Chapter 5 - The House Wasn’t Safe
Claire ran upstairs so fast she nearly fell.
Emma was still sleeping.
Maria sat in a chair outside the bedroom, knitting.
“No one has been here,” she said.
Claire showed Detective Blake the photograph.
His face hardened.
He examined the window.
Locked.
The terrace door.
Locked.
Then he looked upward.
A tiny black dot sat inside the air-conditioning vent.
A camera.
Richard ordered the entire estate searched.
They found three more.
One in Emma’s playroom.
One in Claire’s bedroom.
One inside Richard’s study.
Vanessa had lived in the house for nine years.
Richard had never looked afraid of his own walls before.
Now he did.
“Get everyone out,” Blake said.
Richard resisted.
“This is my home.”
“It’s also compromised.”
They moved to a private floor of the Hermitage Hotel under assumed reservation names.
Vanessa’s attorney immediately filed for emergency access to the marital residence, claiming Richard was illegally excluding his wife.
Maya looked at the filing over dinner.
“She’s doing two things.”
Richard scowled. “Annoying me and billing legal fees?”
“She’s creating a public record that you’re unstable.”
Claire understood.
“If Richard looks irrational, Vanessa can challenge decisions he makes about the company.”
Maya nodded.
“And possibly his role as trustee of Emma’s shares.”
Daniel pushed away his plate.
“She wants control.”
“She wants leverage,” Maya corrected.
Richard looked at Daniel.
“She already has leverage.”
The $6.5 million loan hung over the table.
Grant Mercer had not been arrested.
He claimed Lucas Pike had asked for a ride to the airport because his truck was having mechanical problems.
Police had no proof he knew about the canopy.
Grant also denied knowing anything about Northstar Holdings.
Richard called an emergency Hale Meridian board meeting.
Maya advised against it.
“I won’t sit here while my company is being robbed.”
“Then don’t walk into a meeting angry and unprepared.”
“It’s my company.”
“That sentence is precisely why Olivia warned Claire about you.”
Richard went quiet.
Claire expected anger.
Instead he looked wounded.
“My daughter thought I was blind.”
Daniel said, “You were.”
Richard looked at him.
“So were you.”
The board meeting occurred the next morning in Hale Meridian’s downtown headquarters.
Claire did not belong there.
But Richard insisted she attend.
“She represents Emma’s interests.”
Grant objected immediately.
“She’s a nanny.”
Claire looked at him.
“I’m a pediatric trauma nurse.”
“And now apparently a corporate investigator.”
“I’d prefer not to be.”
Vanessa entered five minutes late.
Red nails.
Dark navy suit.
No diamond ring.
Richard noticed.
“So did the police,” Claire whispered.
Vanessa sat across from her.
“You’ve had an exciting week.”
Claire said nothing.
Grant presented financial statements showing Hale Meridian healthy and profitable.
Maya asked about payments to four subcontracting firms.
Grant smiled.
“Ordinary construction expenses.”
“Two firms share the same registered agent.”
“Not unusual.”
“They also share a mailing address with Northstar Holdings.”
Silence.
Richard turned toward Grant.
“You told me you’d never heard of Northstar.”
“I haven’t.”
“Your company paid twelve million dollars to entities registered at the same office.”
Grant’s confidence wavered.
Vanessa intervened.
“This is becoming a circus.”
Richard leaned back.
“No. A circus has better accounting.”
Then Grant produced his own documents.
“I was hoping not to do this.”
He passed copies around.
Claire saw bank-transfer authorizations bearing Olivia’s electronic signature.
Millions routed through the same firms Maya had questioned.
Grant said quietly, “If there was embezzlement, Olivia may have been involved.”
Daniel stood.
“That’s a lie.”
Grant looked almost sympathetic.
“Her credentials approved the transfers.”
“Credentials can be stolen,” Claire said.
Vanessa smiled.
“You seem very certain.”
“I knew Olivia.”
“So did her husband. He just admitted she was mentally unstable before her death.”
Daniel stared.
“I never said unstable.”
Vanessa opened a folder.
“Your sworn statement to the insurance carrier says Olivia exhibited ‘increasing paranoia and emotional volatility.’”
Richard turned on Daniel.
“You wrote that?”
Daniel looked devastated.
“The insurance company asked about her mental state.”
“And you helped them call my daughter crazy?”
“I was trying to get the claim processed.”
Vanessa watched Claire absorb it.
Power shifted around the table.
Olivia was no longer only victim.
On paper, she was becoming suspect.
Then Grant placed one last document in front of Richard.
A transfer authorization for $2.8 million.
Executed two days before Olivia died.
Recipient:
BENNETT CONSULTING SERVICES.
Claire stared at her own surname.
Grant folded his hands.
“Perhaps Ms. Bennett would like to tell us why Olivia transferred almost three million dollars to a company bearing her name.”
Every face turned toward Claire.
“I have never owned a consulting company.”
Vanessa tilted her head.
“But somebody using your identity emptied Olivia’s safe-deposit box.”
Claire felt the trap closing.
Grant continued.
“And now you possess a letter conveniently saying Olivia trusted you more than her husband.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
For the first time, suspicion appeared in his face.
May you like
Vanessa smiled.
“Maybe the woman investigating everyone else should finally be investigated herself.”
