Chapter 7 - Clara’s Files
The flash drive contained financial spreadsheets.
Hundreds of them.
Most were useless without context.
A digital forensic analyst determined the files had last been modified in October 2019.
One folder was labeled M.V.
Inside were bank statements, corporate registrations, scanned checks, and screenshots of emails.
Daniel recognized one company immediately.
Holt Advisory Partners.
Gavin Holt.
Another name appeared repeatedly.
Northstar Custodial Services.
Daniel frowned.
“I know that company.”
Ruiz looked up.
“How?”
“Marissa recommended them.”
“For what?”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“My children’s trusts.”
Sarah Keane swore under her breath.
Daniel continued.
“After Clara died, the kids inherited life-insurance proceeds and part of Clara’s family assets. The money is held in managed trusts. Marissa told me our current bank charged too much. She suggested moving everything to Northstar.”
“Did you?”
“No. My accountant objected.”
“Why?”
“He said their fees were opaque.”
Ruiz made a note.
“How much money are we talking about?”
“Combined? Around $2.4 million.”
Silence.
Daniel felt sick.
“Do you think she planned to steal from my children?”
Ruiz did not answer directly.
“We think Northstar deserves a closer look.”
The flash drive also contained audio files.
Most were short recordings Clara had made after meetings with Marissa.
One began with Clara speaking alone.
October twenty-second. Marissa came to the office again. She says I owe her because I survived what happened with the foundation and she didn’t.
Then another voice.
Marissa.
Daniel’s skin crawled.
“You think you get to decide when this is over?”
Clara answered, “It ended years ago.”
“No. You made sure everyone thought I was the thief.”
“You were.”
“You covered it up.”
“I paid back the money you took.”
“And destroyed me.”
“No, Marissa. You did that.”
A chair scraped.
Marissa’s voice lowered.
“You have everything. The husband. The house. The perfect children.”
“Leave my family alone.”
“I haven’t touched your family.”
“Then why were you outside Daniel’s office?”
Silence.
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the speaker.
Ruiz said, “There are six more.”
They listened.
The fifth recording mentioned Lake Arden.
Clara: “I’ll meet you once. Public place.”
Marissa: “No lawyers.”
Clara: “If you threaten my family again, I go to the police.”
Marissa: “Bring the original ledger.”
Clara: “Why?”
Marissa: “Because I’m done letting you hold it over me.”
The sixth file had been recorded on October 31.
Two days before Clara died.
Marissa sounded angry.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Clara replied, “No. My mistake was protecting you.”
“You go to Daniel and you lose him too.”
“What exactly do you think you can tell my husband?”
A long pause.
Then Marissa said something Daniel did not understand.
“Ask him who approved the Dunley transfer.”
The recording ended.
Daniel looked at Ruiz.
“What is the Dunley transfer?”
She turned the question back.
“You tell me.”
Daniel called his company’s CFO, Anthony Reed.
Dunley had been a subcontractor on a municipal project in 2018.
Mercer Design Group paid them $310,000 over fourteen months.
The company had dissolved soon afterward.
Anthony promised to pull archived invoices.
An hour later he called back.
“Daniel, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The invoices were approved through executive authorization.”
“Mine?”
“Your digital credentials.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“I never approved anything for Dunley.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you were in London for three of the approvals.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“Who had access to my credentials?”
“In theory? Nobody.”
“In reality?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Your former executive assistant.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Paula?”
“Yes.”
Paula Merrick had resigned in 2020 and moved to Florida.
Daniel remembered Marissa once saying she knew someone from his office years earlier.
He had assumed she meant a receptionist.
Ruiz obtained Paula’s contact information.
Before police reached her, someone else did.
Paula called Daniel herself.
She was crying.
“I didn’t know Clara was dead because of it.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“What are you talking about?”
“I thought it was just money.”
“Paula—”
“I gave them access. Gavin said it was temporary.”
“Gavin Holt?”
Silence.
Then a sob.
Daniel said, “Call Detective Ruiz. Right now.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Marissa already called me.”
Daniel stood.
“What did she say?”
Paula whispered, “She said if I talk, she’ll tell everyone I helped steal from you.”
Daniel looked at Lily across the room.
“What happened to Clara?”
“I don’t know.”
“Paula.”
“I swear.”
“Then what do you know?”
Paula began crying harder.
“The night before she died, Gavin called me.”
Daniel’s heart pounded.
“What did he want?”
“He wanted Clara’s schedule.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t ask.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
May you like
Paula whispered, “Daniel, I told him where she would be.”
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