Chapter 14 - The Second Claire
Finding the second woman took twenty hours.
Evelyn started with private surgical clinics.
Then passport photographs.
Then old Circle payments.
One name surfaced repeatedly.
Marianne Shaw.
Victor’s biological sister.
Claire’s half sister.
Roman stared at the photograph.
The resemblance was already strong before surgery.
Afterward, it would have been frightening.
Claire looked at the image.
“I thought Marianne died when I was nineteen.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No death certificate.”
“Just a missing-person report.”
Claire sat down.
“Victor told me she overdosed.”
Roman’s voice was cold.
“Victor seems to have told everyone someone was dead.”
Claire accepted the blow.
Sophie sat with Nora in the next room.
She no longer wanted to be near her mother.
Claire was devastated.
Roman almost felt sympathy.
Almost.
Evelyn continued.
“Marianne used three aliases.”
“One puts her in Vermont near the farmhouse the week Dr. Hill disappeared.”
Roman asked.
“Where is she now?”
“Possibly dead.”
“Possibly?”
“There’s a body from six years ago that may match.”
Claire looked up.
“How?”
“Dental reconstruction makes identification difficult.”
Roman’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Roman Vale.”
A distorted voice replied.
“Happy early birthday to Sophie.”
Roman’s body went rigid.
Victor.
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
Victor laughed softly.
“The girl.”
Roman looked toward the adjoining room.
“You’re never going near her.”
“I already did.”
Roman thought of the red-gate house.
“You should ask Sophie why she gave me the music box.”
“She thought you were Arthur.”
“No.”
Victor sounded amused.
“She knew exactly who I was.”
Roman frowned.
“What?”
“Children understand more than adults.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ask her what I promised.”
Roman looked through the glass doors.
Sophie was drawing.
“What did you promise her?”
“To bring Grandpa back.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“You stay away from her.”
Victor’s voice changed.
“You still don’t understand, Roman.”
“Arthur is the reason all of this happened.”
“He built the trust.”
“He built the puzzle.”
“He staged his death.”
“He destroyed your family.”
“And you’re protecting him because he has your last name.”
Roman said nothing.
Victor continued.
“Ask Arthur who shot Dr. Hill.”
“You did.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
The line went dead.
Roman turned toward Evelyn.
“Trace?”
“Burner.”
“No usable location.”
Roman entered the next room.
Sophie looked up.
“Was that Uncle Victor?”
Roman did not lie.
“Yes.”
She lowered her pencil.
“What did he say?”
“He said he promised to bring Grandpa back.”
Sophie nodded.
“He did.”
“Why did you believe him?”
Sophie thought.
“Because Grandpa disappeared again.”
“When?”
“After the boathouse.”
Roman froze.
“You saw Arthur after you gave him the music box?”
“Yes.”
“You said men took him.”
“They did.”
“Which men?”
“One was Uncle Victor.”
Roman’s heart accelerated.
“And the other?”
Sophie looked uncertain.
“I don’t know.”
“Did Arthur say anything?”
“He said not to be scared.”
“Anything else?”
“He told me the game wasn’t finished.”
Roman crouched.
“What game?”
Sophie took out her sketchbook.
She drew a circle.
Then four smaller circles around it.
“One is the horse.”
“One is the music.”
“One is the moon.”
“And one is me.”
Roman stared.
“You?”
She nodded.
“Grandpa said the last clue was inside something nobody could steal.”
Claire entered quietly.
Roman looked at her.
“Memory.”
Claire nodded.
Sophie frowned.
“He said when I turn nine, I should remember the first birthday.”
Roman’s stomach tightened.
“Your first birthday?”
“I don’t remember it.”
Claire went pale.
“I do.”
Roman looked at her.
“What happened?”
“Arthur gave Sophie a present.”
“What?”
Claire hesitated.
“A dollhouse.”
Roman remembered.
Massive wooden dollhouse.
Custom-built.
It had disappeared after Sophie’s supposed death.
“Where is it?”
Claire whispered.
“Helena kept it.”
Roman called the clinic.
Helena answered.
“Where’s Sophie’s dollhouse?”
Silence.
Then Helena said.
“Roman.”
“Where?”
“You don’t want it.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
Roman’s voice hardened.
“Tell me.”
Helena sighed.
“Storage room beneath Vale House.”
Roman ended the call.
They returned to the estate.
The dollhouse was enormous.
A perfect miniature of Vale House itself.
Roman knelt beside Sophie.
She touched the tiny front door.
A memory seemed to move behind her eyes.
“The first birthday.”
“Yes.”
She opened one miniature room.
Then another.
Then the library.
Inside was a tiny removable book.
Sophie pulled it.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the dollhouse.
Empty.
Roman stared.
Someone had already taken whatever was inside.
Claire found a note taped beneath the compartment.
Roman recognized Victor’s handwriting from old company documents.
THANK YOU, SOPHIE.
Roman stood.
Too late.
Then the lights went out.
Glass shattered upstairs.
Daniel shouted.
Roman grabbed Sophie.
Claire screamed from the hallway.
When emergency lights came on, Nora was gone.
Only her phone remained on the floor.
A video was already playing.
Nora sat tied to a chair.
Victor stood behind her.
His face was partially hidden.
“Bring Sophie to the old Vale theater tomorrow at midnight.”
“Come alone.”
“Or Nora dies.”
Sophie began crying.
Roman held her.
Then Nora shouted into the camera.
“DON’T BRING HER.”
Victor struck the camera aside.
The video ended.
Sophie looked up at Roman.
“We have to save her.”
Roman knew Victor expected him to choose.
Nora or Sophie.
He also knew Sophie was watching.
This decision would define the father she remembered.
Roman kissed the top of her head.
“We’re bringing Nora home.”
Sophie whispered.
“How?”
Roman looked at Claire.
Then Daniel.
Then the dollhouse.
May you like
“By finally stopping Victor’s game.”
---
