Chapter 8: The Best Friend's Confession
The police interrogation room smelled of disinfectant and burnt coffee.
Daniel sat beneath a fluorescent light with his hands resting flat on the metal table. Through the one-way glass, he could see silhouettes moving in the corridor.
He had spent most of the night watching his family become strangers.
Now he was being treated like a criminal.
Detective Laura Bennett placed a folder in front of him.
“Mr. Hayes, the gun found in your vehicle was registered to your company.””
“I have never owned a gun.””
“Your company security division maintains several licensed weapons.””
“I'm not part of that division.””
“Your fingerprints were found on the grip.””
Daniel stared at her.
“Someone put it in my car.””
“Who?””
“I don't know.””
She opened the folder and slid a photograph across the table.
It showed Daniel standing beside his car outside the mansion earlier that evening.
A man in a dark coat stood near the passenger door.
The image was grainy, but Daniel recognized the posture.
Marcus.
“Your friend claims he saw you place the weapon in the vehicle,” Detective Bennett said.
Daniel leaned back.
“Then my friend is lying.””
“He also says you argued with Thomas Hayes at the cemetery.””
“I did.””
“And shortly afterward, Thomas was shot.””
“By someone who nearly killed all of us.””
“Yet your fingerprints are on the weapon.””
“Because someone wanted them there.””
Detective Bennett watched him for several seconds.
“Mr. Hayes, your father's body was never recovered after the original plane crash. The man at the cemetery claims to be Thomas Hayes, but we have no confirmation of his identity.””
“He is my father.””
“You're certain?””
Daniel thought of the scar beneath the man's ear, the voice he remembered from childhood, and the way Thomas had called him Danny.
“Yes.””
“Then why did your friend tell us that the man at the cemetery was an impostor?””
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Because my friend has been helping someone manipulate my family for years.””
The detective closed the folder.
“Who?””
“Marcus Reed.””
For the first time, she looked surprised.
Before she could respond, the interrogation room door opened.
A uniformed officer entered and handed her a note.
Detective Bennett read it.
Her expression changed.
“What is it?”” Daniel asked.
“Marcus has disappeared.””
Daniel closed his eyes.
Of course he had.
The detective stood.
“We're going to verify your statement. Until then, you're not free to leave.””
She walked out.
Daniel sat alone for nearly twenty minutes.
He thought about his mother.
About the letter.
About the twin brother he had never known.
Most of all, he thought about the last thing Thomas had said.
Don't let them bury the wrong son again.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
The door opened, and Grace stepped inside.
She looked exhausted. Her uniform had been replaced by a borrowed gray sweater, and her hair hung loose around her shoulders.
Daniel stood immediately.
“Grace. How did you get in?””
“Detective Bennett allowed me to speak with you.””
“Where's Victoria?””
“At the hospital. She's under police supervision.””
“And Thomas?””
“He's alive. The doctors are operating.””
Daniel released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Grace placed a folded document on the table.
“I found this hidden inside your mother's old sewing box. I thought it might help.””
Daniel unfolded it.
It was a hospital admission record dated thirty-four years earlier.
The patient's name was Eleanor Hayes.
The record listed two male infants.
But beneath the second child's name, someone had crossed out a line and written a different surname.
*Reed.*
Daniel stared at the page.
“Reed?””
Grace nodded.
“I think your brother may have been registered under another family's name.””
“Marcus?””
“I don't know.””
Daniel looked up sharply.
“Marcus was adopted.””
Grace nodded slowly.
“He told me once that he never knew his biological parents. He grew up in foster care before a wealthy couple adopted him when he was eight.””
Daniel felt the room spin.
Marcus had been his closest friend since college. They had met during a business competition, where Marcus had defended Daniel against a group of students who mocked him for inheriting his father's company.
They had built their careers together.
They had celebrated birthdays, survived failed investments, and sat beside one another at funerals.
And all that time, Marcus might have been his brother.
“Why would my mother hide this?”” Daniel whispered.
“Maybe she didn't know.””
Grace pointed to the bottom of the hospital record.
A handwritten note read:
*Infant B transferred under emergency authorization. Receiving party: Richard Whitmore.*
Daniel looked at her.
“Victoria's father took the baby?””
“That's what it says.””
He gripped the paper.
“Then why did Marcus end up in foster care?””
“I don't know.””
Daniel paced across the tiny room.
“Did my mother ever mention a second child to you?””
Grace shook her head.
