Chapter 5 - THE SISTER WHO KNEW BEFORE I DID
Claire arrived forty minutes later.
She did not deny anything.
That was somehow worse.
“You knew.”
She looked at me.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Seven weeks.”
My chest tightened.
“You knew Adrian was alive for seven weeks and watched me grieve?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Everyone in my life had apparently joined the same terrible club.
“Stop saying that.”
Claire flinched.
Good.
“How did you find out?”
“Julian contacted me before the crash.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Claire looked at him.
“Your brother knew you were cheating on Meredith.”
The room became painfully quiet.
“He came to me because he thought she should know.”
I stared at Adrian.
He looked away.
Claire continued.
“Then Julian discovered Thomas was planning something. He said if anything happened to him, I should stay close to Meredith.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because after the crash, I received this.”
She handed me her phone.
A message.
IF MEREDITH LEARNS ADRIAN IS ALIVE, SHE DIES NEXT.
My anger faltered.
“Who sent it?”
“I thought Thomas.”
“You don’t now?”
Claire shook her head.
“Two weeks ago, I learned Thomas didn’t know Adrian was alive until after Rebecca’s engagement announcement.”
Adrian stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Claire explained that she had been quietly tracking the shell account used to threaten her.
It was not Thomas.
It was someone else.
Someone with access to Parker family finances.
Adrian’s face changed.
“My mother?”
Colleen went white.
“No.”
“Mom?”
“I never threatened Claire.”
Claire nodded.
“I believe her.”
I turned.
“Then who?”
She opened a file.
The account authorization belonged to Julian Parker.
Dead Julian.
Adrian stared.
“No.”
Claire said:
“Either someone was using his credentials…”
She hesitated.
“…or Julian survived.”
Colleen made a sound I had never heard from another human being.
Hope and horror together.
“No.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I saw the wreckage.”
“You did not see his body.”
Owen immediately began pulling hospital records.
The crash victim had arrived alive.
Severe burns.
Unconscious.
Identity assumed from Adrian’s car and wallet.
Then the records became strange.
The patient was transferred four hours later.
No receiving hospital listed.
No physician signature.
No death certificate until two days later.
Signed by a private doctor.
Thomas Parker’s doctor.
Adrian sat down.
“My brother…”
“May be alive,” Claire said.
Then she looked at me.
“And if he is, someone has kept him hidden for three months.”
A phone rang.
Colleen’s.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a weak male voice said:
“Mom?”
Colleen collapsed into a chair.
“Julian?”
Adrian froze.
The voice continued:
“Don’t trust Thomas.”
Relief flashed across Adrian’s face.
May you like
Then Julian whispered:
“Don’t trust Rebecca’s father either.”
