Chapter 10 - The Funeral Director’s Secret.
Paul Reeves had appeared brave when he struck the emergency alarm and helped open the coffin.
Now investigators learned that he had met Claire secretly twice before the staged accident.
Claire explained that Paul’s late wife had worked as an accountant for the Mercer company and noticed missing charity funds years earlier.
After her sudden death, Paul found partial records among her belongings.
He believed Daniel was responsible for intimidating her but could never prove it.
Claire trusted him with the ledger’s most important page because Daniel would never expect a funeral director to guard evidence against him.
The assistant manager accepted Daniel’s money and arranged the coffin transport without Paul’s knowledge.
Paul discovered Claire inside only moments before the service but was watched by Victor and prevented from calling police.
He left the maintenance hammer where Ethan could reach it, hoping someone would challenge the closed coffin.
Ethan felt a mixture of gratitude and anger.
Paul had helped, but he had also allowed a frightened child to take the greatest risk.
Claire did not excuse him.
“Fear makes people choose the smallest brave thing they think they can survive,” she said.
Ortiz traced Paul’s car to an abandoned churchyard outside town.
There they found him sitting alone beside his wife’s grave.
He surrendered the missing page immediately.
He had fled because Stephen Vale called and threatened to release private medical information about Paul’s daughter unless the page was destroyed.
Paul had nearly burned it but could not betray Claire or his wife.
The master account belonged to an investment company controlled by Margaret’s longtime attorney, Harold Wynn.
Margaret stared at the name as if the page had changed languages.
Harold had handled her family’s finances for thirty years.
He had comforted her after her husband’s death, prepared Claire’s inheritance, and recommended Daniel for a position at the company.
The senior partner had been beside the family from the beginning.
Ortiz ordered officers to Harold’s home and office.
Both were empty.
His assistant reported that he had left for an emergency board meeting at the Cole Foundation headquarters.
The foundation’s trustees were gathering to vote on a temporary transfer of Claire’s shares.
If Harold secured control before the court froze the assets, he could move the remaining funds beyond recovery.
Claire was medically weak but insisted on appearing at the meeting.
“They buried me once today,” she said.
“They will not vote as if I stayed buried.”
At the foundation building, reporters crowded the entrance after footage from the funeral leaked online.
Daniel’s recorded statement was already spreading, portraying Claire as unstable and the coffin incident as an elaborate family dispute.
Public opinion had begun dividing before investigators could release verified facts.
As Claire’s vehicle approached the building, a black sedan pulled across the driveway.
Harold Wynn stepped out with a folder under his arm and Daniel Mercer beside him.
Daniel smiled at Claire through the windshield.
May you like
“Welcome back,” he said.
THE WOMAN BENEATH THE WHITE LID
