Chapter 3 - Daniel’s Version
Daniel called at 11:42 that night.
Claire was staying at a hotel in Cambridge.
She had refused Eleanor’s demand that she leave the Brookline house permanently, but she also refused to spend the night under the same roof.
Thomas had remained until Claire arranged for a locksmith to change access codes only after her attorney advised what she could legally do.
The situation was complicated because the forged deed had been recorded.
Claire now had counsel.
Amelia Park, a real-estate and civil-litigation attorney, had spent three hours reviewing documents.
Her first instruction:
“Do not assume the recorded deed means Eleanor legally owns the house. A forged instrument can be challenged.”
Her second:
“Do not destroy, alter, or hide anything.”
Her third:
“Stop discussing legal strategy with Eleanor.”
Claire liked her immediately.
Daniel’s call arrived after Amelia left.
Claire stared at the screen.
Then answered.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“Providence.”
“Why?”
“I needed to get away from Mom.”
Claire laughed once.
“You needed to get away?”
“I know how that sounds.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
He breathed heavily.
“Did Thomas show you the video?”
“Yes.”
Daniel went silent.
Claire said:
“I watched your sister pretend to be me while you stood behind her.”
“I know.”
“You told her how to angle my ID toward the camera.”
“I know.”
“You watched her sign my name.”
“I know.”
Claire’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“The Riverfront project was going to take down the company.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Mom had personally guaranteed part of the debt.”
“Still not an answer.”
“She said if the company failed, hundreds of people would lose jobs.”
“Still not an answer.”
Daniel stopped.
Claire waited.
Finally he said:
“Because I was afraid.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“What did fear authorize you to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Yet you did it.”
“Yes.”
“Did Eleanor plan it?”
“Yes.”
“Did Rebecca agree immediately?”
“No.”
Claire opened her eyes.
“So there was a discussion.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Weeks.”
Weeks.
Claire felt colder.
“While you were sleeping beside me.”
“Yes.”
“While we were discussing trying for a baby.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Claire looked toward the hotel window.
Boston lights shimmered beyond the glass.
“How did Rebecca impersonate me?”
“Mom had copies of your driver’s license from the foundation board paperwork.”
“What about the identity questions?”
“I knew the answers.”
Of course.
Her childhood address.
Her mortgage bank.
Her mother’s middle name.
Things spouses shared because intimacy depended on trust.
Daniel had converted knowledge into access.
“And the trust assignment?”
Daniel was silent.
“Daniel.”
“I wasn’t at that signing.”
“Then who was?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Claire, I’m trying to tell you the truth.”
“You started trying this morning.”
“That’s fair.”
“Why this morning?”
Another pause.
“Mom told me she was going to force you out.”
Claire sat straighter.
“She said she’d use the recorded deed and tell you the house belonged to the company.”
“It belongs to Whitmore Family Holdings.”
“Which she controls.”
“Yes.”
“So you waited until the forgery was going to be used against me personally.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire’s voice dropped.
“You were comfortable stealing the house as long as I could still live in it.”
“That’s not how I thought of it.”
“How did you think of it?”
“As collateral.”
“It was my home.”
“I know.”
“My parents’ money.”
“I know.”
“You always say that after I explain what you already knew.”
Daniel started crying.
Claire could hear it.
Six years earlier, his tears would have pulled her toward him.
Tonight she felt grief.
Not rescue.
“Who signed the second document?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it Rebecca?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“Because she refused after the first one.”
Claire frowned.
“What happened?”
“Rebecca had a panic attack after the notarization. She told Mom she wouldn’t do it again.”
“But the trust assignment was signed three weeks later.”
“Yes.”
“So someone else pretended to be me.”
“Yes.”
Claire felt nauseated.
“How many people were involved?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel whispered:
“I found the second assignment later.”
“Did you report it?”
“No.”
“Did you tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because by then I was already implicated in the first fraud.”
There it was.
Not protection.
Self-preservation.
Claire sat down.
“Who benefits from WH Legacy Partners?”
“My mother owns forty-nine percent.”
“And the rest?”
“Rebecca and me.”
Claire laughed softly in disbelief.
“So my assets were transferred into an entity owned by my husband, his mother, and his sister.”
“Yes.”
“And none of you thought I should own a percentage.”
Daniel said nothing.
“That’s incredible.”
“Claire—”
“Did you put the suitcase by the foyer?”
“What?”
“Today. Did you know your mother planned to throw me out?”
“No.”
“Did you tell her I’d be home?”
Another silence.
Claire stopped breathing.
“You did.”
“She asked when you were returning from your client meeting.”
“You gave her the time.”
“I didn’t know she was going to do that.”
“Daniel.”
“I swear.”
Claire believed that part.
And somehow it made everything worse.
Daniel had become so accustomed to giving Eleanor information that he no longer noticed when he was helping her control Claire.
Claire asked one final question.
“Are there any other forged documents?”
Daniel whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Wrong answer.
Not because it was necessarily false.
Because a husband who had helped forge one document and discovered another had surrendered the right not to know.
Claire ended the call.
Ten seconds later Daniel sent a message.
There is one person who knows who signed the second document.
Then another.
Ask Rebecca about Meredith Shaw.
Claire stared at the name.
She knew Meredith.
Everyone in Boston philanthropy did.
Meredith Shaw had been Eleanor’s closest friend for almost thirty years.
And if Daniel was telling the truth, Eleanor may have enlisted someone outside the family to impersonate Claire.
May you like
The circle was expanding.
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