Chapter 7 - WHAT CLAIRE KNEW
Samuel survived.
Barely.
The bullet had entered his shoulder.
Gabriel moved him to a secure hospital under a false name.
Then he returned home.
Eli was asleep.
Hannah sat beside him.
Gabriel stood in the doorway.
“She knew.”
Hannah looked up.
“Who?”
“Claire.”
“Yes.”
“She knew Daniel was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
Hannah hesitated.
“Because she was afraid you would kill him.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I would have.”
“Exactly.”
Silence.
Hannah continued.
“Claire believed Daniel wanted you to become violent.”
“What?”
“She said Daniel's plan wasn't to kill you.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“It was to make you become him.”
The words landed harder than any bullet.
Gabriel sat beside Eli.
He watched his son sleep.
“What else did Claire say?”
Hannah swallowed.
“She said the cameras were the key.”
Gabriel looked up.
“The cameras?”
“She believed Daniel had access to them.”
“He does.”
“No.”
Hannah shook her head.
“He had access before you did.”
Gabriel stared.
“The recordings were never secure.”
“What are you saying?”
“Every time you watched the footage, someone else could watch you watching it.”
Gabriel felt sick.
All those nights.
All those hours.
Every time he sat in the control room staring at his son.
Someone may have been watching him.
Hannah pulled out a small notebook.
Claire's handwriting.
“She gave this to me the week before she died.”
Gabriel opened it.
There were dates.
Times.
Names.
One phrase appeared repeatedly.
2:17 A.M.
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
“Why 2:17?”
“I don't know.”
He checked the cameras.
Every major security breach happened at 2:17.
The caregiver theft.
Hannah's envelope.
The sixteen-second blackouts.
Eli's disappearance.
Everything.
Gabriel opened the oldest archive.
There.
2:17 a.m.
Twenty years earlier.
The night Daniel supposedly died.
The camera showed two men carrying a body toward the water.
One was Gabriel's father.
The other was Daniel.
Gabriel's breath caught.
Daniel hadn't died.
He had disappeared.
And his father had helped him.
The recording continued.
Daniel turned toward the camera.
He smiled.
Then he pointed directly at it.
A message appeared on the screen.
GABRIEL WILL NEVER KNOW.
Gabriel slammed his fist into the desk.
Hannah grabbed his arm.
“Stop.”
“I spent twenty years mourning him.”
“I know.”
“I built everything because of him.”
“I know.”
“I became exactly what he wanted.”
Hannah's voice softened.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You became what you thought you needed to become.”
He stared.
“You can still stop.”
Gabriel looked at Eli.
The boy shifted in his sleep.
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Tell him the truth.”
Gabriel sat beside his son.
When Eli woke, Gabriel told him everything.
Not every detail.
But enough.
“Your uncle is alive.”
Eli's eyes widened.
“He's bad.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mom know?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Eli looked down.
“Are you going to kill him?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother wanted something different.”
“What?”
“For you to grow up without becoming afraid of everyone.”
Eli's eyes filled with tears.
Gabriel reached for him.
Eli leaned forward.
Their foreheads touched.
“I was scared,” Gabriel whispered.
Eli answered:
“So was I.”
It was the closest thing to forgiveness Gabriel had ever received.
Then the phone rang.
Unknown number.
Gabriel answered.
Daniel spoke.
“Beautiful moment.”
Gabriel froze.
“You're watching us.”
“Always.”
Gabriel looked at the cameras.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you should have searched years ago.”
“Tell me.”
A pause.
“Your wife's grave.”
Gabriel's heart stopped.
“What?”
Daniel laughed.
“Come alone.”
The line died.
Gabriel grabbed his coat.
Hannah stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“Claire trusted me.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“I can't lose anyone else.”
Hannah stepped closer.
“Then don't go alone.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Then nodded.
They left.
But neither noticed the camera in the hallway.
The red light blinked.
May you like
And somewhere far away, Daniel smiled.
Because the final part of his plan had already begun.
