Chapter 4 - The Name on the Screen
Daniel Bell had been dead for eleven months. Clara still kept his watch in the drawer beside her bed, and she still woke some nights reaching for the space where he used to sleep.
She stepped closer to the laptop. "Why is my husband's name on Elena's phone?"
Vincent did not answer immediately. He had known Daniel as a quiet driver who worked security shifts and never asked for more money. Daniel had been reliable, careful, and almost invisible.
"He helped Elena," Luca said. "At least once."
Clara shook her head. "Daniel never told me he knew your first wife."
A message appeared beneath the address.
Daniel has the child. He knows where to take her. If anything happens to me, tell him not to trust the Shaws.
Vincent looked at the date. It was the day after Elena vanished.
Vanessa tried to laugh. It came out as a breath. "This is ridiculous. Daniel was a driver. He couldn't have hidden anyone from this family."
Clara turned toward her. "You knew Daniel?"
"Everyone knew Daniel."
"You told me you had never spoken to him."
For the first time, Vanessa had no quick answer.
Luca opened the phone's contact list. A number had been saved under a single letter: M.
The call history showed six calls to that number on the night Daniel died.
Vincent recognized the area code. It belonged to the private clinic where Elena had been treated before she disappeared.
Clara put a hand over her belly.
"What did Daniel get mixed up in?"
Vincent looked at the screen.
May you like
Clara remembered Daniel coming home late with mud on his shoes and a child's drawing folded in his coat pocket. He had said it belonged to a friend. At the time, she had believed him. Now every small silence in their marriage seemed to hold a second meaning.
"Something that may have cost him his life."
