara Bell stole company money.”
Emma stiffened.
“That was a lie.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
“She was protecting me.”
Nathan laughed softly.
“From what?”
Daniel interrupted.
“Enough.”
Nathan's gaze shifted toward him.
“You've always been impatient.”
“And you've always lied well.”
For the first time, Nathan looked irritated.
He stood and walked to a cabinet.
From inside he removed a small metal box.
He placed it on the table.
“This belongs to your mother.”
Vivian's face changed.
“What did you do?”
Nathan smiled.
“Nothing.”
He opened the box.
Inside was a bracelet.
Silver.
With a tiny blue stone.
Emma inhaled sharply.
“I know that.”
Daniel looked at her.
“From where?”
“My childhood.”
She touched it.
“This was on me when I was a baby.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“I gave it to Clara.”
Emma looked at her.
“You?”
Vivian nodded.
“I wanted something of my own on you.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Why did Nathan have it?”
Nathan shrugged.
“Richard kept it.”
“Why?”
“Because it proved he knew where Emma was.”
Silence.
Nathan sat again.
“My father didn't care whether Emma lived or died.”
Daniel stood.
Nathan smiled.
“He cared about what Clara knew.”
“What did she know?”
Nathan's smile vanished.
“She knew Richard wasn't alone.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Who was with him?”
Nathan looked toward Vivian.
She answered.
“Andrew.”
Daniel froze.
“My father?”
Vivian nodded.
“Your father helped Richard move the money.”
Emma stared at her.
Daniel felt something inside him collapse.
“My father was involved?”
“He was involved before he changed his mind.”
Nathan laughed.
“Convenient.”
Daniel turned toward him.
“What does that mean?”
Nathan's voice became bitter.
“It means your father helped build the machine and then decided he didn't like what it did.”
“That's not the same as being guilty.”
“No?”
Nathan leaned forward.
“My father threatened him. Your father kept quiet.”
“Until Clara.”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked at Emma.
“Your mother exposed everything.”
Daniel looked at the box.
“What happened after she disappeared?”
Nathan's expression changed.
“I don't know.”
Emma stood.
“You're lying.”
Nathan smiled again.
“You have no idea how much your mother has lied to you.”
Emma flinched.
Daniel stepped between them.
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“You really think you're protecting her?”
“I am.”
“Then ask your mother why she paid someone to change Emma's identity.”
Daniel turned.
Vivian looked at the floor.
Emma whispered, “What?”
Vivian finally spoke.
“I did.”
Emma stared.
“Why?”
“Because someone was looking for you.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“That sentence doesn't make it right.”
Vivian's eyes filled.
“No.”
Nathan suddenly stood.
“You all keep talking about protection as if it explains everything.”
He reached into the box again and pulled out a folded document.
“Read that.”
Daniel took it.
A transfer record.
Money sent from Andrew Rowan to an offshore account.
The date was six months before Clara disappeared.
Daniel read it twice.
“This isn't proof of a crime.”
Nathan nodded.
“No.”
He smiled.
“But it proves your father had something to hide.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
She looked terrified.
Then the power in the house went out.
The room fell black.
A crash sounded upstairs.
Glass shattered.
Nathan cursed.
Marianne immediately pulled Emma behind her.
Daniel grabbed his phone flashlight.
Footsteps thundered across the hallway.
Someone had broken into the house.
Then came a gunshot.
The bullet struck the dining room window.
Everyone ducked.
Another shot.
Nathan shouted, “Get down!”
Daniel pulled Emma to the floor.
Vivian was trembling.
Reed covered her.
A third shot.
Then silence.
When the lights returned, Nathan's cabinet was open.
The metal box was gone.
So was the photograph of Emma.
Daniel looked at Nathan.
“You planned this.”
Nathan stared at him.
“No.”
For once, Daniel believed him.
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
No one was seriously hurt.
But outside, in the rain, a black SUV was already disappearing.
Marianne studied the tire marks.
“They weren't here for Nathan.”
Daniel frowned.
“They came for the box.”
Emma whispered, “Or for me.”
Vivian looked at her.
“No.”
Her voice carried something Daniel had never heard before.
May you like
Certainty.
“They came because someone knows the truth is still alive.”
