I Came Home in Secret to Catch the Woman I Trusted. The Cameras Revealed the Monster Had Been Sleeping Beside Me.105
But it did not justify murder.
“Did Daniel kill Sophie?”
Claire looked at me.
“I won’t answer that.”
“I saw the garage footage.”
Her face changed.
“You saw what?”
“Sophie recorded both of you.”
For the first time, Claire seemed genuinely stunned.
“She had a camera?”
“Yes.”
Claire whispered something I couldn’t hear.
“What?”
“She wasn’t supposed to be awake.”
A chill moved down my spine.
“What did you say?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Nothing.”
“You knew he was tampering with the car.”
She stood.
I slammed my hand against the glass.
“Sit down.”
A guard moved.
I forced myself to lower my voice.
Claire remained standing.
“Did you know?”
She looked at me.
Tears appeared.
“Yes.”
The word almost destroyed me.
“You watched him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was twenty-four.”
“You were an adult.”
“He said he wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“What did he say he was doing?”
Claire wiped her face.
“He said he was installing something to scare her.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“What happened the morning she died?”
Claire was shaking now.
“My father called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He said something went wrong.”
“Something?”
“He said Sophie had left earlier than expected.”
My heart pounded.
“Why did that matter?”
Claire stared at me.
Then whispered:
“Because Sophie wasn’t supposed to drive that car.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He wasn’t trying to kill her.”
The room seemed to shrink.
I gripped the phone.
“Then who?”
Claire stared directly into my eyes.
“You.”
I stopped breathing.
She continued.
“The car was yours.”
“No.”
“It had been yours for three weeks while your Aston Martin was being serviced.”
My mind moved backward.
Three years.
A foggy morning.
Sophie leaving early.
Her Range Rover had been in the shop for scheduled maintenance.
She had taken my Mercedes SUV.
I had forgotten.
After the crash, I never questioned whose vehicle it had originally been.
Claire’s voice became distant.
“My father believed Robert Mercer had stolen his life. Then he convinced himself you had inherited everything that should have been his.”
“Why wait twelve years?”
“He was waiting for proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That your father knew.”
My stomach turned.
“What did he find?”
Claire gave a strange laugh.
“Nothing.”
I stared.
“That was the problem.”
She wiped tears from her cheeks.
“He spent his whole life believing there was a hidden confession. A secret trust. Something proving Robert Mercer had recognized him.”
“And there wasn’t?”
“Not where he looked.”
“Then why steal money?”
“To build what he thought he’d been denied.”
“And why kill me?”
