Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE PARKING LOT
The doors opened.
Claire Cross walked into the ballroom wearing a dark coat despite the summer heat.
She was perhaps ten years older than me.
Same dark eyes.
Same sharp jawline.
And there was something strangely familiar about the way she looked at me.
I couldn't explain it.
She looked at Dad.
Then Mom.
Then Savannah.
"All of you lied."
Dad stood.
"Claire."
She smiled bitterly.
"You remember my name."
"I thought you were dead."
"That's funny."
Her eyes hardened.
"That's what you told everyone about my father."
Nobody spoke.
Claire walked toward me.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way."
"Find out what?"
She looked at Marcus.
"Did you show her the ledger?"
"Not yet."
"Good."
She handed me a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
A young woman stood beside my father.
She was holding a baby.
Me.
I stared at the picture.
"When was this taken?"
"Twenty-three years ago."
I looked at Claire.
"You were there?"
She nodded.
"My father took that photograph."
"Why?"
"Because he wanted proof."
"Proof of what?"
Claire's voice softened.
"That your father promised to protect both of us."
I looked at Dad.
He wouldn't meet my eyes.
Claire continued.
"He promised my father that if anything happened to him, you would inherit his share of the company."
My hands trembled.
"But why me?"
"Because Daniel believed you were innocent."
"Innocent of what?"
Claire stared at my father.
"Your father had been laundering money through the company."
Dad suddenly lunged toward the envelope.
I pulled it away.
"Don't touch me."
He stopped.
Claire looked at me.
"Daniel discovered everything."
"Then he died."
"No."
She shook her head.
"He disappeared."
I remembered the black box.
"The box."
Claire nodded.
"The box contains the original ledger."
I looked toward Savannah.
"Where is it?"
She looked terrified.
"I don't know."
Claire's expression hardened.
"You gave it to him."
Savannah shook her head.
"No. I gave him the copy."
"The copy?"
I stared at her.
"Then where is the original?"
Savannah's lips parted.
"I don't know."
Marcus suddenly looked toward the bridal suite.
"The room."
We all turned.
"What?"
"The footage."
He pulled up another camera angle.
It showed Savannah entering the bridal suite earlier that morning.
Then someone else entered.
A woman in a black dress.
Claire looked at the screen.
"That's not me."
I stared.
The woman turned slightly.
Her face was visible.
My breath caught.
I knew her.
She had been at the wedding all morning.
She was Savannah's maid of honor.
I looked at Savannah.
"Who is she?"
Savannah whispered:
"Rachel."
"The one who laughed when I asked for payment?"
Savannah nodded.
Claire stepped closer to the screen.
"She's not just your sister's maid of honor."
"What is she?"
Claire answered:
"She's the person who's been receiving the money."
Silence.
Marcus enlarged the footage.
Rachel opened the black box.
Then she removed a folded document.
She photographed it.
And sent the image to someone.
The recipient's name appeared on screen.
Daniel Cross.
I stared.
"But Daniel is dead."
Claire's face went pale.
She whispered:
"Exactly."
Suddenly, the ballroom doors slammed shut.
Someone had locked them from the outside.
The lights went out.
A scream came from the hallway.
Then glass shattered.
When the emergency lights came on, Rachel was gone.
So was my father.
And on the floor beneath the bridal table was a single note.
I picked it up.
May you like
Three words were written across it:
YOU ARE NEXT.
