I looked upstairs, where James was guiding Noah toward the rear exit.
“Claire,” Daniel said, quieter now. “There’s a blue sedan parked in the alley. The keys are inside. Take Noah and go.”
“You put a car there?”
“I asked someone to.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
The room became perfectly still.
Vanessa stared at the phone.
“Daniel,” I whispered, “your mother is dead.”
“That is what my father wanted everyone to believe.”
The front doorbell sounded a third time.
Reed’s voice sharpened. “Mrs. Mercer, open the door.”
Daniel continued before I could speak.
“My mother survived the accident. She disappeared because Richard told her he would come after me next. She has spent twenty-six years collecting proof against Northstar.”
Vanessa shook her head. “My mother said Eleanor died.”
“Your mother was paid to say it.”
I thought of the pendant, the safe-deposit key, and Daniel’s years of evasions. Pieces moved into new positions, but the picture they formed remained incomplete.
