Chapter 3 - The Man Lily Remembered
Daniel sat beside Lily.
Claire closed the bedroom door.
“Tell me slowly,” he said.
Lily hugged her stuffed rabbit.
“The man came to Mommy's room.”
“When?”
“At night.”
“How many times?”
“Lots.”
“What does he look like?”
She squeezed the rabbit.
“He has a beard.”
“Anything else?”
“A scar.”
“Where?”
“On his hand.”
Daniel remembered the photograph.
The man's hand had been visible.
There was a scar across his knuckles.
“Did he ever talk to you?”
Lily nodded.
“What did he say?”
“He asked if Daddy was home.”
Daniel felt cold.
“Did you answer?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Lily looked at him.
“He said Mommy was helping him.”
“Helping him do what?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel glanced at Claire.
She was already calling her attorney.
Then Lily said:
“He called Mommy by another name.”
Daniel frowned.
“What name?”
“Anna.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
Vanessa's middle name was Marie.
Not Anna.
He immediately searched his wife's belongings.
Passport.
Driver's license.
Birth certificate.
Everything said Vanessa Marie Carter.
But then he found a second identity card hidden inside an old jewelry box.
The photograph was Vanessa.
The name wasn't.
Anna Vale.
Daniel sat down.
Claire whispered:
“What the hell?”
Daniel turned the card over.
An address was printed on it.
The red-door house.
They drove to the police station.
Detective Miller listened carefully.
“Anna Vale,” she repeated.
“We found this in her belongings.”
Miller examined it.
“This is a federal identification card.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“She may have worked undercover.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My wife?”
“Possibly.”
“What was she investigating?”
“We don't know yet.”
The detective searched the database.
Then her expression changed.
“Anna Vale was reported missing nine years ago.”
Daniel's mouth went dry.
“That can't be.”
“She disappeared during an investigation into financial fraud.”
“Who reported her missing?”
“Her employer.”
“Who was her employer?”
Miller looked at the screen.
“The Carter Foundation.”
Daniel froze.
His father's foundation.
The same foundation that had handled millions of dollars.
The same organization Daniel had inherited after his father's death.
“What was she investigating?”
Miller pulled up the old case.
“She was looking into missing charity funds.”
Daniel stared.
“How much?”
“Forty-two million dollars.”
Claire whispered:
“My God.”
Then Daniel remembered something.
His father had always said the foundation had lost money because of poor investments.
He had never mentioned forty-two million dollars.
Miller continued.
“Anna Vale disappeared before she could complete the investigation.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
His wife.
Anna.
Not Vanessa.
A woman who had apparently entered his life under a false identity.
He suddenly wondered how much of his marriage had been real.
Then Lily spoke.
“She didn't marry you to hurt you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Lily's voice trembled.
“She married you because Mommy said she had to.”
Daniel couldn't breathe.
“Who told her?”
May you like
Lily looked toward the hallway.
“The man with the scar.”
