Chapter 8 - Laura Reed Was Still Alive
Vanessa did not speak for nearly a minute.
Then she whispered, “Where?”
Rachel gave them an address in Maine.
A small coastal town.
Laura had lived there under the name Laura Mercer for six years.
Vanessa’s anger exploded.
“You told me she died.”
Rachel cried.
“She made me.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought you were safer believing it.”
Vanessa laughed through tears.
Everyone in this family seemed to use love as permission to lie.
Daniel heard himself think it.
Then realized Vanessa had done the same.
He looked at her.
She understood.
Neither needed to say it.
They traveled to Maine with investigators.
Laura opened the cottage door herself.
She was seventy-one.
Thin.
Silver-haired.
Alive.
Vanessa made a sound like a child.
“Mom?”
Laura’s face collapsed.
“Vanessa.”
They held each other.
Daniel stepped away.
This reunion did not belong to him.
Hours later, Laura told the full story.
Thomas had framed her.
Eleanor helped discredit her.
Harbor House controlled her communications.
Rachel eventually realized what was happening and helped her leave.
“Then why did Rachel take money from Thomas?”
“To gain access.”
Daniel frowned.
“The ledger says he paid her.”
“He did. She pretended to cooperate.”
Rachel had secretly copied records.
But after Thomas died, the original ledger vanished.
Laura believed Eleanor had it.
“Why didn’t you simply ask?”
Laura looked at Vanessa.
“Because I did not trust Eleanor.”
Fair.
“Why involve Vanessa?”
“I didn’t.”
Vanessa frowned.
“What?”
Laura looked confused.
“I told Rachel never to involve you.”
Silence.
Daniel felt cold.
“Rachel says you directed the search.”
“I directed Rachel to confirm whether the ledger still existed. Nothing
more.”
Vanessa stared.
“Then who told me to hire her?”
Laura shook her head.
“I didn’t.”
Daniel remembered Vanessa’s story.
She had received anonymous emails two years earlier.
Messages claiming Laura left instructions before her death.
The sender provided details only Laura should know.
Vanessa assumed they came through Rachel.
Rachel assumed Vanessa was acting for Laura.
Someone had manipulated both women.
Daniel asked, “Who knew enough to do that?”
Laura’s expression changed.
“One person.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Pierce.”
“He’s dead.”
Laura shook her head.
“No.”
Investigators checked.
The death certificate existed.
But it had been filed abroad.
No verified remains.
Another false death.
Another hidden person.
Laura looked at Eleanor over a video call.
“Samuel always kept copies.”
Eleanor whispered, “Of what?”
“Everything.”
Then Laura looked at Daniel.
“If he knows you found Thomas’s ledger, he will come for it.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
Penthouse security.
Motion detected inside the locked study.
Nobody authorized was home.
Daniel opened the camera feed.
A man stood in front of the safe.
Older.
Gray-haired.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then smiled.
May you like
Dr. Samuel Pierce was alive.
And he had just entered Daniel’s home using a code only the family knew.
