Chapter 9: The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Arthur instructed Nora to meet him in the basement of an abandoned church in South Boston.
Evelyn objected to Nora going alone, but Nora refused to bring foundation security. She no longer knew who could be trusted.
Denise drove her and waited two blocks away.
The basement smelled of dust, wet stone, and old candle wax.
A man sat in the last row of folding chairs.
He appeared to be in his seventies. A scar ran from his left ear to the corner of his mouth. One hand rested on a wooden cane.
“Nora Hayes,” he said.
“How do I know you are Arthur?”
“You don’t.”
He placed a photograph on the chair beside him.
It showed Claire standing near a black sedan. Arthur was younger, wearing a driver’s uniform. Celeste stood several feet behind them.
Nora picked up the photograph.
“What happened to my mother?”
Arthur looked toward the basement stairs.
“I drove Celeste and Grant the night Claire left Shawbridge.”
“Where?”
“To the parking garage where Claire had left her car.”
Nora’s fingers tightened around the photograph.
“Did they cause the crash?”
“Grant damaged the brake line. Celeste ordered him to make it look like mechanical failure.”
Nora struggled to breathe.
“You watched them?”
“I helped them follow her.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
The word came without excuse.
Arthur continued.
“Claire lost control outside Providence. The car went through the barrier, but it did not explode as the newspapers claimed. I climbed down before Grant reached the wreck.”
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I pulled her out and hid her in an old motel. She was badly injured. She could not stand, and she drifted in and out of consciousness.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Celeste had already contacted someone in the department. I heard her arranging the report before the crash happened.”
Arthur said he kept Claire hidden for two days. During that time, she gave him a brass key and begged him to protect Nora.
Then Grant found the motel.
“What did he do to her?” Nora asked.
Arthur’s eyes lowered.
“I left to buy medicine. When I returned, the room was empty.”
“You abandoned her.”
“I believed staying near you would lead them directly to you.”
“So you disappeared.”
“I staged my death.”
Arthur removed a small brass key from beneath his shirt.
“This opens a private box at Harbor Commonwealth Bank. Claire said the contents could bring down the Mercers and the Shaws.”
“Why wait fourteen years?”
“Because the box could only be accessed after the Mercer provision was activated.”
Nora took the key.
Arthur’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the message and stood abruptly.
“What is it?”
“The bank access log.”
He showed her the screen.
May you like
The private box had been opened at 8:06 that morning.
The person who signed the access record was Evelyn Shaw.
