Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Never Supposed to Be His Bride
Daniel stared at Vanessa as though he were seeing a stranger.
"Say that again."
Vanessa wiped her cheek.
"Catherine was the first girl I ever considered my daughter."
Daniel said nothing.
"Not biologically."
She drew a shaky breath.
"I was nineteen when I met her."
Daniel frowned.
"Catherine would have been—"
"Four."
Vanessa nodded.
"I was volunteering at a children's shelter in Wisconsin."
Daniel gripped the back of a chair.
"Catherine grew up with her parents in Evanston."
"Not until she was five."
"My wife never lived in a shelter."
"She didn't remember most of it."
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa looked down.
"Her birth mother was my older sister, Rebecca."
The room seemed to shrink.
Daniel had known Catherine's adoptive parents, Helen and James Foster, for more than a decade.
James had died before Lily was born.
Helen had passed away three years before the accident.
Catherine occasionally spoke about being adopted, but she had never shown much interest in finding her biological family.
She said the Fosters were the only parents she needed.
"You're Catherine's aunt?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me?"
"No."
"Did Catherine know?"
"Eventually."
"When?"
"Three weeks before the accident."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Of course.
Everything went back to those final three weeks.
Every unanswered phone call.
Every strange conversation.
Every time his wife looked frightened and told him nothing was wrong.
"Why did you approach her?"
Vanessa hesitated.
"Because Rebecca died trying to expose the same people Catherine was investigating."
Daniel looked up.
"What people?"
"People who used medical research companies to move money, hide patients, and falsify records."
"You're talking about a criminal enterprise."
"Yes."
"And my brother is involved?"
"Deeply."
Daniel shook his head.
"Nathan's greedy."
He thought of the missing ninety-six million dollars.
"He's selfish, arrogant, and occasionally reckless."
His voice hardened.
"But this is something else."
Vanessa met his eyes.
"People can be more than one kind of terrible."
Before Daniel could respond, three sharp knocks came from the music room door.
"Mr. Whitmore?"
A woman's voice.
"Chicago Police Department."
Daniel opened the door carefully.
Two uniformed officers stood in the corridor.
Behind them was a woman in her forties with dark hair tied into a tight bun.
She held up her badge.
"Detective Elena Ruiz."
Daniel had met her once before.
She had been assigned to Catherine's fatal accident.
The sight of her made something inside him tighten.
"Detective."
"Mr. Whitmore, dispatch received a report of shots fired."
Daniel nodded.
"My security chief opened fire near my daughter."
Ruiz's expression sharpened.
"Where is he?"
"Somewhere on the property."
"We have officers searching the grounds."
Daniel stepped aside.
"There's something else."
He showed her the photographs.
The hospital identification band.
The silver key.
The picture of Nathan.
Ruiz studied each item without speaking.
Finally, she looked up.
"Where did you get these?"
"From my daughter's teddy bear."
Her gaze moved toward Vanessa.
"Ms. Cole."
Vanessa went rigid.
Daniel noticed.
"You know each other?"
Ruiz ignored the question.
"Vanessa, we need to talk."
"About what?"
"The medical examiner's office."
Vanessa looked confused.
Ruiz turned toward Daniel.
"Mr. Whitmore, I need to ask whether you ever personally identified your wife's remains."
Daniel shook his head.
"I was told identification wasn't possible."
"Who told you that?"
"Dr. Howard Keene."
Ruiz's jaw tightened.
"And who introduced you to Dr. Keene?"
"My brother."
"Did you receive the original forensic report?"
"No."
"Did you see the death certificate?"
"Yes."
"Who gave it to you?"
"Charles Mercer."
Ruiz took a slow breath.
Daniel watched her carefully.
"Detective, you're the one who investigated the crash."
"I was assigned the initial scene."
"And?"
"I was removed from the case after forty-eight hours."
Daniel stared at her.
"Why?"
"Jurisdictional transfer."
"To whom?"
"An interagency task force."
"What task force?"
Ruiz hesitated.
"That's part of what I need to explain."
Vanessa whispered, "Elena, please don't."
Daniel looked between them.
"Enough."
He stepped closer.
"Every person in this room knows something about my wife's disappearance."
He pointed toward the basement.
"My daughter has been paying for your secrets."
His voice dropped.
"You're going to stop keeping them."
Ruiz held his gaze.
Then she closed the door.
"The night Catherine's car went off the road, I was the first detective on scene."
Daniel's chest tightened.
"I remember the report."
"The vehicle had been deliberately forced off the roadway."
Daniel stared at her.
"You told me it was an accident."
"I didn't."
"Nathan said—"
"Nathan told you what he wanted you to hear."
Ruiz continued.
"The car had sustained damage consistent with a collision from behind."
Daniel felt sick.
"We recovered a partial paint transfer."
"From what?"
"A commercial security vehicle."
Vanessa turned away.
Ruiz looked at her.
"The same vehicle that appeared in surveillance footage outside Catherine's office three days earlier."
Daniel's voice was almost inaudible.
"Martin?"
"We suspected his company."
"Why didn't you arrest him?"
"Because the vehicle disappeared."
"And the evidence?"
"Was reassigned."
"To whom?"
Ruiz hesitated again.
Then she said, "A federal investigator named Andrew Voss."
Vanessa made a strangled sound.
Daniel looked toward her.
"Who is Andrew Voss?"
She whispered, "The man who helped Catherine disappear."
Ruiz shook her head.
"No."
Vanessa stared at her.
Ruiz continued.
"Andrew Voss is the man who told my department Catherine had been killed."
Daniel felt cold spread through his body.
"Then who helped her?"
Ruiz looked at Vanessa.
"That's what I've been trying to find out."
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Daniel heard footsteps outside the door.
An officer called through the wood.
"Detective, we found Hale's vehicle."
Ruiz opened the door.
"Where?"
"North service road."
"Is he inside?"
"No."
"What did you find?"
The officer glanced at Daniel.
"A burned phone and a bloodstained jacket."
Ruiz nodded.
"Secure both."
The officer hesitated.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"A child safety seat."
Daniel's heart began to pound.
"For what age?"
"Approximately six years old."
Vanessa grabbed the doorframe.
Ruiz's expression went dark.
Daniel looked toward the basement.
Then the officer added, "And there's a printed route to a property outside Lake Forest."
"The lake house?" Daniel asked.
The officer nodded.
Ruiz turned toward him.
"Mr. Whitmore, I need you to stay here."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"Your daughter needs you safe."
"My wife may be at that house."
"That's exactly why you can't go charging in."
Daniel stared at her.
Then his phone vibrated again.
A video message.
The thumbnail showed Catherine sitting in a dimly lit room.
Daniel pressed play.
His wife's face appeared.
She looked exhausted.
Her lower lip was swollen.
But her eyes were unmistakably alive.
"Daniel."
He forgot how to breathe.
"If you're watching this, Vanessa failed to get you away from the house."
Catherine glanced toward something off camera.
"I need you to listen."
Her voice trembled.
"Don't go to the lake."
A man's voice called her name.
Catherine flinched.
"Everything Nathan told you about the money is a distraction."
She leaned closer to the camera.
"The real evidence isn't in the company."
Daniel watched helplessly.
"It's in Lily's birth records."
The video ended.
Then another message appeared.
YOUR WIFE HAS SIX HOURS.
Below it was a location.
Not Vanessa's lake house.
A medical complex in downtown Chicago.
Daniel recognized the name.
May you like
ST. AGNES CHILDREN'S RESEARCH CENTER.
It was the hospital where Lily had been born.
