Chapter 6 - RICHARD’S LETTER
By evening, police had enough to treat the house as a crime scene.
Ethan, Claire, and Lily moved into a hotel.
Thomas disappeared again.
Not running, he claimed.
“Giving you space.”
Ethan didn’t trust him.
He barely trusted himself.
At 9:20 the next morning, Richard Mercer’s attorney called.
“Mr. Mercer, I need you in my office.”
“Why?”
“Your father left instructions.”
“My father died eight months ago.”
“I’m aware.”
“What instructions?”
The attorney paused.
“He left a sealed letter.”
Ethan’s hand tightened around the phone.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“When was I supposed to get it?”
“Under a specific condition.”
“What condition?”
Another pause.
“If Evelyn ever physically harmed Claire or your child.”
Ethan felt the room tilt.
Two hours later, he sat across from Arthur Bell, the attorney who had handled his father’s estate for twenty-seven years.
Claire sat beside him.
Arthur placed a yellow envelope on the desk.
Ethan’s name was written across it in Richard’s handwriting.
He opened it.
Son,
If you are reading this, then I was right to be afraid.
Ethan stopped.
Claire squeezed his hand.
He continued.
Your mother is not evil every hour of every day. That is why people forgive her. That is also why she has gotten away with so much.
She can be generous. Funny. Loving.
And then she can become someone else when she believes she is losing control.
Ethan’s throat tightened.
There were things I hid from you and Thomas because I thought protecting children meant hiding ugly truths.
I was wrong.
Your brother did not steal from me.
Ethan stopped again.
Claire whispered, “Keep reading.”
The money came from accounts your mother controlled. Thomas took the blame because she threatened to destroy his life with information from his past.
I let him go.
That failure belongs to me.
Ethan’s eyes burned.
The letter continued.
After Lily was born, your mother became obsessed with the idea that Claire was replacing her.
I heard it in her voice.
I saw it before I died.
That is why I changed the house deed.
Ethan looked up.
“What house deed?”
Arthur slid a document across the table.
Ethan stared at it.
The suburban home where they had been living did not belong to Evelyn.
It didn’t even fully belong to Ethan.
Richard had placed it in a protected trust.
For Lily.
Evelyn had a limited right to live there only under specific conditions.
One condition was clear.
No violence.
No harassment.
No interference with Claire’s parental rights.
Claire whispered, “She knew.”
Arthur nodded.
“She received notice after Richard died.”
Ethan understood instantly.
“If she was removed from the house…”
“She lost her claim to remain there.”
“So this was about money?”
Arthur frowned.
“Not only money.”
He pulled out another folder.
“Your mother challenged the trust six weeks ago.”
“When Lily was born?”
“Three days after.”
“Why?”
“She alleged Claire manipulated your father before his death.”
Claire stared at him.
“I barely saw Richard during his last month.”
“I know.”
Arthur leaned back.
“She also filed something else.”
“What?”
“A petition claiming Claire was mentally unfit to control property on Lily’s behalf.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“This was planned.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
Arthur opened the folder.
“Long enough that she hired an investigator before Lily was even born.”
Claire whispered, “Thomas?”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
Ethan went still.
“There was someone before Thomas?”
Arthur handed him a photograph.
A man stood outside their house.
Watching Claire.
Ethan had never seen him before.
On the back, in his mother’s handwriting, were five words.
FIND SOMETHING I CAN USE.
And beneath them was a date.
Seven months earlier.
May you like
Before Claire had even told the family she was pregnant.
---
