Chapter 9 - The Daughter in the Photograph
Mark had spent his whole life thinking he was Henry Whitcomb's only child.
Evelyn let him stare at the photograph before she explained.
"Her name was Hannah. Your father and her mother were very young. Hannah lived with her mother's family, but Henry supported her and visited whenever he could."
"And Mom knew?"
"Of course. Margarethe married him after Hannah was born. She always hated that part of his life."
Hannah had grown up to be an environmental lawyer who challenged the estate's water restrictions.
Then, fifteen years earlier, she disappeared from the fight after someone threatened to accuse her of stealing sealed estate papers.
Evelyn had believed Hannah moved abroad.
Claire's notes suggested otherwise.
"Where is she now?" Mark asked.
"I don't know. But the trust requires a signature from a representative of both branches of the family. That's why Margarethe kept Hannah hidden from you."
Mark remembered childhood arguments that stopped whenever he entered a room.
He remembered how Margarethe insisted his father's first life was nobody's business.
It hadn't been kindness toward Henry.
It had been control.
That evening, Samir joined them with county land maps and the scanned sale papers.
"Your signature is on the transfer," he said. "But there's a second one. The supposed signature of Hannah Whitcomb."
The two names appeared side by side above a notary seal.
Mark rubbed his eyes.
"She may not even know this sale exists."
"We need to find her before Friday."
Evelyn hesitated.
"Claire left me one last address. I didn't understand it until today."
She handed Mark an envelope marked H. W. — NO FORWARDING.
Inside was a street address in a nearby town.
May you like
Across the envelope, written in Claire's handwriting, was one instruction:
IF HANNAH DENIES KNOWING ME, ASK ABOUT THE BLUE UMBRELLA.
