Chapter 7 - The First Wife
Claire lowered the gun by an inch.
Daniel turned toward Lily. “What did you say?”
Lily was shaking so badly Maria had to hold her upright.
“My real mom,” Lily said. “Mommy Claire was at the lake.”
Daniel’s face emptied.
His first wife, Anna, had died three years earlier when her car went through a guardrail near Lake Weston. Police called it an accident. Daniel had been out of state. Lily had been three.
Claire and Daniel married fourteen months later.
“That’s impossible,” Daniel said.
Claire raised the gun again. “She’s a child. Children make up stories.”
Lily shook her head. “I remember your red coat.”
Claire froze.
Daniel whispered, “You owned a red coat.”
“So did half the city.”
Lily’s voice got smaller. “You were yelling at my mom. You said, ‘Sign it or lose everything.’ Then Mom put me in Aunt Jenna’s car and told me not to look back.”
Daniel stared at Claire.
Ray used the distraction to slam his forehead into Daniel’s face. Daniel fell.
Claire fired.
The bullet struck Ray in the shoulder.
He screamed and stumbled against the railing.
“You crazy—”
Claire fired again, but the gun clicked empty.
Ray charged her.
Maria pushed Lily toward the stairs. “Go!”
Police sirens were closer now. Red-and-blue light flashed through broken windows.
Daniel tackled Ray from behind. The gun skidded across the floor.
Claire ran toward a rear door.
Maria blocked her.
“Move!” Claire yelled.
“No.”
Claire slapped her.
Maria barely felt it. “You tried to kill Lily twice.”
Claire pulled a small blade from her coat sleeve.
Maria backed away.
Before Claire could lunge, Sergeant Cole burst through the door with two officers.
“Drop it!”
Claire’s eyes moved from the police to Maria, calculating.
Then she smiled.
“You should ask Daniel what Anna was going to expose before she died.”
Daniel, still pinning Ray to the floor, looked up.
“What are you talking about?”
Claire let the knife fall.
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“Your wife wasn’t running from me,” she said. “She was running from you.”
And for the first time that night, Daniel looked guilty.
