Chapter 8 - The Dead Man’s Instruction
Nobody spoke.
Even Daniel seemed unable to find a lie fast enough.
Nathan Price’s voice came through the intercom again.
“Claire, if you can hear me, do not sign anything.”
Claire pressed the speaker button.
“I hear you.”
Daniel stepped forward.
She raised one hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Nathan said, “Open the gate.”
Daniel replied, “This is private property.”
Nathan’s answer was immediate.
“It belongs to Claire.”
Claire entered her original administrator code.
The gate opened.
Daniel stared at her.
“You changed it.”
“No.”
She showed him the panel.
“Dad never removed my master access.”
The SUV men looked at Daniel for direction.
Nathan and Owen walked past them toward the house.
For a tense moment, Claire thought the men might intervene.
They did not.
Maybe they had been told this was simple.
Maybe they had not expected witnesses.
Owen entered first when Claire unlocked the door.
He crossed the foyer and hugged her so hard she almost lost her balance.
“You okay?”
“For now.”
Nathan entered behind him carrying the sealed envelope.
He looked older than Claire remembered.
Tired.
And furious.
Daniel said, “You’re trespassing.”
Nathan ignored him.
“Claire, your father came to me nine days before he died.”
Claire’s throat closed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He made me promise not to unless one of three events occurred.”
“What events?”
Nathan held up three fingers.
“One: a petition claiming you were mentally or medically incapable of managing your affairs.”
Claire looked at the folder.
“Two?”
“A sudden attempt to transfer control of the Whitmore Foundation.”
Her pulse quickened.
“And three?”
The next minutes moved fast, and every answer only exposed a deeper part of Daniel’s plan.
She kept reading.
Do not believe that I died before I could fix this.
I hid the evidence where only you would think to look.
Claire stopped.
At the bottom of the page was a phrase her father used when she was a child.
WHEN THE HOUSE LIES, ASK THE CLOCK.
Claire looked up.
Owen frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Claire turned toward the foyer.
The grandfather clock.
Her father had repaired it himself for forty years.
Daniel saw where she was looking.
May you like
His face changed.
Then he ran.
