Chapter 10 - The Witness
Judith screamed.
The reflected figure remained visible for three seconds.
Then vanished.
No one moved.
Daniel approached the mirror.
His reflection stared back normally.
Sweater Daniel stood several feet away.
Two Daniels.
Two reflections.
No Witness.
Rachel whispered, “I would like to officially withdraw every skeptical statement I have made this week.”
Monica heard everything through the call.
“Please tell me someone recorded that.”
Judith gripped her desk.
“The Witness never appeared outside the house before.”
Daniel turned.
“You’ve seen it elsewhere?”
“No.”
“You said it appeared in mirrors during fractures.”
“At Briarwood.”
“So something changed.”
Nicole thought of Thomas’s recording.
New experience becomes new identity.
Maybe the split was widening.
The problem was no longer contained by the antique glass.
Daniel’s phone rang.
His chief financial officer.
Daniel answered.
For the next five minutes, business replaced horror.
Payroll needed $612,000 Friday.
Available unrestricted cash: $218,000.
A receivable of $190,000 might arrive Monday.
Not soon enough.
Daniel ended the call.
“We miss payroll, vendors start filing liens.”
Nicole asked, “What are your options?”
“Emergency capital.”
“From whom?”
Daniel looked toward Judith.
She said nothing.
Sweater Daniel understood first.
“You already arranged it.”
Judith’s silence confirmed it.
Daniel said, “Mom.”
Judith walked behind her desk.
“Helix will provide an operating advance.”
Nicole felt sick.
“In exchange for what?”
Judith looked at her.
“Control.”
“How much?”
“Fifty-one percent of Anderson Urban Renewal.”
Daniel stared.
“You said the house option was all they wanted.”
“Circumstances changed.”
“You negotiated this behind me?”
“I negotiated survival.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Your favorite word.”
Judith ignored him.
“If we sign today, employees get paid.”
“And Helix controls the company.”
“Better controlled than bankrupt.”
Daniel paced.
Sweater Daniel said, “There’s another option.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Sell the Lakeshore parcel.”
Judith snapped, “No.”
Doorway Daniel frowned.
“We can’t.”
Nicole asked, “Why?”
Both Daniels looked toward Judith.
She answered reluctantly.
“Lakeshore is held separately.”
“By whom?”
Judith said nothing.
Nicole understood there was another hidden structure.
Rachel asked, “Who owns it?”
Judith finally answered.
“The Thomas Anderson Family Foundation.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“What?”
Nicole stared at him.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Judith’s face hardened.
“Your father transferred it before his death.”
“How much is it worth?”
“Approximately nine million.”
Daniel’s mouth fell open.
“You told me the foundation had no significant assets.”
“I told you what you needed to know.”
Nicole almost laughed.
The family pattern repeated with perfect symmetry.
Judith condemned Daniel for losing control while hiding nine million dollars.
Sweater Daniel whispered, “There it is.”
Judith looked at him.
“What?”
“The fracture.”
“You know nothing.”
“You told Daniel survival justified deception.”
“Yes.”
“You taught him.”
Judith slapped him.
The sound cracked across the office.
Everyone froze.
Sweater Daniel slowly turned his face back.
No one moved.
Judith stared at her own hand.
Daniel looked horrified.
Nicole stepped between them.
“Never do that again.”
Judith whispered, “He is not my son.”
Sweater Daniel’s eyes filled with something complicated.
“Maybe that’s why it was easy.”
Judith’s face broke for half a second.
Then hardened.
Nicole turned toward Rachel.
“Can the foundation sell Lakeshore?”
“If governing documents permit.”
Judith said, “They don’t.”
Rachel extended her hand.
“Show me.”
Judith refused.
Daniel walked toward her.
“Mom.”
“No.”
“Show us.”
“You are not thinking clearly.”
“For once,” he said, “I think I am.”
Judith stared at him.
Then at his double.
Then at Nicole.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
She opened a locked drawer and removed a thin folder.
“The foundation can sell Lakeshore.”
Daniel exhaled.
Judith continued.
“But Daniel is not the controlling trustee.”
“Who is?”
Judith looked at Nicole.
“You are.”
Nicole thought she had misheard.
“What?”
“Thomas named you successor independent trustee.”
The room went silent.
Nicole’s voice barely worked.
“I never accepted that.”
“You were never notified.”
Rachel stared at Judith.
“Failure to notify a successor trustee of appointment may create serious fiduciary issues.”
Judith snapped, “Spare me.”
Nicole opened the folder.
Her full legal name appeared.
NICOLE ELAINE ANDERSON — SUCCESSOR INDEPENDENT TRUSTEE.
Effective upon Thomas’s death.
Eight years ago.
Daniel stared at the page.
“My father gave Nicole control of nine million dollars?”
Judith’s jaw tightened.
“He gave her control over whether Anderson assets could be liquidated to rescue Anderson mistakes.”
Nicole looked up.
“And you hid it because you knew I might say no.”
Judith’s eyes burned.
“Yes.”
Nicole’s phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A text.
DO NOT SELL LAKESHORE. THOMAS HID THE FINAL RECORDING THERE.
Below it was a photograph.
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An abandoned lakeside house.
In an upstairs window stood the Witness.
