CHAPTER 4 — THE WOMAN IN PEARLS
Margaret Blackwood received Ethan and Claire in the drawing room of the family estate.
She wore a gray suit and the same pearl bracelet visible in the security footage.
Ethan placed a still image on the table.
“You were in the corridor.”
Margaret glanced at it without changing expression.
“I attended my own foundation gala. That is hardly a revelation.”
“You watched Vanessa pull Claire’s chair away.”
“I saw two women arguing. By the time I reached them, Claire was already on the floor.”
Claire leaned forward.
“You authorized the deletion.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Be careful what you accuse me of.”
“Why was I drugged?”
“Perhaps you should ask the person who has been lying to my son.”
Margaret crossed the room and removed an old family portrait from the wall.
It showed Daniel Blackwood standing beside Margaret and a teenage Ethan.
Behind them stood several members of the household staff.
One woman wore a nurse’s uniform.
Claire went pale.
“That’s my mother.”
Ethan turned sharply.
Helen Carter had raised Claire alone. According to everything Claire had ever told him, Helen had never met the Blackwood family.
Margaret smiled without warmth.
“Your mother knew Daniel very well.”
“How well?” Ethan demanded.
“Well enough to be blamed when he disappeared.”
Margaret tried to place the portrait inside a cabinet, but Ethan took it from her.
On the back, someone had written a message in faded blue ink.
Helen—if anything happens to me, take Ethan to St. Aldwyn. D.B.
Ethan looked at Claire.
“Did you know about this?”
“No.”
Margaret laughed softly.
“She always says that.”
Claire stood despite Ethan’s attempt to stop her.
“My mother died believing someone was following her. She left me a brass key and told me never to trust anyone named Blackwood.”
“Yet you married one,” Margaret replied.
“Because I didn’t know what she meant.”
Margaret walked closer.
“Or because you knew exactly what it meant.”
She opened a drawer and placed a sealed envelope on the table.
Inside were photographs of Claire outside the abandoned St. Aldwyn clinic.
The most recent was dated three weeks before she met Ethan.
Claire stared at the date.
“That can’t be right.”
Ethan’s voice became quieter.
“You told me you had never heard of St. Aldwyn until last year.”
“I hadn’t.”
Margaret touched her pearl bracelet.
“Your wife entered your life carrying a key connected to your father. She became pregnant just weeks before the Blackwood succession vote. And now she expects you to believe that all of this is a coincidence.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Someone changed those dates.”
Margaret moved toward the door.
Before leaving, she delivered one final warning.
“If you open the box that key belongs to, you will not find proof that Daniel survived.”
She glanced back at Claire.
“You will find proof that her mother helped him disappear.”
Then Margaret revealed something neither of them expected.
“The key is not missing. Vanessa left it for you.”
She pointed toward the grandfather clock.
Behind it was Claire’s purse.
May you like
Inside lay the brass key and a fresh note written in red ink.
Bank of Bellmont. Box 913. Come alone, Claire.
