Chapter 5: Daniel Finally Revealed Who Had Hired Him To Watch Claire
Chapter 5: Daniel Finally Revealed Who Had Hired Him To Watch Claire
Nobody spoke.
Daniel’s confession sat between us like a loaded weapon.
I looked at him.
“You were hired to investigate my wife?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You could have.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
He looked at Claire.
For the first time that night, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.
“Six weeks ago, I received an anonymous package.”
“What was inside?”
“A file.”
“What kind of file?”
“Your wife’s name. Her photograph. Her work history. Your address.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“What else?”
“Your marriage certificate.”
She stared at him.
“Someone sent you my marriage certificate?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said, “Because the person who sent it wanted me to believe you were having an affair.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So you believed them?”
“At first.”
“And then?”
“I started checking.”
He pulled a folder from his briefcase.
It was thick.
Far thicker than anything I expected.
“I followed Claire for three weeks.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
“You followed me?”
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what it is.”
“I know.”
Daniel opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Claire leaving the office.
Claire buying groceries.
Claire entering a coffee shop.
Claire driving home.
None of them showed her with another man.
Daniel turned another page.
More photographs.
Still nothing.
“She wasn’t cheating,” he said.
Claire looked at him.
“Then why did you keep investigating?”
“Because the person who hired me kept giving me new information.”
“What information?”
“Fake hotel reservations. Fake messages. Expense reports.”
He looked at me.
“And photographs.”
My stomach tightened.
“The photograph of me with that woman.”
Daniel nodded.
“That was one of them.”
“So someone sent you that photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To convince me you were cheating on Claire.”
I stared at him.
The entire thing had been designed from both directions.
Claire was supposed to look guilty to me.
I was supposed to look guilty to Claire.
And Daniel was supposed to believe both of us were involved in something neither of us understood.
Rebecca crossed her arms.
“Who hired you?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I never saw his face.”
“Then how did you communicate?”
“Encrypted email. Burner phones. Dead drops.”
The investigator stepped closer.
“Did he ever give you a name?”
Daniel hesitated.
“One.”
“What name?”
Daniel looked directly at me.
“Victor Hale.”
The investigator’s expression changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough for me to notice.
“You know him.”
“I know the name.”
“Who is he?”
The investigator didn’t answer.
Daniel did.
“He used to work for the company.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“What happened?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“He was fired.”
“For what?”
“Fraud.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“How much?”
“Nearly two million dollars.”
I stared at the folder.
“Then why would he come after us now?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Because he believes someone inside the company stole the evidence that could have cleared him.”
The investigator suddenly interrupted.
“Not someone.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Three people.”
He placed three photographs on the table.
The first showed Martin.
The second showed another executive.
The third was a woman.
I recognized her immediately.
My heart stopped.
It was the woman from the hotel.
Claire noticed.
“That’s her.”
The investigator nodded.
“Her name is Elena Ward.”
Daniel looked shocked.
“She’s alive?”
Rebecca frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
I looked between them.
“Why?”
Daniel’s voice became quieter.
“Because she was the accountant who discovered the fraud.”
The room went silent.
“Victor was blamed,” Daniel continued. “But Elena claimed someone else had manipulated the accounts.”
“Who?”
“She never said.”
“Why?”
“Because she vanished before the investigation finished.”
I stared at the photograph.
The woman I’d supposedly been seen with six weeks ago wasn’t some random stranger.
She was connected to the company.
And apparently, she’d disappeared seven years ago.
“But she’s here now.”
Daniel nodded.
“Apparently.”
The investigator picked up his phone.
“I need to make a call.”
He walked toward the entrance.
Before he could leave, I stopped him.
“Wait.”
He turned.
“You knew about Elena.”
“I knew the name.”
“You knew about Victor.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew someone was manipulating us.”
“I suspected.”
“You suspected?”
My voice rose.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because until tonight, I didn’t know whether you were part of it.”
I stared at him.
“Part of what?”
“The original fraud.”
I felt as if someone had punched me.
“I was twenty-one seven years ago.”
The investigator nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Then how could I be involved?”
“Your father.”
The room became completely silent.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“My father?”
The investigator looked at me.
“He worked for the company.”
“I know.”
“He was there when the money disappeared.”
I shook my head.
“My father wasn’t involved.”
“That’s what he claimed.”
“Did you investigate him?”
“Yes.”
“What did you find?”
The investigator hesitated.
“Nothing.”
I stared at him.
“Then why are you bringing him into this?”
“Because someone else did.”
He showed me a document on his phone.
It was an old internal memo.
My father’s name appeared at the bottom.
I read it twice.
Then I noticed the date.
Seven years ago.
The same week Victor Hale was fired.
The same week Elena disappeared.
The same week the fraud investigation began.
Claire stepped beside me.
“What does it say?”
I couldn’t answer.
Daniel did.
“It says your father authorized the transfer.”
I looked at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“The signature looks genuine.”
“But?”
Daniel pointed to the bottom of the page.
“Your father wasn’t in the office that day.”
The investigator nodded.
“According to the company’s records, he was at home.”
I stared at the signature.
Someone had forged it.
But why?
Then my phone vibrated again.
Unknown number.
Another photograph.
This time, it wasn’t from our house.
It was an old photograph.
My father stood outside the company building.
Beside him was Elena.
And beside Elena was Victor Hale.
Three people.
Three names connected to the same mystery.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
Your father knew who really stole the money.
A second message arrived.
And now you are going to find out why he never told you.
I looked up.
The investigator was staring at my phone.
“Don’t respond.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
Then Claire suddenly grabbed my hand.
Her eyes were fixed on the photograph.
“There’s something wrong.”
“What?”
She pointed at the background.
Behind my father, Elena, and Victor stood another person.
Only part of his face was visible.
But Claire recognized him.
“I’ve seen him before.”
I looked at her.
“Where?”
She swallowed.
“At your father’s funeral.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who was he?”
Claire looked at me.
Then she whispered,
“The man who gave me your father’s watch.”
I froze.
My father’s watch had disappeared the day he died.
For years, I thought it had been lost.
I slowly reached into my pocket.
The investigator stared at me.
“Why are you checking your phone?”
“I’m not.”
I pulled out my wallet.
Behind an old photograph, I found a folded piece of paper.
I had carried it for years without ever understanding why my father had left it there.
I unfolded it.
Three words were written in his handwriting:
Trust no one.
And underneath them was a name.
Daniel Mercer.
I looked up.
Daniel had gone completely pale.
Because whatever my father had discovered seven years ago…
Daniel had been part of it.
