Chapter 12 - The Sister of the Dead Man
Clara Vance arrived at the medical examiner’s office on Monday morning.
She was fifty-eight.
A school principal from Albany.
Elias’s older sister.
Raymond watched from a car across the street.
Daniel Shaw sat beside him.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I need to see her.”
“No.”
“I owe her—”
“You owe her truth delivered through a lawful process, not an ambush in a parking lot.”
Raymond stared through the windshield.
Clara exited two hours later carrying a folder.
She stopped beside the building.
Bent forward.
And cried.
Raymond reached for the door.
Daniel locked it.
“Don’t.”
“That man died because of me.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to make his sister comfort you.”
Raymond looked at him.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“You are not the center of every tragedy, Raymond.”
The words hurt because they were true.
Across town, Nicole met Detective Bell with her own attorney.
This time she told part of the truth.
She admitted Raymond might be alive.
Bell stared at her.
“Might?”
“I believe he survived the warehouse fire.”
“Have you seen him?”
Her attorney touched her wrist.
Nicole answered anyway.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The day before the funeral.”
Bell’s jaw tightened.
“And you lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Raymond believed the person who tried to kill him thought he was dead.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
That was true.
“Why was he in your car?”
“He contacted me from a motel. I picked him up.”
“Was Emma with you?”
“Yes.”
“Did Raymond ask you to conceal his survival?”
“He asked me not to tell Gregory.”
Bell leaned back.
“Why Gregory?”
Nicole swallowed.
“Because Raymond suspected him of financial crimes.”
Bell wrote for several seconds.
“Did Raymond say Gregory tried to kill him?”
“He suspected it.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No. He did not say he knew.”
“Good.”
Bell looked at her carefully.
“Because suspicion and evidence are not the same thing.”
Nicole almost smiled.
Margaret had said something similar.
“Detective, someone planted Raymond’s watch.”
“Yes.”
“Colin Sykes had access.”
“So did other security personnel.”
“Gregory tried to cremate the body.”
“He filed paperwork.”
“Before your hold.”
“That is being reviewed.”
Nicole heard the caution in every answer.
Police did not move at the speed fear demanded.
She hated it.
But she understood why.
Bell finally said, “We need Raymond to come in.”
“I told him.”
“Tell him again.”
That afternoon Clara Vance appeared at Archer Properties.
Gregory was notified immediately.
“Should I see her?” he asked Colin.
“No.”
“Why is she here?”
“Probably wants answers.”
“So do I.”
Colin stared at him.
“Then stop acting like you’re owed them.”
Gregory’s temper flared.
“You work for me.”
“Technically, I work for Archer Properties.”
“That is me.”
“No,” Colin said quietly. “That was Charles talking.”
Gregory went silent.
Clara refused to leave.
Eventually Lena Cho found her in reception.
“Can I help you?”
“My brother died in one of your warehouses.”
Lena’s face changed.
“You’re Elias Vance’s sister.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know his name?”
Clara’s eyes sharpened.
“The medical examiner told me.”
“No—I mean how did you know he was here?”
“He had this in his apartment.”
Clara handed her a business card.
Raymond Archer.
Lena stared at it.
“My brother worked for your company?”
“No.”
“Then why was he meeting your CEO in a warehouse at night?”
Lena could not answer.
Clara looked past her toward the executive offices.
“Is Raymond Archer alive?”
Lena froze.
Clara understood immediately.
“Oh my God.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Those were almost exactly Margaret’s words to Nicole days earlier.
Clara’s grief turned into fury.
“If he’s alive, then my brother was buried under his name while he hid.”
“He hasn’t been buried.”
“That is not the point.”
Lena lowered her voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“Find the man who should be.”
That evening Raymond received a text from a number he did not recognize.
It contained one sentence.
YOU LET MY BROTHER DIE TWICE.
Below it was a photograph.
Elias and Clara at a baseball game.
Raymond stared for a long time.
Then he called Daniel.
“I’m coming in tomorrow.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Good.”
“No more hiding.”
“Good.”
“But before I surrender, there’s one thing I have to do.”
“Raymond—”
“I need to talk to Nicole.”
“Why?”
Raymond looked at the flash drive.
At his father’s emails.
May you like
At the secrets stretching back fourteen years.
“Because Gregory isn’t the only person I lied about.”
