Chapter 4 — The Photograph
Nathan Hale had been dead for four years.
Daniel learned that before midnight.
He also learned Nora was Nathan's daughter.
Vivian finally admitted that much.
"Nathan died in a car accident," she said.
"And Nora's mother?"
"Claire."
"Where is she?"
Vivian looked away.
"She left."
Daniel had heard enough convenient answers.
"Left where?"
"I don't know."
"When?"
"After Nathan died."
"And you took Nora?"
"I helped her."
"You hid her in my house."
Vivian flinched.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
Daniel laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"People keep saying that after they've made a hundred choices to make something happen exactly like this."
Vivian's eyes filled with tears.
"I was trying to protect her."
"From what?"
"Her family."
"You are her family."
Vivian said nothing.
That silence mattered.
The next morning, Daniel found letters.
They were inside a locked drawer in Vivian's home office.
All from the same person.
Lucas Hale.
Vivian's older brother.
Daniel knew Lucas only through Vivian's stories.
Drug problems.
Unstable employment.
Violent arguments.
Someone she had cut from her life years earlier.
But the letters told a different story.
Vivian, please tell me where Nora is.
Another:
Claire is still looking.
And another:
You cannot keep pretending this is protection.
Daniel read the final letter twice.
It had arrived only three weeks earlier.
If you don't tell me where she is, I'm going to the police.
Daniel looked at the date.
Then he remembered something.
Three weeks ago, Vivian had hired contractors to alter the kitchen.
She had told him there was a plumbing problem.
There hadn't been.
Daniel sat down.
Nora hadn't accidentally ended up behind that wall.
Vivian had moved her there because someone was getting close.
When Daniel confronted her, Vivian's face collapsed.
"Lucas doesn't understand."
"Then make me understand."
"He would have taken her."
"Was he her guardian?"
"No."
"Was Claire?"
Vivian went silent.
Daniel felt the answer before she gave it.
"Claire didn't abandon Nora, did she?"
Vivian looked at the floor.
"No."
Daniel's chest tightened.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Is she alive?"
Vivian whispered:
May you like
"Yes."
And somewhere across the country, a mother had apparently spent years searching for the daughter everyone told her was gone.
