Chapter 3 - THE CAR AT THE WINDOWThe sedan belonged to a shell company.
The shell company belonged to a Caldwell subsidiary.
The subsidiary had been closed seven years earlier.
Vincent was beginning to understand what bothered him.
Someone had been using dead companies to move money.
Someone with access to his family's records.
Someone who knew Sarah.
Someone who knew Leo.
And someone who knew Maeve.
He turned to Daniel.
“Put two guards on Maeve.”
She frowned.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I don't need protection.”
“Everyone who says that usually does.”
She crossed her arms.
“You are not putting guards outside my bedroom.”
“Why?”
“Because I've already spent enough of my life being watched.”
Vincent studied her.
“Who watched you?”
“My husband's killers.”
He went quiet.
She had said it flatly.
Like a fact.
Not a wound.
But Vincent recognized the difference.
That night, Leo woke screaming.
Except no sound came out.
His body jerked.
His eyes were wide.
Maeve ran into the room before Vincent did.
She knelt.
“Leo.”
The boy grabbed her hand.
Vincent stopped in the doorway.
“Why does he trust you?”
“I don't know.”
Leo pulled Maeve toward the window.
He pointed outside.
A red light blinked.
Vincent grabbed binoculars.
A camera.
Someone had installed a long-range camera on the neighboring building.
He immediately called security.
“Take it down.”
Daniel moved.
Leo was trembling.
Maeve whispered,
“It's okay.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Do you know how to calm him?”
She nodded.
“How?”
“I used to work with children.”
“Where?”
Maeve hesitated.
“A pediatric trauma unit.”
Vincent froze.
She had never mentioned that.
“What happened to your license?”
“I lost it.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody blamed me for a medication error.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Five years ago?”
“Yes.”
The same year Sarah's illness had worsened.
The same year Caldwell companies had moved millions through shell accounts.
The same year Evan started investigating.
Vincent stared at her.
“Maeve.”
“Yes?”
“Who was the patient?”
She looked at him.
“Your sister.”
Silence.
“I was the nurse caring for Sarah during her final week.”
Vincent felt as though the floor had disappeared.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“You were there when she died.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was fired the next morning.”
“Who fired you?”
Maeve's eyes hardened.
“Brenda.”
Vincent went still.
By morning, Brenda's old employee file had been opened.
She had not worked for the Caldwell family fifteen years.
She had worked for Vincent's father.
Twenty-eight.
And she had been present during Sarah's birth.
She had handled the family's medical records.
She had access to everything.
But the strangest discovery was yet to come.
Brenda had been listed as Leo's emergency guardian.
Vincent stared at the document.
“Why?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Maeve looked at the signature.
“That isn't Sarah's.”
Vincent frowned.
“What?”
“This signature.”
She pointed.
“Sarah signed differently.”
Vincent knew his sister's handwriting.
He looked closely.
Fake.
Someone had forged the document.
And the forgery had been notarized by a lawyer Vincent had trusted for fifteen years.
Thomas Caldwell.
His cousin.
Vincent's expression became dangerous.
“Bring Thomas.”
Thomas never came.
His office was empty.
His home was empty.
His plane was gone.
Vincent stared at the flight records.
Thomas had left for Switzerland.
Six hours earlier.
Maeve looked at him.
“He ran.”
Vincent nodded.
“Which means we're close.”
“To what?”
“The truth.”
That evening, Vincent found an envelope beneath his study door.
Inside was a single sentence.
YOU'RE LOOKING AT BRENDA.
YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING AT THE BOY.
Vincent's stomach tightened.
May you like
He ran upstairs.
Leo was gone.
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