“She spoke about the plane crash sometimes. She said your father had been trying to tell her something before he disappeared, but she never explained what.””
Daniel stopped.
“Trying to tell her what?””
Grace looked down.
“That he had made a terrible mistake.””
A heavy silence settled between them.
Then Daniel noticed something written in tiny letters along the edge of the record.
He held the page beneath the light.
*DNA samples retained. Original laboratory: St. Catherine's Medical Archive.*
Daniel looked up.
“Can we get these records?””
Grace nodded.
“Your mother kept a list of the people who worked at the hospital. One of them still lives in Connecticut.””
Daniel immediately stood.
“We need to find her.””
The door opened before Grace could answer.
Detective Bennett entered, carrying another folder.
“Mr. Hayes, we have a problem.””
Daniel turned.
“What now?””
“Victoria has made a statement.””
“What did she say?””
“She admits that she arranged for a substance to be placed in your champagne.””
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“Then why am I still here?””
“Because she also claims you knew about the plan.””
“What?””
“She says you agreed to fake a medical emergency to prevent the merger announcement scheduled for Monday.””
Daniel stared at her.
“That is a lie.””
“She has messages that appear to support her statement.””
“Those messages are fabricated.””
“Perhaps. But until we verify that, we have to consider the possibility that this was a coordinated scheme.””
Daniel shook his head.
“Victoria wanted control of my company. She was going to incapacitate me.””
Detective Bennett watched him carefully.
“That's one explanation. But the messages suggest another person was involved.””
“Who?””
She opened the folder.
A printed email lay on top.
The sender was listed as Marcus Reed.
The recipient was Victoria Whitmore.
The subject line read:
*Operation Second Son.*
Daniel read the message.
The wedding is the final opportunity. Once Daniel is incapacitated, I will assume control of the shares. Victoria will secure the key. The original records must be destroyed before the biological heir discovers the truth.
At the bottom was a final sentence.
After that, neither of them will be a problem.
Daniel's fingers trembled.
“Neither of whom?””
Detective Bennett pointed to a handwritten annotation beside the email.
Two names had been circled.
*Daniel Hayes.*
*Thomas Hayes.*
Daniel stared at the page.
The plan hadn't merely involved stealing his company.
It had involved killing both him and his father.
But something else bothered him.
The email had been sent three months earlier.
Before Victoria had supposedly learned that Thomas was alive.
Before Daniel's mother had died.
Before the wedding plans had even been finalized.
“Detective,” Daniel said slowly, “where did you get this email?””
“From Marcus's private account.””
“Who accessed it?””
“The forensic team.””
“Did they verify the sender's identity?””
“Not yet.””
Daniel looked at Grace.
She had gone pale.
“What is it?”” he asked.
Grace pointed to the email's timestamp.
“Mr. Hayes, look at the date.””
He did.
The email had been sent at 2:17 a.m. on the night his mother died.
Daniel's breath caught.
He remembered that night.
He had been at his mother's bedside until a nurse told him to get some rest. He had left the hospital shortly before midnight and returned at dawn.
Marcus had been with him for part of the evening.
He had even driven Daniel home.
But the email had been sent hours after Daniel left.
Daniel looked at the detective.
“Where was Marcus that night?””
“We're still investigating.””
Grace reached into her pocket and pulled out a small envelope.
“I found this inside your mother's Bible.””
She handed it to Daniel.
Inside was a photograph of Marcus standing outside the hospital.
The date was printed along the bottom.
The night Eleanor died.
On the reverse, in his mother's handwriting, were five words.
*He came to say goodbye.*
Daniel looked at the photograph.
Then he looked at Grace.
“Goodbye to whom?””
Grace's voice was barely audible.
“Your mother.””
Daniel stared at her.
“Marcus was visiting my mother?””
Grace nodded.
“And she knew who he was.””
Before Daniel could speak, his phone rang.
The number belonged to the hospital where Thomas was being treated.
He answered.
“Hello?””
A nurse's voice came through.
“Mr. Hayes, your father is awake. He keeps asking for you.””
Daniel closed his eyes in relief.
Then the nurse continued.
“There's something else. Before the doctors took him into surgery, he asked us to check whether the man named Marcus Reed had arrived.””
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“Why?””
The nurse hesitated.
“Because he said Marcus was the only person who could identify the man who shot him.””
Daniel looked down at the photograph of Marcus outside his mother's hospital room.
May you like
For the first time, he wondered whether his best friend had been visiting Eleanor as a son.
Or as the person who had come to make sure she never revealed the truth.
