Chapter 4 - The Trip Monica Bought
Grace returned home the next afternoon.
The mansion felt different immediately.
Monica’s shoes were still in the mudroom.
Her perfume lingered near the stairs.
A red scarf hung from the back of a dining chair.
Ryan wanted every trace removed.
Lydia advised him not to disturb anything that might matter as evidence.
So the house remained frozen around them.
Grace would not sleep upstairs.
Ryan made a bed for her in the library, and Rosa stayed nearby until she fell asleep.
At midnight Ryan opened his laptop.
He searched for the trip Monica had supposedly booked.
The confirmation sat in his email because Monica had copied him six days earlier.
Sun Harbor Family Resort — Turks and Caicos.
Three travelers.
Monica Carrington.
Grace Carrington.
And Ryan.
He stared at the dates.
Departure: October 19.
Five days away.
He clicked the itinerary.
His own ticket was marked pending.
Monica’s and Grace’s were paid.
That was strange.
He opened the receipt.
Payment had not come from their joint household card.
It had been charged to an account ending in 4407.
Ryan did not recognize it.
He searched his financial dashboard.
Nothing.
The next morning he called the resort.
After identity verification, the reservation agent confirmed something even stranger.
Ryan's name had been added only as an intended guest.
There was no ticket in his name.
No passport information.
No completed booking.
Monica had not booked a family vacation.
She had booked travel for herself and Grace.
Ryan’s stomach tightened.
“Were there any special requests?”
“One moment.”
Keyboard clicks.
“Yes, Mr. Carrington. The reservation requested private airport transfer and extended-stay flexibility.”
“How long?”
“The original booking was seven nights, with an option to extend for twenty-one additional nights.”
Ryan looked toward Grace, who was coloring on the library rug.
“Who made the reservation?”
“Monica Carrington.”
“And the payment?”
“I can’t provide full payment information beyond what appears on your confirmation.”
Ryan ended the call.
Rosa entered with coffee.
“What is it?”
He turned the screen toward her.
“She wasn't taking all of us.”
Rosa frowned.
“She was taking Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ryan did not know.
That frightened him.
Lydia arrived an hour later with a forensic accountant named Marcus Bell.
Marcus had previously investigated corporate embezzlement cases.
Ryan gave him permission to examine Carrington Development’s vendor records.
Claire’s old concern centered around renovation contracts, Lydia explained.
Marcus began with five vendors Claire had flagged years earlier.
By lunch, he had found a pattern.
Three of the companies had changed names.
Two no longer existed.
But payments had continued flowing to entities with nearly identical bank-routing histories.
“How much?” Ryan asked.
Marcus rotated the laptop.
“In the last thirty-two months? Approximately four-point-three million.”
Ryan stared at him.
“To fake contractors?”
“To contractors that appear to have performed limited or unverifiable work.”
“Who approved them?”
Marcus clicked.
A list appeared.
Most approvals belonged to Daniel Vale.
Ryan's chief financial officer.
His closest friend since college.
Ryan sat back.
“No.”
Lydia gave him a look.
Ryan stopped himself.
He almost said the same thing he had said about Monica.
Impossible.
Instead he asked, “What else?”
Marcus nodded once, apparently approving the correction.
“Several invoices were routed through a management company called Halcyon Residential Services.”
Ryan had never heard of it.
“Who owns Halcyon?”
“We don't know yet.”
Marcus enlarged another record.
“But the travel charge for Monica and Grace came from a corporate card issued to Halcyon.”
Silence filled the library.
Ryan’s coffee suddenly tasted metallic.
“How could Monica have that card?”
“That,” Marcus said, “is a very good question.”
Grace looked up from the floor.
“Daddy?”
Ryan softened immediately.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Is Monica coming back?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
Ryan hesitated.
Rosa watched him.
He could have offered certainty he did not possess.
Instead he told his daughter the truth.
“She won't be allowed to hurt you again.”
Grace nodded and returned to coloring.
Marcus closed several windows.
“One more thing.”
Ryan turned back.
“The Halcyon account has a secondary authorized user.”
“Who?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Someone using the name M. Pierce.”
Ryan frowned.
“Monica's maiden name is Foster.”
Lydia suddenly went still.
“What?”
Ryan noticed.
“You know that name.”
Lydia looked toward Grace, then lowered her voice.
“Claire did.”
Ryan felt his pulse jump.
“How?”
“Because the first vendor she ever questioned was registered by a woman named Marissa Pierce.”
Ryan stared at Monica’s travel receipt.
M. Pierce.
May you like
The name sat there quietly.
Like it had been waiting for someone to notice.
