Chapter 5 - The House Behind the Glass
Claire changed out of the wedding gown in a private suite, but she refused to leave it behind. The dress was packed carefully into a garment case, the white orchids laid across the top like a funeral offering.
Daniel waited outside the door.
“Don't,” Claire said when he tried to speak.
“I need you to hear me.”
“I've heard enough.”
“Your father wasn't the only one who signed those payments.”
She stopped.
“Who else?”
Daniel looked sick. “My father. Margaret. And someone from your family.”
Claire's mind went to her aunt, her father's older sister, who had helped raise her after the funeral. “Aunt June?”
“I don't know.”
“Then stop giving me pieces.”
He lowered his voice. “The ledger may show that your mother knew the fire was coming.”
Claire turned on him. “You think she stayed in a burning building on purpose?”
“No. I think she went back for something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
She walked past him.
The old Whitmore estate sat twenty minutes away, behind iron gates and a line of bare winter trees. The house had been sold to a developer, but the renovation had stalled. Dust covered the marble floor. Plastic sheets hung over the furniture. The place smelled of damp wood and fresh paint.
Ruiz led the way to the former sewing room. The cutting table was gone. In its place stood a wine rack and a glass wall.
Lena ran her fingers along the paneling. “It was here.”
An officer tapped the wall. One section sounded hollow.
They removed a strip of molding and found a narrow compartment. Inside lay a leather ledger wrapped in oilcloth, along with a small cassette tape and a photograph.
Claire picked up the photograph.
Her mother stood beside Rosa Vale. Between them was a little girl with blonde hair and a missing front tooth.
Claire.
On the back, her mother's handwriting read: For the girls. One day they deserve the whole story.
Lena covered her mouth.
Claire turned to her. “Why did you never tell me we had this?”
“Because I didn't know it existed.”
Ruiz opened the ledger. Names and amounts filled the pages. The final entry was dated two days before the fire.
Beside the payment was a name Claire recognized.
June Whitmore.
Her aunt had not merely known about the fire.
She had paid for it.
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Daniel had been the boy who once slipped Claire a note during a school fundraiser because he saw her crying in the hallway. She had remembered that kindness when she fell in love with him. Now she wondered whether the boy had been good, or simply young enough not to understand what his family was doing. The thought made her feel cruel. It also made her feel awake.
THE DRESS FULL OF SECRETS |
