Chapter 17 - The House in Maine
The address led to a white farmhouse near the Maine coast.
No guards.
No gate.
No obvious cameras.
Which meant there were probably cameras everywhere.
Marcus noticed the first one inside a birdhouse.
The second was built into a porch light.
The third sat behind a weather gauge.
“Samuel.”
I said.
Marcus nodded.
“Probably.”
Vanessa arrived separately.
It was the first time I had seen her since the staircase.
She looked different.
No designer dress.
No dramatic makeup.
Jeans.
Gray coat.
Hair tied back.
She stopped several feet away from me.
Her eyes moved toward my stomach.
Then my bruised arm.
“Claire.”
I said nothing.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
She nodded.
“I was wrong.”
“You tried to make my child disappear.”
Her face crumpled.
“I know.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You know now because you were caught.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“You’re right.”
Daniel stood between us emotionally if not physically.
He loved his sister.
He also hated what she had done.
Both things could exist.
Vanessa looked at him.
“Samuel told me the baby would destroy everything.”
“What baby?”
“Claire’s.”
I felt cold.
“He said once Daniel’s child was born, the audit would expose Dad.”
“Arthur?”
“Yes.”
“Expose what?”
“That Dad stole money.”
I stared.
“Arthur wasn’t the thief.”
“I know that now.”
“Who told you he was?”
“Julian.”
Of course.
Vanessa had been manipulated twice.
At seventeen through fear.
At thirty-seven through rage.
That didn’t erase responsibility.
But it explained the shape of it.
Marcus knocked.
The farmhouse door opened.
A man around twenty stood there.
Dark hair.
Hazel eyes.
He looked at Vanessa.
Everything stopped.
Vanessa made a sound I will never forget.
Not a word.
Not a sob.
Something smaller.
Older.
The sound of twenty years collapsing at once.
The young man stared at her.
“You’re Vanessa.”
She covered her mouth.
“Yes.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
His face tightened.
“My name is Noah Mercer.”
Vanessa began crying.
“I named you Matthew.”
Noah’s eyes filled.
Nobody spoke.
Then a male voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
Samuel.
We entered.
Samuel Hale was seventy-one.
Thin.
Silver hair.
Same man from Arthur’s final video.
He looked tired.
Human.
Not the mythical watcher Richard described.
Margaret stared at him.
“You.”
Samuel looked at her.
“Hello, Maggie.”
Nobody had called Margaret that in decades.
She began crying.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“My father told me you died.”
“I know.”
“Arthur knew?”
“Eventually.”
Richard stood at the rear under police supervision.
He looked at Samuel with open hatred.
“You ruined this family.”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“Edward did that long before either of us had a choice.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
Samuel’s eyes softened.
“Arthur’s half brother.”
“Richard said that.”
“He was right.”
“And me?”
“You were Edward’s daughter.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
That meant Arthur’s father was also Margaret’s biological father.
Wait.
If Margaret married Arthur, that would make them half siblings.
Samuel saw the horror on her face.
“No.”
He said quickly.
“Edward was not Arthur’s biological father.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
Samuel nodded.
“That is the secret Edward buried.”
Arthur had been born from his mother’s earlier relationship.
Edward raised him as his own.
Margaret was Edward’s biological daughter.
Therefore Margaret and Arthur had no biological relation.
The maze of paternity had hidden the truth.
Daniel rubbed his face.
“I need a chart.”
For the first time in days, someone almost laughed.
Then Noah looked at Vanessa.
“Why did you push Claire?”
Vanessa flinched.
“I believed she was trying to take something from us.”
“What?”
“Everything.”
“Was she?”
“No.”
“Then why believe it?”
Vanessa looked at Samuel.
“Because he showed me documents.”
Samuel frowned.
“I never showed you anything.”
Vanessa stared.
“You met me.”
“No.”
“Yesterday.”
“No.”
“I met you at the Harbor Hotel.”
Samuel’s expression changed.
“I was here.”
“All day?”
“Yes.”
Noah nodded.
“He was.”
Vanessa stepped backward.
“Then who did I meet?”
Marcus pulled up a photograph of Julian.
“No.”
Adrian.
“No.”
Richard.
“No.”
Samuel asked.
“What did he look like?”
Vanessa described him.
Seventies.
Silver hair.
Thin.
Cane.
Similar to Samuel.
Samuel’s face went pale.
“No.”
“What?”
Margaret asked.
Samuel looked at her.
“There is one person who could pass for me.”
“Who?”
“My twin.”
The room went silent.
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“You have a twin too?”
Samuel didn’t smile.
“Had.”
“Dead?”
“Supposedly.”
My skin prickled.
“What was his name?”
Samuel looked toward the window.
“Simon.”
Richard whispered a curse.
Samuel turned.
“You knew?”
Richard looked terrified.
“I saw him once.”
“When?”
“Arthur’s funeral.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
Simon Hale.
A twin erased from the records.
A man who could impersonate Samuel.
A man Vanessa had met twenty-four hours earlier.
I looked at my phone.
Unknown sender.
Samuel had denied being behind the messages.
Maybe he was telling the truth.
Maybe the person guiding me wasn’t Samuel at all.
A new message arrived.
WELCOME TO MAINE.
I looked toward the windows.
Then another.
YOU FINALLY BROUGHT EVERYONE TOGETHER.
My blood turned cold.
Marcus read it.
His face changed.
May you like
“He’s here.”
Outside, across the field, a black SUV started moving.
