## CHAPTER 8: THE TOWN CALLED BELLWEATHER
Bellweather, Maine, looked like the kind of town built to keep secrets.
Weathered houses stood along narrow streets facing the Atlantic. Fishing boats rocked in the harbor. Gray clouds hung low above the water, turning the afternoon into an endless twilight.
Lucas arrived with Detective Torres and a small federal team.
He had not brought Lily.
Rachel remained with her under heavy protection.
Lucas carried a photograph of Claire taken before the accident and the more recent image Ethan had sent.
The woman in the beach photograph looked thinner. Her blond hair was shorter. But the way she held her shoulders and tilted her head was unmistakable.
Claire was alive.
The address from Adrian’s file led to a small bookstore near the harbor.
A hand-painted sign read THE LIGHTHOUSE PAGE.
Lucas stood across the street, unable to move.
Through the window, a woman arranged books on a display table.
Claire.
She wore a dark green sweater and jeans. A pencil rested behind one ear. She smiled at an elderly customer.
Lucas had imagined finding her in a locked room, frightened and waiting to be rescued.
Instead, she appeared to have a life.
A quiet life built on a lie.
Torres stood beside him.
“We need to approach carefully.”
Lucas nodded, though every part of him wanted to cross the street and pull Claire into his arms.
“What if she doesn’t know me?”
“She may recognize something.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Then we give her time.”
An agent entered the store first and checked for immediate threats.
The agent returned.
“No sign of Ethan or Shaw.”
Lucas crossed the street.
A bell chimed as he opened the bookstore door.
Claire looked up.
Their eyes met.
Lucas forgot how to breathe.
For a fraction of a second, he saw recognition in her face.
Then it disappeared.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
Her voice was the same.
Lucas held the edge of a bookshelf to steady himself.
“My name is Lucas Bennett.”
Claire’s smile faded.
The pencil behind her ear fell to the floor.
She stared at him.
“I know that name.”
Lucas’s heart raced.
“From where?”
She pressed one hand to her temple.
“I’ve heard it in dreams.”
He took a careful step closer.
“My wife’s name was Claire Bennett.”
Fear entered her eyes.
“My name is Sarah Collins.”
“You were given that name after an accident.”
She backed away.
“Please leave.”
“I don’t want to frighten you.”
“You walked into my store and told me I’m your dead wife.”
“You are not dead.”
“Get out.”
Lucas stopped.
He removed Claire’s locket from his pocket and placed it on the counter.
Her gaze dropped to it.
She touched her throat instinctively.
“I know that.”
“It belonged to you.”
Claire opened the locket.
When she saw Lily’s newborn photograph, her face went pale.
“Who is the baby?”
“Her name is Lily.”
Claire’s breathing became shallow.
“I dream about a little girl.”
“She’s your daughter.”
Claire shook her head violently.
“My daughter died in a fire.”
“There was no fire.”
“That’s what the doctors told me.”
“The doctors lied.”
Claire pressed both hands over her ears.
“Stop.”
Lucas immediately stepped back.
“I’m sorry.”
She closed the locket.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I remember blue shoes.”
Lucas stared at her.
“Lily wore blue shoes at our wedding.”
“No. A little girl was running through a hallway.”
“That happened today.”
Claire looked confused.
Lucas realized she might be experiencing fragments of Lily’s old drawings or memories Claire had constructed.
Detective Torres entered the store.
“Ms. Collins, we believe you may be in danger.”
Claire wiped her face.
“Who are you?”
“Detective Maya Torres. We are investigating the people who brought you to Bellweather.”
“I came here after leaving a rehabilitation center.”
“Do you remember the center’s name?”
“Northstar.”
Torres nodded.
“Northstar was controlled by people who altered your medical records.”
Claire stared at her.
“Why?”
Before Torres could answer, the bookstore lights went out.
The front window shattered.
Lucas threw himself across the counter and pulled Claire to the floor.
A bullet struck the bookshelf behind them.
Agents shouted outside.
More shots followed.
Lucas covered Claire with his body.
“Stay down.”
She struggled beneath him.
“Who is shooting?”
“The people who don’t want you to remember.”
An agent entered through the back door.
“We need to move!”
Lucas helped Claire stand.
They escaped through a storage room into an alley.
A black vehicle sped toward them.
Torres fired at the tires.
The vehicle swerved, struck a parked truck, and stopped.
