Chapter 8 - The Voice from the Past
Daniel couldn't speak.
The woman's voice came again.
“Don't come looking for me.”
He gripped the phone.
“Rachel?”
A shaky breath.
“Yes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
For two years he had imagined hearing that voice.
Never once had he considered it might actually happen.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Are you safe?”
“For now.”
“Lily?”
“She is safe.”
Daniel swallowed.
“How?”
Rachel's voice broke.
“I've been watching.”
“You've been watching your children?”
“I never stopped.”
Rage and grief collided inside him.
“You let me bury you.”
“I didn't have a choice.”
“You could have told me.”
“They were watching you.”
“Who?”
“Greg. Mark. Someone else.”
“Who?”
A pause.
“Your mother.”
Daniel froze.
His mother had died five years earlier.
Another dead person.
Another secret.
Rachel continued.
“Before your father died, he left instructions.”
Daniel felt dizzy.
“Rachel, none of this makes sense.”
“I know.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“I can't.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Rachel's voice became quieter.
“I discovered the company wasn't the only thing they controlled.”
“What else?”
“People.”
Daniel listened.
“They had access to police databases. Hospital records. Banking systems. Private investigators.”
“Greg?”
“Greg was a middleman.”
“Between whom?”
“I never learned the final name.”
Daniel felt frustration.
“You've been hiding for two years.”
“Yes.”
“While I thought you were dead.”
“I watched you.”
“Then why didn't you stop Vanessa?”
“I tried.”
Daniel went still.
“What?”
“I sent warnings.”
“The cameras?”
“Yes.”
“Was that you?”
“Yes.”
“The rabbit?”
“Lily was the only person I knew would keep something hidden without understanding why.”
Daniel's eyes filled.
“You hurt Lily by staying away.”
“I know.”
“You should have trusted me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you would choose the company over the children again.”
Daniel said nothing.
Rachel's words hurt because they contained truth.
“Where are you?”
“I need you to understand something.”
“What?”
“Greg wants you to sell Whitmore Grid Systems.”
“Why?”
“The company holds a technology patent tied to an infrastructure project your father started decades ago.”
“What technology?”
“A national energy network.”
Daniel stared.
That was absurdly large.
Rachel continued.
“The company isn't just valuable. It's strategically important.”
“Who wants it?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because your father wrote about it.”
Daniel remembered the blue box.
“Where?”
“Under the old chapel.”
“The chapel?”
“Where we got married.”
The line went silent.
Daniel panicked.
“Rachel?”
No answer.
“Rachel!”
The call had ended.
He called back.
Nothing.
They drove to the chapel.
It was abandoned.
Daniel and Jonah searched beneath the altar.
A stone moved.
Inside was a metal case.
A document.
A list of names.
Several were familiar.
Gregory Barlow.
Mark Ellis.
Richard Gray.
And one final name.
Daniel Whitmore.
His own.
Daniel stared.
Jonah looked shocked.
“Why is your name there?”
“I don't know.”
Beneath the list was a letter from Daniel's father.
Daniel,
You were never supposed to inherit the entire company.
Only the public half.
I created a private structure to protect the family from people who wanted the technology.
I made mistakes.
I trusted the wrong men.
If you are reading this, Rachel probably found everything.
Trust her.
Daniel's hands shook.
Then another letter.
This one from Rachel.
Daniel,
I know you hate me for disappearing.
But I had to.
The night before I was supposed to testify, Greg arranged for me to be poisoned.
Natalie helped me fake the final stage of my illness.
Claire helped me disappear.
I stayed away because someone had already proven they could reach Lily.
Daniel closed his eyes.
He remembered every strange thing.
Lily's changed behavior.
The cameras.
The memory card.
The blue box.
It had all been part of Rachel's attempt to protect them from a distance.
But then why did Vanessa become abusive?
Rachel's answer came in the letter.
Vanessa was blackmailed through Ethan.
She was told that if she did not make Lily afraid enough to drive Daniel away from the company, Ethan would be killed.
She made terrible choices.
But she wasn't the mastermind.
Daniel read the next paragraph.
The real danger is someone you have not considered.
Someone close enough to know every decision you make.
The person who knows where you sleep.
The person who can move money without anyone asking questions.
The person who knew when I disappeared.
Daniel looked at Jonah.
“Who?”
Jonah stared at the list again.
“Your chief operating officer.”
Daniel's face changed.
Andrew Pierce.
The man who had worked beside him for fifteen years.
The man who had been his best friend.
The man who had delivered the eulogy at Rachel's funeral.
They returned to Chicago.
Andrew was waiting in Daniel's office.
“You've been busy,” he said.
Daniel closed the door.
“Yes.”
Andrew smiled.
“Found something?”
Daniel sat opposite him.
May you like
“Actually, I found everything.”
Andrew's smile disappeared.
