CHAPTER 5 — The Funeral That Never Happened
Daniel couldn't take his eyes off the frozen frame.
Claire Bennett.
Alive.
The image was grainy, but there was no mistake.
The slight scar above her left eyebrow.
The distinctive way she tilted her head.
The silver pendant she always wore beneath her collar.
Time had aged her.
But it hadn't erased her identity.
Marcus finally broke the silence.
"...That's impossible."
Ethan didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he zoomed in on Claire's face again.
Then he opened another file from the government's archived death records.
Claire Bennett.
Declared deceased nine years earlier.
Cause of death:
Industrial laboratory explosion.
Body identified through dental records.
Case closed.
Ethan looked at Daniel.
"Either this woman isn't Claire..."
"...or someone buried the wrong person."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"There was never an open casket."
Marcus looked at him.
"What?"
Daniel nodded slowly.
"I remember the funeral."
"It was closed because the body was supposedly too badly burned."
The realization settled over the room like ice.
If there had never been a visible body...
Who exactly had everyone buried?
Nine years earlier...
Daniel had been twenty-nine.
Claire Bennett had worked as the Ashford family's chief biochemical researcher.
She wasn't just brilliant.
She was meticulous.
Quiet.
Loyal.
She had developed pharmaceutical patents worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Then, one rainy evening...
Her laboratory exploded.
Authorities ruled it an accident.
The building collapsed.
Fire burned for nearly fourteen hours.
Only fragments of human remains were recovered.
Daniel remembered standing beside his father at the funeral.
His father had said only one sentence.
"Some questions should stay buried."
At the time, Daniel thought grief had made him cold.
Now...
Those words carried an entirely different meaning.
Back in the present...
Emma entered the security room hesitantly.
She stopped when she saw everyone's faces.
"What happened?"
Daniel turned the monitor toward her.
Emma stared.
Her face went pale.
"I know her."
Marcus looked surprised.
"You do?"
Emma nodded slowly.
"Not personally."
"I've seen her picture."
"Where?"
Emma looked at Daniel.
"In your father's study."
Daniel frowned.
"My father's study?"
She nodded.
"About six months ago."
"I was looking for a tax document."
"There was an old photograph inside a drawer."
Emma closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"It showed your father..."
"...Claire..."
"...and Victoria."
The room became silent.
Daniel's expression hardened.
"My father told me he'd never met Claire outside of work."
Emma looked at him carefully.
"The photograph didn't look professional."
"It looked..."
"...like a family picnic."
Victoria watched from her bedroom window as Daniel, Ethan, and Marcus walked toward the east wing.
Her pulse quickened.
They had found something.
She knew it.
A knock interrupted her thoughts.
Her younger sister, Rebecca, entered without waiting.
"What's going on?"
Victoria forced a smile.
"Nothing."
Rebecca crossed her arms.
"Don't lie to me."
"They've locked down the entire estate."
"Daniel has forensic experts crawling through the house."
She lowered her voice.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Victoria remained silent.
Rebecca stepped closer.
"You promised me Emma would be arrested."
Victoria snapped.
"I said I'm handling it!"
Rebecca flinched.
She had never seen her older sister lose control before.
Victoria immediately composed herself.
"I'm sorry."
Rebecca narrowed her eyes.
"You look scared."
Victoria looked away.
"I've made..."
"...a mistake."
Meanwhile...
The three men entered Richard Ashford's abandoned study.
Daniel hadn't opened the room since his father died three years earlier.
Dust covered the shelves.
Sunlight filtered through heavy curtains.
Everything remained exactly as Richard had left it.
Books.
Awards.
Family portraits.
Even the crystal decanter still sat on the desk.
Daniel walked slowly toward the filing cabinets.
"If Claire was important..."
"...my father kept records."
Marcus opened the first drawer.
Financial reports.
Patent agreements.
Old correspondence.
Nothing unusual.
Ethan examined the bookshelf.
Then stopped.
"This shelf."
Daniel looked over.
"What about it?"
Ethan tapped the wood.
"Hollow."
Marcus frowned.
"There's space behind it."
Daniel searched carefully.
His fingers brushed against something metallic beneath the desk.
Click.
The bookshelf shifted.
A hidden door slowly opened.
Marcus stared in disbelief.
"Your father had a secret room?"
Daniel looked equally stunned.
"I never knew."
The hidden office was small.
No windows.
One desk.
One safe.
Several filing cabinets.
Unlike the study outside...
Everything here was immaculate.
As if someone had visited recently.
Ethan crouched near the floor.
"There are fresh footprints."
Marcus felt his stomach tighten.
"Someone's been here."
Daniel walked directly to the safe.
It required both a fingerprint and a numerical code.
He hesitated.
Then placed his thumb against the scanner.
Green light.
Access granted.
Marcus looked shocked.
"It still recognizes you."
Daniel opened the heavy steel door.
Inside were dozens of files.
All labeled with a single word.
ORCHID.
Ethan looked confused.
"Project Orchid?"
Daniel had never heard the name.
He opened the first folder.
His eyes scanned the pages.
His expression changed instantly.
Marcus noticed.
"What is it?"
Daniel answered quietly.
"This isn't pharmaceutical research."
"What is it then?"
He turned another page.
"It's human testing."
Silence.
Page after page documented unauthorized chemical trials.
Volunteers.
Medical observations.
Psychological evaluations.
Chemical exposure.
Everything carried Richard Ashford's signature.
And one other signature.
Claire Bennett.
Emma covered her mouth.
"Oh my God..."
Daniel continued reading.
Until one particular page stopped him cold.
Subject Number 17.
Emma Carter.
His heartbeat skipped.
He looked again.
The birth date matched.
The hometown matched.
The orphanage matched.
Emma took the folder from him with trembling hands.
"This..."
"...this can't be me."
Daniel looked at her.
"Were you ever part of a medical study as a child?"
Emma slowly sat down.
"I..."
She struggled to remember.
"I grew up in Saint Mary's Children's Home."
"They gave us regular health checkups."
She swallowed.
"Sometimes they took blood."
"Sometimes injections."
"We thought they were vaccines."
She looked back at the file.
"They never told us..."
"...we were part of an experiment."
Ethan continued searching the safe.
One sealed envelope remained at the bottom.
Marked only with a handwritten warning.
If Claire is alive...
Do not trust Victoria.
Daniel stared at the envelope.
His father's handwriting.
No doubt.
The room fell silent.
Marcus whispered,
"Should we open it?"
Daniel hesitated.
Every instinct told him that whatever lay inside would change everything.
He slowly broke the seal.
A single photograph slid onto the desk.
No documents.
No letters.
Just one picture.
It had clearly been taken in secret.
Victoria stood beside Claire in an underground laboratory.
Both women appeared much younger.
Between them stood a little girl.
Around eight years old.
Thin.
Frightened.
Wearing an orphanage uniform.
Emma looked at the child.
Then suddenly froze.
Her breathing became shallow.
Tears welled in her eyes.
Daniel looked at her in alarm.
"Emma?"
She reached out with shaking fingers.
Touching the little girl's face.
Her own voice barely escaped as a whisper.
"...That's me."
The room went deathly silent.
Daniel looked from the photograph...
...to his wife...
...and back again.
Emma wasn't just the woman someone wanted to frame.
She had been connected to Victoria...
...and Claire Bennett...
...since she was eight years old.
May you like
Only...
She had absolutely no memory of it.
