Chapter 15 - WHAT CLAIRE HID INSIDE THE ELEPHANT|
Grace took the gray elephant from Noah.
She sat beside him on the sofa and gently opened a small seam beneath its left ear.
A tiny memory card slipped into her palm.
I stared at it.
"How long have you had that?"
"Since the night Claire died."
I felt the room spin.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was instructed not to give it to anybody until I knew Noah was safe."
"Who instructed you?"
"Claire."
Grace explained that shortly before the emergency, Claire had asked her to keep the elephant.
She had hidden the memory card inside its stuffing.
Grace hadn't known what was recorded.
She had only known that Claire wanted it protected.
After Claire died, Margaret's attorney offered Grace money in exchange for silence.
Grace accepted the payment but refused to surrender the elephant.
She had kept it ever since.
I took the memory card.
Marco arranged for a specialist to recover its contents.
The files contained financial records, hospital correspondence, and several audio recordings.
The most important recording was dated two days before Claire's death.
Claire's voice was weak but clear.
"I know what you're doing. You can't force Luca into a partnership by threatening his child."
A man answered.
"Your husband owes our family."
"Then speak to him."
"He will refuse."
"That isn't my problem."
The man laughed.
"Your son will inherit everything. We only want guarantees."
Claire's voice became firm.
"No. You will never use Noah."
Then came another recording.
Margaret's voice.
"Claire, please. You don't understand how dangerous this is."
Claire answered:
"Then tell Luca the truth."
"I cannot."
"Because you're protecting him, or because you're protecting yourself?"
Silence followed.
Then Margaret said:
"I've already made the arrangements."
The recording ended.
I looked at my mother.
She had gone gray.
But the final file was still unopened.
It was labeled:
For Luca.
I pressed play.
Claire's voice filled the room.
"My love, if you're hearing this, I need you to know something. I never stopped loving you. I never regretted choosing you."
I closed my eyes.
"But the people around us have been lying. Your mother is involved, and the Hart family is using our son's future as leverage."
Then Claire paused.
Her next words changed everything.
"There's one more person you need to investigate."
A name followed.
Not Margaret.
Not Vanessa.
Not Vanessa's father.
It was the name of the man who had been standing beside me for ten years.
My father's former attorney.
May you like
And my trusted adviser.
Anthony Cross.
