Chapter 4 - Aunt Claire’s Code
Claire Hale had always been Violet’s favorite person.
She attended school plays.
Remembered every birthday.
Stayed with Violet whenever Mason traveled for contract work.
She also knew the house alarm code.
Detective Brooks checked the security record.
The user account that disabled the system had originally been created for Claire.
But the device identifier did not match Claire’s phone.
Someone had used her code manually at the keypad.
Mason called his sister.
No answer.
Police went to her apartment.
She was gone.
Her car remained in the garage.
Her passport was missing.
Inside the apartment, detectives found boxes of old family records.
Photographs.
Letters.
Bank statements.
And a folder labeled **Rebecca Lane**.
Claire had paid Rebecca regularly for more than a decade.
The payments stopped six months earlier.
Mason read the amounts.
Five hundred dollars each month.
Then one thousand.
Then larger transfers after Caleb turned sixteen.
“She paid Rebecca to keep Caleb away from me,” Mason said.
Elena examined the records.
“Or Rebecca was blackmailing her.”
They found a letter written by Rebecca.
**If Mason learns what you did at the hospital, you lose everything.**
Claire had not merely known Caleb survived.
She had done something during his birth.
Mason remembered that night.
Claire was a nursing student working at the same hospital.
Rebecca told Mason his sister had stayed with her after the delivery.
At the time, Mason felt grateful.
Now the memory made him sick.
Violet regained consciousness briefly that evening.
Her eyes opened.
“Dad?”
Mason took her hand.
“I’m here.”
Her voice was weak.
“Caleb…”
“Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head immediately.
“No.”
“Who came to the house?”
Violet struggled to focus.
“Aunt Claire.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
“What did she want?”
“The envelope.”
“Why?”
Violet began crying.
“She said Caleb wasn’t supposed to find us.”
Her heart monitor quickened.
A nurse stepped in.
Mason leaned closer.
“Did Claire hit you?”
Violet’s eyes filled with panic.
“No. She tried to take the picture.”
“Then what happened?”
Violet looked toward the door.
May you like
“Someone else was with her.”
👉 Claire entered using the family code, but the person who injured Violet had remained hidden outside the camera’s view.
