Chapter 1 - THE CERTIFICATE
The first thing Daniel Carter saw was his six-year-old son curled over his little sister.
Noah had both arms around Lily.
Lily was crying against the wall.
Daniel dropped his briefcase.
"What the hell is going on?"
That was all Daniel needed to see.
"Daniel, they were out of control."
Lily buried her face in his neck.
Noah whispered, "She hit the table beside us."
"With that?"
"It slipped."
"She said next time it would be Lily."
For thirteen months, his wife had been telling him he was too suspicious, too tired, too angry since his sister Claire disappeared.
He had believed too many things because he needed the house to stay quiet.
Not this.
"Put the cane down."
Vanessa reached for her phone.
"I'm calling Marcus."
She tapped the screen without looking.
A man answered immediately.
"Did Carter see the death certificate?"
Daniel did not.
"Who is this?"
The line went dead.
Vanessa shoved the phone into her pocket.
"Wrong number."
Then Lily lifted one shaking hand and pointed toward his office.
"Files."
"They were playing in there."
His office drawer was half open.
Inside was a gray folder he had never seen.
DEATH CERTIFICATE.
CLAIRE MARIE CARTER.
His sister.
Date of death: thirteen months earlier.
Cause: complications from blunt-force head trauma.
Attending physician: Dr. Marcus Hale.
The room seemed to tilt.
Thirteen months.
For thirteen months he had received emails from Claire.
Transfers she supposedly approved.
Messages telling him she needed space.
One final note:
Daniel, don't look for me.
His hands started shaking.
"Where is Claire?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"It wasn't how you were supposed to find out."
The sentence hit harder than a confession.
"Claire didn't disappear."
"She died."
Marcus Hale.
His father's former private doctor.
A current member of Carter Meridian's board.
CLAIRE CARTER - AUTHORIZATION FOR CONTINUING EXECUTIVE PROXY.
Signed three days after her death.
"If Claire was dead, who signed this?"
Vanessa's face went white.
May you like
And that was when Daniel understood the nightmare was bigger than a body.
Someone had been using his dead sister's name to run his company.
