Chương 8
Claire squeezed her fingers.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“Chloe.”
“We're trying to locate her.”
“You have her number.”
“We do.”
“Her phone?”
“Currently off.”
Claire's stomach tightened despite the medication.
“Ethan?”
“Also not responding.”
“Find them.”
Daniel's face stayed controlled.
“We're working with local law enforcement.”
Claire hated the phrase because it sounded slow.
“What about my parents?”
“Your mother left the hospital.”
“I know.”
“Your father was contacted by investigators and declined to answer questions without an attorney.”
“That sounds like him.”
“Do you know where Chloe and Ethan were staying after the wedding?”
“The Pierre.”
Maya shook her head.
“They checked out.”
Claire turned.
“How do you know?”
“I called.”
“Why?”
“Because unlike federal agents, I am allowed to be annoying without procedure.”
Daniel ignored that.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“And?”
“They checked out shortly after midnight.”
Claire looked at the clock on the recovery room wall.
It was nearly four in the morning.
“Together?”
“The desk wouldn't say.”
Daniel pulled out his phone and stepped away.
Claire watched him make the call.
Maya lowered her voice.
“I also called Chloe's sister.”
“You know her?”
“No.”
“How did you get her number?”
“LinkedIn is a monument to oversharing.”
Claire stared at her.
“That is not how LinkedIn works.”
“Her sister owns a Pilates studio.”
“That explains even less.”
“Instagram did the rest.”
Claire almost asked for the full explanation, then decided she did not want it.
“What did she say?”
“Chloe hasn't contacted her.”
“Does she know anything?”
“She knows Ethan is a jerk.”
“That narrows nothing.”
“She also said Chloe called her last week and asked whether she could stay with her for a while after the wedding.”
Claire went still.
“Why?”
“She wouldn't say.”
“Did her sister think she was leaving Ethan?”
“She thinks Chloe was scared of him.”
Claire looked toward Daniel.
He was still on the phone.
“She married him anyway.”
Maya's expression hardened.
“People do things that don't make sense when they're scared.”
Claire thought of her mother stepping into the elevator.
“Yes.”
Maya leaned against the railing.
“Chloe's sister also said something weird.”
“What?”
“Chloe asked whether deleted cloud files could be recovered.”
Claire stared at her.
“When?”
“Five days ago.”
That was not random.
Chloe had known something before the wedding.
Claire remembered the way she had looked at the transfer folder in the penthouse.
Not confused.
Not surprised.
Terrified.
Daniel returned.
“Police are checking the hotel security footage and transportation records.”
Claire said, “Chloe may have been collecting documents before tonight.”
He looked at her.
Maya explained the call to Chloe's sister.
Daniel wrote down the information.
“Can you send me the sister's contact information?”
Maya folded her arms.
“Will you tell me what you're doing with it?”
“No.”
“Then I will send it because Claire asked me to cooperate with you.”
“I didn't.”
“You were going to.”
Claire sighed.
“Please send it.”
Maya did.
Daniel looked toward Claire.
“I need to ask you something difficult.”
“That has been the theme.”
“Did Chloe ever have access to your apartment without you present?”
Claire thought.
“Twice.”
“When?”
“Wedding planning.”
“Specific dates?”
“I can check the building logs.”
“What was she doing there?”
“Meeting vendors.”
“Alone?”
“Once.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly.
“When?”
“Maybe three weeks ago.”
“Did she have access to your office?”
“Yes, technically.”
“Anything unusual afterward?”
Claire started to say no.
Then she stopped.
Her desk drawer.
It had been sticking for months.
Three weeks ago she had come home and found it fully removed from the runners.
She assumed Rosa had tried to fix it.
Claire had pushed it back into place and forgotten about it.
“What?”
Daniel saw her face change.
“My office drawer was pulled out.”
“What was in it?”
“Nothing important.”
“Define important.”
“Old company papers.”
“What kind?”
“Acquisition records.”
Daniel waited.
Claire's pulse picked up.
“Bank documents.”
“What documents?”
She looked at Maya.
Maya understood first.
“The closing statement.”
Claire nodded.
When the company sold, the final acquisition documents listed every account that received proceeds.
One account had been opened in Claire's name years earlier and then closed before the sale.
She had questioned it at the time because it appeared in historical compliance records.
Her father had told her it was an old college account.
She had accepted the explanation because the balance was zero.
Daniel asked, “Would those records identify accounts connected to your parents?”
“Possibly.”
“Could Chloe have photographed them?”
“Yes.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“She wasn't looking for my apartment paperwork.”
Maya said, “She was looking for the money trail.”
Daniel's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
Claire saw it immediately.
“What?”
He did not answer quickly enough.
“Daniel.”
“We have a location on Chloe's phone.”
“Where?”
“Brooklyn.”
“Where in Brooklyn?”
He looked at her.
“Near the waterfront in Red Hook.”
Claire pushed herself up despite the pain.
“Go.”
“Claire.”
“Go find her.”
Daniel stepped toward the door.
Then his phone rang again.
He answered.
“Reeves.”
Claire watched his face.
He said very little.
“Yes.”
“When?”
Another pause.
“Secure the vehicle.”
Claire's fingers went cold.
He hung up.
Maya straightened.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“They found Ethan's car.”
“Where?”
“Red Hook.”
“Is Chloe there?”
“No.”
“Ethan?”
“No.”
“What was in the car?”
Daniel hesitated.
Claire's voice sharpened.
“What?”
“Blood.”
Claire stared at Daniel until the word stopped sounding like language.
“Whose?”
“We don't know yet.”
Maya moved closer to the bed.
“How much blood?”
Daniel's expression tightened.
“Enough that they're treating the car as a potential crime scene.”
Claire swung her legs toward the edge of the bed and immediately gasped.
Pain tore across her incision.
Maya caught her shoulders.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going.”
“No, you are not.”
“Chloe may be hurt.”
“You had abdominal surgery less than an hour ago.”
Claire tried to push herself upright again.
Her body answered with a wave of dizziness so strong the room tilted.
May you like
Maya forced her gently back against the pillows.
“Your organs were just introduced to fluorescent lighting.”
