Chapter 10 - The Wrong Target
The bullet struck the chair Walter had just left. Security found an abandoned rifle near the lake wall, but no shooter and no prints.
Walter sat in the kitchen while Hannah cleaned a shallow cut on his temple from flying glass.
"Why would Feldman say your name?" she asked.
"Because he was scared."
"Of you?"
Walter's jaw tightened.
Nicholas rolled into the kitchen.
"Answer her."
Walter looked at the man he had helped raise.
"Your father used my name on accounts he didn't want tied to himself."
Nicholas stared.
"Including Lake Briar?"
"At first."
"So Rebecca may think you kept her there."
"She would have every reason to."
Hannah watched the pain move across Walter's face.
"Did you know she was alive?"
"Not after your father died. I believed the facility had closed."
Nicholas laughed bitterly.
"Everybody believed exactly what was convenient."
Walter absorbed that without defending himself.
Vincent entered with another discovery.
The estate's security archive showed Claire had met someone in the east garden six nights earlier.
The camera angle missed the visitor's face.
But the man wore a ring with a black onyx crest.
Walter recognized it.
"The Moretti family."
Nicholas's expression changed.
The Morettis had been Valenti rivals for twenty years through lost contracts, vanished witnesses, and quiet pressure.
"Claire's father owes them money," Walter said.
Nicholas looked at him.
"How much?"
"Enough to sell a daughter."
Claire was brought into the kitchen.
Nicholas showed her the image.
"Who is he?"
She refused to answer.
Hannah noticed her hands shaking.
Then Nicholas said, "Rebecca called me."
Claire looked up sharply.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
Claire's eyes filled with genuine fear.
"Because they were supposed to move her before she could speak."
Nicholas leaned closer.
May you like
"Who is they?"
Claire whispered, "Your uncle.
