Chapter 6 - Forty-Five Thousand DollarsDaniel slept less than an hour.
At dawn, he and Claire sat in the kitchen.
Forty-five thousand dollars.
Their money.
Moved without his knowledge.
Claire had opened a separate account and used the funds to retain Leonard Pierce and a forensic accountant after learning about suspicious trust expenses.
“You stole from us.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“I moved our money.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“That is stealing trust, if nothing else.”
“I planned to replace it.”
“With what?”
“My inheritance from my father.”
“You don’t have it yet.”
“I know.”
Daniel stood.
He walked to the sink.
Then back.
“You decided Mark couldn’t be trusted because he moved family money in secret.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“You did exactly what you accused him of doing.”
“No.”
Her eyes opened.
“I used our money to investigate potential theft from a child.”
“Without my consent.”
“Yes.”
Daniel pointed upstairs.
“And then you hid the child.”
“Yes.”
“At what point were you planning to let me participate in my own family?”
Claire’s face crumpled.
That hurt him.
He was still angry.
Both could be true.
“I was afraid you would tell me to stop.”
“I might have.”
“That’s why.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked away.
The trust between them had changed.
Not shattered yet.
Cracked.
At nine, Leonard Pierce joined them by video call.
He was sixty, silver-haired, precise.
He confirmed Claire had retained him.
He also confirmed the investigation had uncovered serious irregularities.
Harbor Ridge Services had received $236,800 from Emma’s trust-related maintenance accounts.
Invoices claimed:
new roofing,
foundation work,
electrical upgrades,
tree removal,
security installation.
Leonard had obtained publicly available permit records.
Most work had never been permitted.
Daniel asked:
“Could work still have happened?”
“Yes.”
“Did it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
A property inspection had been scheduled before Emma disappeared.
“Who owns Harbor Ridge?”
Leonard hesitated.
“Officially, Evelyn Mercer.”
Claire’s mother.
Claire stared at the screen.
“Why would my mother own a maintenance company?”
“Possibly as nominee.”
“For Mark?”
“That is one possibility.”
Daniel asked:
“Does Mark know you’re investigating?”
“Almost certainly.”
“Did you tell Claire to hide Emma?”
Leonard looked directly into the camera.
“No.”
Claire lowered her eyes.
Good.
Daniel needed that answer.
Leonard continued:
“I advised Claire months ago that if she had concerns regarding Emma’s welfare, she should use formal channels.”
Daniel looked at his wife.
Another detail she had not volunteered.
After the call, Claire said:
“I made a mistake.”
Daniel’s laugh was quiet.
“Which one?”
She flinched.
“I deserve that.”
“No. You deserve honesty. So do I.”
Upstairs, Emma appeared at the kitchen entrance.
They stopped arguing.
She held the framed photograph.
“The back is loose.”
Claire stood.
“What?”
Emma turned the frame around.
The cardboard backing had separated at one corner.
Something thin was tucked underneath.
Daniel carefully removed the tabs.
Behind the photograph was a folded piece of paper.
Claire stared.
“I’ve never opened that.”
The paper was written in Julia’s handwriting.
Only four lines.
Claire—
If Mark says Bellweather must be sold to pay for Emma, ask who Harbor Ridge really belongs to.
Mom knows.
I’m sorry.
Claire sat down.
Daniel reread the message.
Julia had known the company name before she died.
But Harbor Ridge, according to corporate records, had been formed two years after her death.
That made no sense.
Unless the company was not new.
Only the name was.
Leonard called back twenty minutes later.
He had searched older records.
Harbor Ridge Services had previously existed under another name.
A company formed nine years earlier.
By Julia’s husband.
Mark Vale.
And one of its earliest officers had been Claire’s mother.
Evelyn.
May you like
The fraud, if fraud existed, had not begun after Julia died.
It had begun while she was still alive.
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