Chapter 9 - THE SECOND BRIDE

The bullet missed Dad’s heart by four inches.

Doctors said he was lucky.

I didn’t feel lucky.

Daniel escaped through the marina.

Margaret was arrested.

But Harold had disappeared.

Police searched Daniel’s bank accounts.

Most were empty.

Marcus found offshore transfers.

Someone had been preparing to run.

Margaret refused to speak without counsel.

Her lawyer wasn’t Harold.

That surprised everyone.

“Why not Finch?” I asked.

Naomi leaned against the hospital wall.

“Because Margaret claims she doesn’t know where he is.”

“Do you believe her?”

“No.”

Dad woke that evening.

His first words were,

“Did you sign?”

I laughed through tears.

“Fake papers.”

“Good girl.”

“Dad, they targeted me because of Grandpa’s trust.”

“I know.”

I stared.

“What?”

His eyes closed.

“I should have told you.”

My anger arrived instantly.

“Told me what?”

“Your grandfather suspected someone had been trying to access the patents.”

“Daniel?”

“Not originally.”

He looked toward the door.

“Harold Finch.”

My stomach dropped.

Dad explained that Harold had advised my grandfather decades earlier.

When Grandpa discovered irregularities, he fired him.

Harold never forgot.

“So Daniel married me because Harold wanted revenge?”

“Partly.”

“Partly?”

Dad swallowed.

“Your grandfather helped prosecute Harold’s father for financial fraud.”

This wasn’t random greed.

It was generational.

Marcus entered carrying a file.

“We found Andrea Price.”

One of Daniel’s former girlfriends.

She had been living under a different name.

Andrea agreed to talk.

Her story matched Rebecca’s.

Daniel seduced her.

Margaret isolated her.

Harold drafted papers.

When Andrea resisted, someone sabotaged her car.

She survived.

She fled.

“Did you ever meet Rebecca?” I asked.

Andrea stared at me.

“Yes.”

“When?”

“After she disappeared.”

The room went silent.

“You saw Rebecca alive?”

Andrea nodded.

“Three years after Daniel said she vanished.”

“Where?”

“A women’s shelter in Vermont.”

“Why didn’t she contact her sister?”

“She was terrified.”

“Of Daniel?”

“Not Daniel.”

Andrea’s face tightened.

“Margaret.”

My blood chilled.

Andrea reached into her bag.

“She gave me this.”

A small brass key.

“Rebecca said if anything ever happened to her, give it to the next woman Daniel tried to marry.”

I stared at the key.

“What does it open?”

Andrea shook her head.

“She only gave me one clue.”

“What?”

She whispered,

“Ask Harold about the first bride.”

I frowned.

“Rebecca was the first bride.”

Andrea shook her head slowly.

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