Chapter 4: What Claire Left Behind
Marcus arrived within forty minutes.
He was Daniel's oldest friend — a civil attorney by trade, careful by nature, the kind of man who listened twice before he spoke once.
He came through the front door, looked at the sealed bag on the counter, looked at Nora sitting rigid in the chair, and looked at Daniel.
He said nothing yet.
That was Marcus.
Daniel walked him to the far end of the kitchen.
"She knew Claire's doctor's name," Daniel said quietly.
"Mercy General.
Dr.
Harmon.
She said Claire had a terminal diagnosis and never told me."
Marcus's expression didn't change.
"Is that possible?"
"I don't know.
Claire was private.
She protected me from things." Daniel's jaw worked.
"But that's not the point right now."
"What's the point right now?"
Daniel nodded toward the bag.
"That is."
Marcus looked at it.
"You want it tested."
"I want to know what was in it before I decide what else I want."
Marcus pulled out his phone and stepped away to make a call.
Daniel turned back to Nora.
She hadn't moved.
Her hands were still in her lap.
Her eyes were on the window.
"Someone sent you," Daniel said.
It wasn't a question.
She didn't treat it like one.
"I applied through the agency," she said.
"Same as anyone."
"The agency that placed you — Hargrove Domestic Services.
I called them when you first arrived.
The woman I spoke to confirmed your references." Daniel sat down across from her again.
"I called them again twenty minutes ago while Marcus was driving over."
Nora's eyes moved from the window to his face.
"They have no record of a Nora Venn."
The name landed in the room like something dropped from a height.
Nora said nothing.
"That's your name.
The one you gave me.
Nora Venn.
They have no file.
No placement.
No references on record." Daniel leaned forward.
"So I'll ask you again.
Who sent you?"
"You're confused.
There must be a filing error—"
"I have the original paperwork you submitted.
Your signature.
The agency's stamp." He paused.
"Marcus is going to pull the registration records for Hargrove Domestic Services this afternoon.
He's also going to pull your background check — the one I paid for and apparently received fraudulent results on." Another pause.
"This is your last easy moment to tell me the truth."
Nora's composure cracked — not all at once, but at the edges.
A tightening around the eyes.
A breath held too long.
"You don't understand what you're getting into," she said.
"Tell me."
"There are people—" She stopped.
"What people?"
She shook her head.
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
Marcus came back across the kitchen.
He held out his phone.
On the screen was a photograph — a corporate registration document.
"Hargrove Domestic Services," Marcus said.
"Registered eighteen months ago.
One director listed." He let Daniel look at the name.
Daniel read it.
He read it again.
He set the phone down on the table very carefully, the way a person sets something down when their hands have started to shake and they don't want anyone to see.
"That's my brother-in-law's company," he said.
Marcus nodded once.
Daniel looked at Nora.
"Richard sent you."
Nora looked at the table.
She didn't deny it.
"Richard." Daniel said the name like he was testing the weight of it.
"Claire's brother.
The executor of her estate." He stood up slowly.
"The man who has been managing Claire's trust since she passed."
The silence in the kitchen was total.
Then Lily's voice came from the top of the stairs.
"Daddy?"
Daniel didn't look away from Nora.
"It's okay, sweetheart.
Stay upstairs."
A pause.
Then small footsteps retreating.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
May you like
"Pull everything on Richard Calloway," he said.
"Everything."
