Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Died Twice
The death certificate said Margaret Rowan died on November 12, 1998.
Fire.
Smoke inhalation.
Body identified by dental records.
Vincent stared at the laptop.
“That should be the end of it.”
Dominic looked at him.
“But?”
“There is no dental report attached.”
Arthur swore softly.
Clare sat motionless.
Dominic asked, “Who signed the identification?”
Vincent zoomed in.
Then stopped.
“Dr. Leonard Vale.”
Dominic’s father.
Clare looked at him.
“Your father signed my mother’s death certificate?”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice was almost a whisper.
“My father identified her body.”
The implications landed slowly.
Arthur walked toward the windows.
“This is older than all of us thought.”
Dominic remembered Angela’s final warning.
Your father already tried.
Maybe she hadn’t meant Dominic.
Maybe she meant someone else.
“What did Michael Rowan steal?” Dominic asked.
Arthur turned.
“I told you. Money.”
“What if it wasn’t money?”
Arthur frowned.
Vincent searched archived company records.
Twenty minutes later, he found something.
“Michael had access to acquisition files.”
“What acquisitions?”
“Industrial property. Shipping leases. Restaurant ownership.”
Dominic moved closer.
Vincent opened a scanned ledger from 1998.
Several properties had been transferred through shell companies.
Arthur studied the names.
“These weren’t legitimate purchases.”
Dominic knew.
His father’s generation had operated differently.
Bribes.
Front corporations.
Cash businesses.
Men disappeared and paperwork followed.
One name appeared repeatedly.
ROWAN ACCOUNTING SERVICES.
Clare stood.
“My family never owned an accounting company.”
“Michael did,” Vincent said.
Another document appeared.
A partnership agreement.
Fifty percent ownership.
Michael Rowan.
Fifty percent ownership.
Elias Vale.
Dominic stared.
His uncle hadn’t merely known Michael.
They had been partners.
Arthur whispered, “Elias lied.”
The doors opened.
A guard entered.
“Mr. Vale?”
“What?”
“Your uncle is at the gate.”
Nobody moved.
Dominic almost laughed.
Of course.
“Let him in.”
Arthur stared at him.
“Are you insane?”
“If he’s guilty, I want him where I can see him.”
Elias entered fifteen minutes later.
Sixty-seven.
Gray coat.
No bodyguards.
He carried an old leather folder.
When he saw Clare, he stopped.
His eyes changed.
Not recognition.
Something deeper.
Grief.
Clare saw it too.
“Do I know you?”
Elias slowly removed his coat.
“No.”
Dominic stepped between them.
“Start talking.”
Elias looked at the photograph of Michael Rowan on the table.
“So you found him.”
“You knew Michael.”
“Yes.”
“You were partners.”
“Yes.”
“You forged succession papers using my name?”
“No.”
“Your company is receiving my assets.”
“Not my company anymore.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Elias set the leather folder on the table.
“I sold North Coast Development eighteen months ago.”
“To who?”
“I never met the buyer.”
Vincent gave a humorless laugh.
“You sold a hundred-million-dollar company to someone you never met?”
“Through attorneys.”
“Beneficial owner?”
“Hidden behind trusts.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Why come tonight?”
“Because someone sent me this.”
He opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph.
Clare’s mother.
Alive.
The date stamp read six days ago.
Clare made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sob.
“No.”
Elias looked at her.
“She calls herself Margaret Dane now.”
Dominic froze.
“Dane?”
Elias nodded.
“Rafael Dane’s mother.”
Silence exploded through the room.
Clare staggered backward.
“That’s impossible.”
Elias looked at her with something close to pity.
“Rafael is your half brother.”
Clare shook her head violently.
“No.”
Dominic caught her before she fell.
Elias continued.
“Your mother survived the fire.”
“Why would she abandon me?”
“She didn’t.”
Clare looked up.
“What?”
“Your father took you.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
Elias’s voice softened.
“Michael.”
Clare stopped.
Elias pointed to the old photograph.
“Michael Rowan wasn’t your uncle.”
He looked directly at her.
“He was your biological father.”
Clare stared at the man in the photograph.
Dominic felt the entire case rearrange itself again.
Michael Rowan.
Margaret.
Rafael.
Clare.
The Vale family.
A thirty-year-old secret.
Clare whispered, “Then who was Daniel?”
“The man your father trusted to hide you.”
Elias looked at Dominic.
“And if Rafael is involved now, there’s something you need to understand.”
Dominic waited.
Elias’s eyes hardened.
“Rafael isn’t trying to steal your organization.”
“What does he want?”
Elias looked toward Clare.
“He wants the Vale family to admit what Leonard did to Michael.”
“And what did my father do?”
Elias didn’t answer immediately.
May you like
Then he said the words that turned Dominic’s stomach.
“Your father buried him alive.”
