Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE GRAY COAT
The first clue came from a photograph.
Lucas had spent years helping me organize the records from my divorce.
Old emails.
Bank statements.
Medical documents.
Messages.
Photographs.
I'd preserved everything because I was afraid someone might eventually challenge my story.
Now those records were becoming more important than I'd imagined.
Lucas opened his laptop.
“Claire, do you remember the date?”
“November seventeenth.”
Ethan frowned.
“I was in New York on November seventeenth.”
Rachel looked up.
“I can verify his travel records.”
I stared at Ethan.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
He leaned forward.
“I was negotiating the first Sullivan Group acquisition. I remember because the meeting lasted fourteen hours.”
Lucas nodded.
“We'll obtain independent documentation.”
I looked down at my hands.
The man in the rain had sounded like Ethan.
Moved like Ethan.
Worn a watch like Ethan's.
But if Ethan had been in New York, who had thrown the money?
Then I remembered something.
The man had called me “Claire-bear.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
Ethan noticed.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“Do you remember what you used to call me?”
His expression softened.
“Sunshine.”
I stared.
“Always?”
He nodded.
“Since our second date.”
I closed my eyes.
The man at the gate had called me Claire-bear.
A nickname Ethan had never used.
Someone else had.
His cousin.
Nathan Sullivan.
Nathan was two years older than Ethan.
They were nearly identical in height and build.
And ten years earlier, Nathan had worked for Margaret.
I looked at Ethan.
“Where's Nathan?”
His expression changed.
“Why?”
I swallowed.
May you like
“Because I think your cousin was the man who threw thirty dollars at me.”
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