The passenger door opened.
Victor Shaw emerged.
He aimed at Claire.
Lucas pushed her behind a brick wall.
Torres fired.
Shaw disappeared between two buildings.
Agents chased him.
Lucas turned toward Claire.
She stared at him with horror.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I knew you were in danger.”
“Because of you?”
“Because of the truth you discovered.”
“What truth?”
Lucas hesitated.
How could he explain three stolen years in an alley while bullets struck nearby walls?
Claire grabbed his jacket.
“Tell me who I am.”
“You are Claire Bennett. You are a lawyer. You helped build an international company. You love old jazz records, burnt toast, and thunderstorms. You have a daughter named Lily who has waited for you every day.”
Claire searched his face.
“And you?”
“I’m your husband.”
She stepped away.
“I don’t remember loving you.”
Lucas’s chest tightened.
“I know.”
“You look at me like you expect me to become someone else.”
“I’m trying not to.”
A siren wailed nearby.
Claire looked down at the locket still in her hand.
“What is Lily like?”
Lucas swallowed.
“She’s brave. Curious. Stubborn. She draws houses with red roofs. She still sleeps with the stuffed rabbit you gave her.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Mr. Buttons.”
Lucas stared at her.
“That’s his name.”
She opened her eyes, equally shocked.
“I remembered.”
A man appeared at the end of the alley.
Ethan.
He held a gun in one hand.
“Claire,” he called.
She turned.
Her expression changed immediately.
“You.”
Lucas looked at her.
“You know him?”
Claire stepped toward Ethan.
“He visited me at Northstar.”
Ethan smiled.
“I was the only person who told you the truth.”
Lucas moved between them.
“You told her what helped you.”
Ethan raised the gun.
“Move.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“You said Lucas abandoned me.”
“He did.”
Lucas’s voice remained calm.
“I believed she was dead.”
“You accepted the story because it was convenient.”
“I buried the woman I loved.”
“And then you replaced her with Vanessa.”
Claire flinched.
Lucas saw it.
Ethan had already told her about the wedding.
He was using Lucas’s life against him.
Ethan extended one hand.
“Come with me, Claire. I can help you remember.”
She hesitated.
Lucas turned toward her.
“You do not have to choose either of us. Choose yourself.”
Ethan’s smile vanished.
“He always knows the right thing to say.”
Claire looked between the brothers.
Then a memory struck her.
Her face twisted in pain.
She whispered, “The road.”
Lucas moved toward her.
“What do you remember?”
Claire stared at Ethan.
“You were in my car.”
Ethan’s gun lowered slightly.
Claire continued.
“You grabbed the steering wheel.”
“That isn’t what happened.”
“You told me to stop investigating.”
“Claire.”
“You caused the crash.”
Ethan’s expression became desperate.
“I was trying to make you pull over.”
“You made the car leave the road.”
Lucas lunged.
Ethan fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Lucas tackled him.
They crashed onto the pavement.
The gun slid beneath a parked car.
Ethan struck Lucas and reached for a knife.
Claire grabbed a broken piece of wood and hit Ethan across the shoulder.
Torres and two agents returned.
They forced Ethan to the ground and handcuffed him.
Ethan looked up at Claire.
“I loved you.”
Claire’s voice trembled.
“No. You wanted me to belong to you.”
Agents pulled him away.
Lucas stood several feet from Claire, blood running from a cut above his eye.
She stared at him.
“You married someone else.”
“I believed you were gone.”
“How long did you wait?”
Lucas answered honestly.
“Two years before I began seeing Vanessa.”
“And today was your wedding?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked toward the shattered bookstore.
“Then why did you leave?”
“My daughter told me Vanessa planned to send her away.”
“Our daughter,” Claire whispered.
Lucas’s heart stopped.
Claire pressed one hand to her mouth.
“I remembered her eyes.”
He did not approach.
He let Claire choose the distance between them.
She looked at the locket again.
“Take me to Lily.”
Before Lucas could respond, Torres’s phone rang.
Her expression darkened as she listened.
“What happened?” Lucas asked.
Torres ended the call.
“Rachel and Lily’s security convoy was attacked.”
Lucas felt his blood turn cold.
“Where are they?”
“The agents found the vehicles abandoned.”
Claire gripped the locket.
May you like
Torres continued.
“Lily and Rachel are missing.”
