Chapter 7 - The Letter Maya Took
Maya admitted it.
Claire sent envelope during final hospitalization.
Maya was visiting Ethan’s office because she worked with Northbridge legal transition team.
She saw Claire’s name.
She took it.
“Why?”
“I thought it contained accusation against my father.”
“And?”
“It did.”
“Where is it?”
“I burned it.”
Ethan stared.
Maya cried.
“I was twenty-nine. My dad had just sold company. There were lawsuits everywhere. I thought Claire was trying to destroy him.”
“And three years later you married me.”
“I didn't plan that.”
“Did you recognize me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell me?”
“No.”
Again.
She first approached Ethan at fundraiser because she felt guilty.
Wanted learn whether he knew.
Then relationship formed.
She told herself Claire’s dispute was finished.
Then Sophie’s old prosthetic disappeared from storage.
Maya believed evidence gone.
She relaxed.
Until Sophie found it again.
How?
Housekeeper had moved box.
Pure chance.
Then Ethan asked why Maya continued hiding rather than confess after marriage.
“Because every year made it worse.”
Same cowardice pattern.
Then Daniel found something unexpected.
Claire’s letter had digital draft.
Not burned.
Ethan read:
Ethan,
Maya Reynolds knows enough to help you.
Not “don’t trust Maya.”
Claire still believed Maya might do right.
Then:
Her father may have cheated Hannah’s estate, but I don't yet know whether he knew.
Important.
Claire had not concluded villainy.
Then:
The thing inside Sophie’s old prosthesis is not worth money by itself.
It proves where to look.
There.
NR-17 wasn't final evidence.
It was clue.
Where?
Claire wrote:
If firmware checksum starts with 4C, call Daniel Cho—
Different Daniel? We have Daniel Hart. Let's use Daniel Hart consistent.
—he’ll know the box number.
But Ethan’s current attorney Daniel Hart had never met Claire?
He had.
One consultation five years earlier.
He hadn't told Ethan because client confidentiality continued after death? Once Ethan showed letter maybe he could disclose within estate authority.
Daniel looked shaken.
“Claire came to me.”
“When?”
“Six months before she died.”
“About Northbridge?”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“I knew part.”
Why hadn't he told Ethan?
Claire instructed him not to unless a specific condition occurred:
NR-17 recovered.
Now it had.
Daniel opened archived file.
Box number:
Safe-deposit box?
No.
Evidence escrow locker at private records company.
Contents deposited by Claire.
Access required NR-17 serial plus Ethan ID.
So prosthetic component was physical key to second layer.
Then Maya whispered:
“You can’t open 417.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You knew about that too?”
Maya shook head.
“My father did.”
May you like
“How?”
“Because box 417 belonged to Hannah first.”
