Daniel's Last Secret
Chapter 11 - Daniel's Last Secret
Claire did not confront Daniel in front of the children.
She waited until they were asleep.
Then she placed the investigator's payment records on the kitchen table.
Daniel looked at them.
His shoulders dropped.
“You paid him to disappear.”
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
“I paid him.”
Claire laughed once.
Coldly.
“At least we're making progress.”
“He found something.”
“What?”
Daniel sat down.
“A photograph.”
Claire remained standing.
“Of Noah?”
“Yes.”
Her legs nearly failed.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
She stared at her husband.
“You saw a photograph of our living son three years ago?”
“I couldn't be sure.”
“Stop saying things that make you sound innocent.”
Daniel covered his face.
“The picture was blurry.”
“But?”
“But I thought it was him.”
Claire could barely hear.
“Where was it taken?”
“Wisconsin.”
The same state where June had lived.
Claire turned away.
She wanted to break something.
Instead, she whispered, “Why?”
Daniel began crying.
“My mother told me Lydia had taken Noah.”
Claire turned.
“You knew?”
“Not when it happened. Years later.”
“How many years?”
“Four.”
Claire stared at him.
Daniel continued before courage failed.
“Mom said Lydia panicked after the kidnapping. She gave Noah to June. Then Lydia died before she could tell us where they were.”
“And you believed your mother?”
“I wanted to.”
“So you buried the photograph?”
“No.”
“You paid an investigator to disappear.”
“Because he wanted to go public.”
Claire could not understand.
“Why would that be bad?”
Daniel looked at her.
“My company was negotiating a merger. Mom said if the story came out—”
Claire slapped her hand against the table.
She did not touch him.
She did not need to.
“Our son was alive.”
“I know.”
“You chose your company.”
“I thought we could find him quietly.”
“You chose your name.”
Daniel cried harder.
“I was wrong.”
“No.”
Claire's voice was calm now.
That frightened him more.
“You were a father.”
She removed her wedding ring.
“And you chose to be a Bennett instead.”
She placed the ring on the table.
Daniel stared at it.
Claire walked upstairs.
The next morning, Daniel was gone.
But he left behind an envelope.
Inside was a storage-unit key.
May you like
And one sentence.
Everything my mother told me to destroy is inside.
