Chapter 2 - THE SECRET IN HER MAIDEN NAME
Vincent read the message three times before looking up.
"My father has been dead for twelve years."
"I know," Leo replied. "But someone sent this to the house an hour ago."
"Who took the photograph?"
"We're checking."
Vincent turned toward Claire's townhouse.
She stood behind the window, watching him with an expression he couldn't read.
For the first time in years, he wondered whether there were parts of his wife's life he had never bothered to understand.
The next morning, Vincent arrived at his attorney's office and demanded access to every document connected to his father's estate.
Rebecca Sloan, the family lawyer, looked uncomfortable.
"Anthony Moretti left several sealed files. You were instructed not to open them until the trust dispute was resolved."
"What trust dispute?"
Rebecca removed a thick folder from a locked cabinet.
"Your father established a separate investment trust twenty-seven years ago. Its beneficiary was a woman named Elizabeth Hayes."
Vincent frowned.
"Who is she?"
"Claire's mother."
Silence filled the office.
Vincent remembered Claire mentioning her mother only a handful of times. Elizabeth had died when Claire was young, leaving her daughter to be raised by relatives who rarely discussed the past.
"Why would my father leave money to her?"
Rebecca opened the folder.
"Because Elizabeth helped him establish his first legitimate shipping company. She owned forty percent of the original business."
Vincent stared at her.
"My father built his empire alone."
"That is what the official records say."
"And the truth?"
Rebecca slid a document across the desk.
A partnership agreement carried Anthony Moretti's signature beside Elizabeth Hayes's.
At the bottom was a clause stating that her shares would pass to her only child.
Claire.
Vincent leaned back.
"How much is the trust worth?"
"Approximately eighty-six million dollars, including accumulated returns and disputed property interests."
His expression darkened.
"Does Claire know?"
"Someone accessed the trust records six months ago. We don't know who."
Vincent's mind returned to the previous winter, when Claire had asked him whether his father had ever owned property near Lake Geneva.
He had barely looked up from his phone.
Now he remembered her face when he dismissed the question.
Rebecca turned another page.
"There's something else. Elizabeth Hayes didn't die of the illness listed on her death certificate."
Vincent went completely still.
"What did she die of?"
Rebecca lowered her voice.
"The original medical report suggests she was poisoned."
For several seconds, Vincent couldn't speak.
Then Rebecca showed him a copy of the report.
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One name appeared in the attending physician's notes.
Anthony Moretti.
