Chapter 3 - THE UNINVITED GUEST
“Snooping is a dangerous habit, Claire.”
Robert Hale wore a perfectly tailored navy suit, leaning against the doorframe of the study as if he owned the house. His smile didn't reach his eyes.
Claire quickly shoved the document and the child’s drawing behind her back. “Get out of my house, Robert. How did you get in here?”
“Daniel gave me a key years ago. For emergencies,” Robert said, stepping into the room. He glanced at the splintered wood of the desk drawer. “I see you’ve discovered Daniel’s little... deficiency. I always wondered how long it would take a smart pharmacist like you to realize she was married to a man with the reading comprehension of a toddler.”
“Don’t talk about him like that,” Claire spat, her maternal instincts violently shifting to protect her husband.
“I’m the only reason he isn’t in prison,” Robert said smoothly, his voice dropping to a terrifying calm. “Fifteen years ago, Daniel designed a faulty pressure valve. He signed off on the safety specs. An inspector died when the testing rig blew. I paid off the widow. I hid the paperwork. Daniel signed the authorization, Claire. His signature is on the death warrant.”
Claire’s blood ran cold. “He didn't know what he was signing. Because he couldn't read it. You tricked him.”
“The law doesn't care,” Robert smiled. “Daniel needs me. I am his brain. I am his shield. If you try to interfere with our business arrangements, I will release the original safety specs to the press. Daniel will lose the company, his fortune, and he will go to jail. Play the good wife, Claire. Or you’ll lose everything.”
Robert turned and walked out, leaving Claire trembling in the center of the room.
She couldn't breathe. She needed proof. She immediately thought of Walter Briggs, the elderly pharmacist customer who used to work with Daniel—the man who hid a yellow reading strip in his pocket.
Claire sped back to the pharmacy. She cornered Walter in the back aisle near the supplements.
“Walter, I know about Daniel. I know about the reading.”
Walter dropped a bottle of aspirin. His wrinkled hands shook. “Claire, you shouldn't—”
“Robert Hale was just in my house,” she pressed, grabbing Walter’s arm. “He’s holding a fifteen-year-old accident over Daniel’s head. Did Daniel cause that explosion, Walter? Tell me the truth.”
Walter looked around in a panic. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tarnished silver rosary, squeezing it tightly. “Daniel didn't cause the explosion, Claire. Robert altered the blueprints to use cheaper materials to skim money. When the rig blew, Robert slipped the falsified safety approval into a stack of routine invoices. Daniel signed it because Robert told him it was just a supply order.”
Claire felt a wave of nausea. Daniel was completely innocent, trapped in a cage of his own illiteracy for a decade and a half. “Where are the real blueprints, Walter? The unaltered ones?”
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Before Walter could answer, Claire’s cell phone rang. It was the principal at Lily and Noah’s school.
“Mrs. Mercer? You need to come down here immediately,” the principal said, her voice strained. “It’s Lily. She tried to steal a school bus ticket and run away. She’s hysterical.”
