Chapter 1 - The Woman Who Knew Sarah
"Your wife was easier to fool."
Claudia said it while holding two white tablets above a billionaire's outstretched hand.
For a moment the mansion seemed to lose its sound.
I heard only Renee's oxygen concentrator and the old familiar pounding that began in my chest whenever somebody mentioned Sarah without permission.
"Put the pills down," I said.
Claudia did, one at a time, as if she were setting jewels on velvet. "You heard me wrong."
"I heard you perfectly."
Renee pushed back in her wheelchair. "Claudia? What does he mean?"
Claudia smiled at her. "Your new friend is making a scene. You've had an exhausting week, Ren."
"Don't call her that to change the subject," I said.
A man appeared in the doorway wearing a charcoal suit, a security earpiece, and the confident expression of someone who had been told the house belonged to him. "Everything all right, Ms. Sterling?"
"Perfectly," Claudia answered before Renee could speak. "Mr. Carter is leaving."
The man's right hand dropped near his jacket.
I kept mine visible.
This wasn't a place to win a fight.
Renee could hardly stand, and the floor-to-ceiling windows offered no cover.
"Renee," I said, "ask your medical team to identify these pills before you take another dose. Nobody else."
Claudia's jaw moved once. "That's an outrageous accusation."
"I haven't accused you of anything."
"You accused me with your eyes."
"They've been useful that way."
Renee looked at the bottle.
The upper label was lifting at one corner.
Beneath it was a different surname.
There were two pharmacy dates, three weeks apart, and the same printed dose.
"I didn't do that," Claudia whispered.
I believed she hadn't expected the label to peel.
I did not believe anything else she said.
The guard stepped between us. Renee suddenly spoke with a force that made everybody stop. "Daniel stays. You can wait outside, Owen."
His name registered.
Owen Mercer.
Head of residential security.
The same surname appeared in a Sterling Global procurement memorandum I had read six months earlier, though the connection might be coincidence.
He waited for Claudia's approval.
That was the first answer to a question Renee hadn't thought to ask.
When Owen finally left, Claudia recovered her smile. "You know how much I love you."
"Then answer him," Renee said. "How do you know about his wife?"
Claudia lowered her eyes. "He told me in a message."
"I've never messaged you," I said.
"Your profile said you were a widower."
"My profile didn't say Sarah's name."
Claudia gripped the tray.
A second passed.
Then another.
"I'm going to get your physician," she told Renee.
"Leave the tray," I said.
She walked out without it.
I waited until the door closed, then photographed the labels without touching the tablets.
I called the physician listed in Renee's current discharge papers, with Renee listening on speaker.
The doctor instructed us not to use an unverified bottle, and arranged for her team to review the medication immediately.
Then my own phone vibrated.
A message from an encrypted channel reserved for emergency operational contact.
NO FURTHER CONTACT WITH STERLING.
YOUR COVER MAY BE COMPROMISED.
A second message arrived before I could respond.
YOUR DAUGHTER HAS BEEN MOVED.
I turned away so Renee wouldn't see my face.
My daughter Lily was supposed to be at school.
Nobody on my team had authority to move her without contacting me first.
I pressed the secure callback.
Nobody answered.
Then an image appeared on my screen: Lily outside her school, climbing into a black SUV.
The photograph had been taken four minutes earlier.
Under it were six words.
May you like
WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO SARAH.
