The Girl at the Gate Warned Him Not To Go To the Car

CHAPTER 2 - What Elaine Knew

"Stay behind me," Daniel said.

Lucy gripped his sleeve tighter. "Don't let him touch you."

The driver smiled without warmth. "Mr. Mercer, there has been a misunderstanding."

Daniel did not answer. He studied the man's hands, his shoes, the way his posture seemed ready for action. This was no hired chauffeur. Whatever he was, he had been sent with a purpose.

A second vehicle turned slowly onto the gravel drive behind the sedan. Daniel recognized it at once. Elaine's silver SUV.

His wife climbed out in a cream coat and dark glasses, moving with the calm of someone arriving late to a difficult conversation. She looked at Lucy first, then at Daniel, and something in her face changed.

Not surprise.

Alarm.

"Daniel," she said carefully. "You weren't supposed to come in from that gate."

"Supposed?" he repeated.

Elaine's gaze flicked to the driver. "Lucy, go inside."

The girl shook her head violently. "No."

Elaine's mouth tightened. "Now."

Daniel saw it then. The child's fear was not theatrical. It was recognition. She knew Elaine. And Elaine knew exactly why the girl was frightened.

Daniel stepped forward. "Who is he?"

"Someone who was supposed to keep this quiet," Elaine said, too softly.

The driver reached into his jacket.

Daniel moved before he could think, pulling Lucy behind him and shoving the sedan door shut. Metal slammed. The driver cursed under his breath.

Elaine's face drained of color. "Daniel, listen to me. This is not what you think."

Then a man's voice called from inside the estate.

"Elaine? Is he here yet?"

Daniel turned toward the house and saw an older woman in the doorway, one hand braced against the frame. She was pale, thin, and unmistakably familiar.

It was Daniel's mother.

He had buried her forty-two years ago.