Chapter 23 - CLAIRE HAD BEEN KEEPING A SECRET
Claire did not deny going to the bank.
That hurt more than denial would have.
We sat across from each other in my kitchen.
“Why?”
She stared at her hands.
“My father asked me to.”
“Your father has been dead for six years.”
“He left instructions.”
Apparently dead fathers had formed a club dedicated to ruining my blood pressure.
“What instructions?”
Claire reached into her bag.
A letter.
Samuel’s handwriting.
Not addressed to me.
Addressed to Claire.
My anger became something colder.
“You had a letter from my father?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Seven years.”
I stood.
“Audrey—”
“Seven years?”
“He made me promise.”
“Everyone made promises to my father except me.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No. Fair would have been letting me know half my life was being managed through sealed envelopes.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“He was afraid.”
“So was I.”
“He was dying.”
I stopped.
“What?”
Claire covered her mouth.
Then began crying.
“Your father knew his heart was getting worse.”
The room tilted.
“He told me he was healthy.”
“He lied.”
“Why tell you?”
“Because he knew you would stop your life to take care of him.”
That sounded exactly like Dad.
Which made me angrier.
“What was in Box 314?”
“Nothing when I got there.”
“What?”
“The bank contacted me because the instruction period had expired. Martin had already accessed the box with you.”
“So why were you photographed carrying a box?”
“Those were my father’s records.”
She handed me another folder.
Her father, Michael Bennett, had been an accountant.
For Vance Capital.
I remembered him vaguely.
Quiet man.
Terrible jokes.
He had helped Dad establish early partnerships.
Claire continued.
“My father discovered payments tied to Meridian years ago. Samuel asked him to keep independent copies.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel didn’t trust digital records.”
Of course he didn’t.
“What did you take from the bank?”
“These.”
Tax records.
Old partnership agreements.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Michael Bennett.
Another.
Samuel Vance.
A third.
Veronica Hale.
Claire whispered, “Our fathers invested in Meridian.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Before they knew what Veronica intended to do.”
“How much?”
“Dad invested five hundred thousand. Samuel invested two million.”
That explained the payment trail.
The scandal.
The half-truths.
Our fathers had helped create the thing now attacking us.
Claire wiped her face.
“They spent years trying to unwind it.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because every time I almost did, you were surviving something else.”
“That wasn’t your decision.”
“I know.”
I walked toward the window.
Betrayal came in degrees.
Derek had betrayed vows.
Evelyn had betrayed trust.
Claire had withheld truth because she believed silence protected me.
Different.
Still painful.
“Do you still have the records?”
“Yes.”
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
A crash came from the front of the house.
Glass shattered.
Derek, who had been playing with Maisie upstairs during the conversation, shouted.
“Stay here!”
The alarm screamed.
Security moved outside.
Someone had thrown a brick through the living-room window.
Wrapped around it was a message.
Claire picked it up.
Her face drained.
I read the words.
MICHAEL BENNETT STOLE FROM MERIDIAN.
Underneath:
ASK CLAIRE WHERE THE MONEY WENT.
Claire sat down.
“What money?” I asked.
She stared at the paper.
“I don’t know.”
I believed her.
Then her phone rang.
Her bank.
Claire answered.
May you like
Thirty seconds later she looked at me in horror.
Someone had deposited four million dollars into an account in her name.
