Chapter 1 - The Death Certificate
For thirteen months, I believed my sister had chosen to disappear.
Then I found her death certificate in my own desk.
The day began with screaming.
I walked into the house just after four and heard Lily crying upstairs.
"Dad!"
I ran.
At the end of the hall, my son Noah stood in front of his six-year-old sister with both arms spread wide. Vanessa was three feet away holding my late father's walking cane.
She wasn't striking anyone when I came in.
The look on Noah's face told me enough.
"Put it down," I said.
Vanessa turned. "Daniel, this isn't what it looks like."
"Put. It. Down."
She let the cane fall onto the carpet.
"What happened?"
Noah pointed toward my office. "Files. She was looking for files."
Vanessa reached for her phone.
"Who are you calling?" I asked.
"My attorney."
Her thumb hit the wrong recent contact.
A man's voice came through the speaker before she could lower the phone.
"Did Carter see the death certificate?"
My father's former private physician.
A member of the Carter Holdings board.
"What death certificate?"
Vanessa's face went blank.
Lily whispered, "Daddy, there's a folder in your desk."
The second drawer was half open.
Inside sat a file I had never seen.
Date of death: thirteen months earlier.
Cause: complications from a head injury.
Certifying physician: Marcus Hale, M.D.
Three days after that date, I had received an email from Claire.
Daniel, don't look for me. I need space.
Two weeks later, another.
Please stop contacting my friends.
Always enough to keep me angry instead of worried.
I walked back into the hall holding the certificate.
"Where is Claire?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"Why do you have this?"
Her eyes moved toward the front door.
I stepped between her and it.
"Answer me."
For thirteen months, I had believed my sister abandoned me.
Vanessa finally stopped pretending.
"It wasn't how you were supposed to find out."
My stomach dropped.
Claire had not disappeared.
May you like
Claire had died.
And somebody had been speaking in her name ever since.
