Chapter 5 - The Woman Claire Forgot
Claire wanted to leave.
I didn't let her.
Not because she was my prisoner.
Because someone had already entered her home, photographed her daughters, infiltrated their school, and built a false identity around the man pressuring her into marriage.
“I'm not staying inside a mafia boss's house.”
“Your daughters seem comfortable.”
We looked toward the living room.
Ellie was teaching Ethan how to braid Chloe's hair.
My son looked like he would rather negotiate a hostage exchange.
“That's irrelevant.”
“No. It isn't.”
Children knew danger differently.
Not perfectly.
But differently.
Catherine's letter contained instructions.
Find Dr. Miriam Vale.
No relation to Thomas.
At least supposedly.
Miriam was a retired neuropsychologist living outside Milwaukee.
We brought her to Chicago.
The moment she saw Claire, she cried.
Claire backed away.
“Who are you?”
Miriam whispered:
“Oh, Claire.”
They had met.
Repeatedly.
Years earlier.
Claire had entered Catherine's protection network voluntarily.
Thomas Vale wasn't merely controlling.
He had begun using Claire's name to hide financial assets and threatened to implicate her if she left.
Catherine helped her escape.
But Thomas found them.
Then something happened.
A violent confrontation.
Trauma.
Medication.
Claire's memories became fragmented.
Catherine gave her a new identity.
Except Ashby wasn't new.
It was Claire's real family name.
Thomas Vale had isolated her so thoroughly that she had stopped using it.
“What does Mercer have to do with this?”
Miriam's expression hardened.
“He was Catherine's attorney.”
Richard Mercer had prepared new identities and custody arrangements for rescued families.
Then Catherine discovered he was selling information.
Locations.
Names.
School records.
To the men those families had escaped.
Catherine planned to expose him.
Three days later, she died in a car accident.
My pulse slowed.
Catherine's brakes failed.
I had accepted the police report.
Mechanical failure.
I had been stupid.
“Mercer killed my wife?”
“We never proved it.”
“Where's Michael?”
Miriam looked at Claire.
“He was Catherine's security liaison.”
My half-brother had been alive.
Working beside my wife.
Falling in love with Claire.
Fathering four daughters.
Then disappearing.
“Did Catherine know Michael was my brother?”
“Yes.”
“Did Michael?”
“Yes.”
Everybody knew except me.
That was becoming insulting.
Miriam opened another envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Catherine.
Michael.
Claire.
Baby Lucy.
Then Catherine holding Lucy beside Ethan.
My son had met his cousin.
He simply didn't remember.
Claire stared at herself.
“I remember that dress.”
Good.
Something was returning.
Then Ellie wandered into the room.
She saw Miriam.
And screamed.
Not cried.
Screamed.
She ran behind me and grabbed my shirt.
“No blue room!”
Miriam went pale.
Claire rushed forward.
“Ellie, sweetheart—”
“No!”
Ellie pointed at Miriam.
“She was there!”
Miriam shook her head.
“Alexander, listen—”
Ellie started sobbing.
“She gave us the sleepy juice.”
I looked at Miriam.
She backed toward the door.
My guards blocked it.
Then Claire's memory finally broke through.
She stared at Miriam.
“You weren't helping Catherine.”
Miriam's face changed.
Claire whispered:
“You were helping Mercer.”
May you like
And suddenly the retired doctor stopped looking frightened.
She smiled.
