Chapter 8 - Claire's Last File
The recording lasted forty-seven seconds.
Claire’s voice was weak but clear.
“Nathan, I found a second trust schedule in Daniel Kerr’s folder. It moves control of the girls’ assets if you remarry. I never approved it. Theodore says it’s invalid, but Daniel knows I saw it. If anything happens to my files, look inside the blue recipe book. Please protect the girls.”
The audio ended.
Nathan sat down because his legs had stopped feeling reliable.
Daniel Kerr.
Again.
Detective Mills replayed the message.
“Who is Daniel?” Chloe asked.
“No one you need to worry about,” Nathan said.
Mills gave him a look but did not argue in front of the children.
Nathan went directly to the library where Claire’s cookbooks remained untouched behind glass doors. Blue recipe book.
There were twelve blue books.
Emma began pulling them down one by one.
After twenty minutes, Lily found a thick handwritten binder labeled CLAIRE’S FAMILY RECIPES.
Inside the back cover was a small brass key taped beneath a photograph of Claire and the girls.
Nathan stared at it.
Emma whispered, “Do you know what it opens?”
He did.
Claire had rented a private safe-deposit box before her final hospital stay. Nathan had forgotten it existed.
The bank was closed.
Mills arranged for an emergency hold so nobody else could access the box overnight.
At 10:12 p.m., Nathan finally convinced the girls to sleep together in Ava’s room while a deputy remained downstairs.
Emma stood in the hallway.
“You should sleep too,” Nathan told her.
She almost laughed. “I don’t think that’s happening.”
He looked at her. “Why did you really take this job?”
Her expression changed.
Nathan noticed immediately.
“You knew something before you came here.”
Emma looked toward the girls’ closed door.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“My mother worked for Claire’s family when Claire was a teenager.”
Nathan frowned.
“She and Claire stayed close,” Emma continued. “Before Claire died, she mailed my mother a letter.”
“What letter?”
Emma’s eyes filled. “A letter asking her to watch over the girls if anything ever felt wrong.”
Nathan stared at her.
“And your mother?”
“She died last year.”
“So you came here because of Claire.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know if you were part of the problem.”
The honesty hurt more than an insult would have.
Before Nathan could answer, his phone buzzed.
A photograph had arrived from an unknown number.
Rachel sat tied to a chair in what looked like an empty warehouse.
A newspaper rested on her lap to prove the date.
May you like
Under the image was one line.
BRING THE BLUE RECIPE BOOK TOMORROW AT NOON.
