Chapter 8 - THE DAUGHTER ELEANOR ERASED
Claire Sterling had disappeared eleven years earlier.
Officially, she had died in a boating accident.
Arthur had buried an empty coffin.
Maya stared at him.
“You thought she was dead?”
Arthur nodded.
“Eleven years.”
Richard looked devastated.
“I went to her funeral.”
“So did half of Chicago.”
Arthur replayed the video.
Claire looked older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
Eleanor appeared again.
“You have six hours.”
“Transfer controlling ownership of Sterling International to the account I’m sending.”
“Or Claire disappears for real.”
Arthur clenched his jaw.
Daniel examined the video.
“We can locate it.”
Richard shook his head.
“Mirror Group will bounce the signal.”
Maya stared at Claire.
“Why keep her alive for eleven years?”
Arthur looked at Eleanor’s message.
“Leverage.”
But Maya noticed something.
Claire’s fingers.
She was tapping against the chair.
Three taps.
Pause.
Two.
Pause.
Three.
Maya leaned closer.
“She’s communicating.”
Arthur stared.
Claire had learned Morse code as a teenager.
They decoded the pattern.
L.
A.
K.
E.
Daniel looked up.
“Lake.”
Another sequence.
B.
E.
L.
L.
Arthur knew immediately.
“Bellweather.”
An abandoned Sterling resort north of Chicago.
They left within minutes.
But when they arrived, the resort was empty.
One chair sat in the ballroom.
A camera faced it.
And on the chair rested Claire’s necklace.
Arthur picked it up.
A speaker activated.
Eleanor’s voice.
“You were always easy to manipulate through your children.”
Arthur looked upward.
“You don’t have children.”
Eleanor laughed.
“Oh, Arthur.”
“That might be the biggest lie of all.”
A door opened behind them.
A young man walked inside.
About twenty-five.
Dark hair.
Arthur’s eyes.
He looked at Arthur.
May you like
Then said:
“Hello, Dad.”
