Chương 10
“She doesn’t want the security detail.”
A pause.
“No.”
Another pause.
“No, that is not the same thing.”
Mara looked at Claire.
“She wants them gone.”
Claire folded her arms.
Mara listened again.
Then she said, “Your debt is not a guardianship.”
Claire looked down.
The sentence landed somewhere tender.
Mara ended the call.
“They’re leaving.”
“He agreed?”
“He complained first.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“That’s acceptable.”
Mara returned to her room.
Claire locked the exterior door anyway.
Then she changed into the hotel robe because she had no clean clothes.
The robe was too large.
The sleeves covered half her hands.
She stood in the bathroom brushing her teeth with a disposable toothbrush from the front desk and caught sight of herself in the mirror.
Her eyes were swollen.
Her hair looked worse than before.
She did not look transformed.
She looked exhausted.
That was oddly reassuring.
People did not become new selves in one night.
They became tired versions of themselves who had made one different decision.
At 1:17 a.m., Vanessa messaged again.
Are you awake?
Claire was sitting cross-legged on the bed watching a home renovation program with the volume low.
Yes.
Can I call?
Claire hesitated.
Then she pressed the phone icon herself.
Vanessa answered on the first ring.
Her voice sounded small.
“I’m sorry.”
“You already said that.”
“I know.”
Claire muted the television.
In the background, a contractor silently tore apart a kitchen.
Vanessa breathed unevenly.
“My sister says I shouldn’t talk to you.”
“Your sister may be right.”
“She says anything I say could end up in court.”
“She may also be smart.”
Vanessa gave a miserable little laugh.
“She’s an elementary school librarian.”
“Those people see everything.”
For a second, neither woman spoke.
Then Vanessa said, “I met Ethan at a development conference.”
Claire waited.
“He didn’t flirt at first.”
“I don’t need those details.”
“No.”
Vanessa swallowed audibly.
“I mean, I need you to understand that he didn’t start by telling me he was leaving you.”
Claire looked at the dark window.
“Then what did he start with?”
“He talked about you.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“He said you were brilliant before your father died.”
The word before hurt.
“He said grief changed you.”
Claire looked at the hotel carpet.
“He said he loved you but had become more like a caretaker.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Of course.
It was perfect.
Noble enough to make betrayal look like exhaustion.
“He said you sometimes accused him of hiding things because you got confused.”
Claire opened her eyes.
“Did he give examples?”
“Yes.”
“What examples?”
Vanessa went quiet.
“Vanessa.”
“The trust.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“He told you about the trust?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly?”
“He said your father left a financial mess and you kept insisting there should be more money than there was.”
Claire’s grip tightened on the phone.
“What else?”
“He said you sometimes became obsessed with old property documents.”
Claire looked toward the folder on the desk.
“I never saw the property documents.”
“I know that now.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
Claire stood.
“I didn’t become obsessed with them because I never had them.”
Vanessa’s breathing went quiet.
“Then why would he say that?”
Claire already knew.
Because Ethan had needed a story in advance.
A reason to dismiss her if she ever found what had been hidden.
“He was building an explanation for me before I knew I needed one.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Claire walked to the window.
A few cars moved along the road below.
“Did he ever say I was dangerous?”
“No.”
“Suicidal?”
“No.”
“Delusional?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Claire’s pulse increased.
“What?”
“He used that word once.”
“When?”
“About two months ago.”
“What did he say?”
“That you had started asking strange questions about your father’s land again and might become delusional if somebody encouraged you.”
Claire’s free hand went cold.
“What strange questions?”
“I don’t know.”
“I wasn’t asking any.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I’m sorry.”
Claire pressed two fingers against her temple.
“Who was supposed to encourage me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he name anyone?”
“No.”
Then Vanessa inhaled sharply.
“Wait.”
Claire stayed silent.
“He asked if I’d ever heard of Dominic Kane.”
Claire’s skin prickled.
“When?”
“Maybe three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“He said there were people who might try to manipulate you against him.”
Claire turned from the window.
Three weeks ago.
Long before tonight.
Long before her call.
“How did Ethan know Dominic might contact me?”
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“I thought you already knew.”
“Knew what?”
“He said Dominic had been trying to reach you.”
Claire stopped moving.
The hotel room seemed suddenly too quiet.
“When did he say that?”
“Last week.”
Claire stared at the connecting door to Mara’s room.
The attempt to contact her had not ended four months ago.
It had continued.
And Ethan had known.
“Vanessa, did he say how?”
“He said someone connected to Kane had been asking questions about you.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I am.”
Claire heard movement on Vanessa’s end, a drawer opening, then closing.
“He mentioned a woman.”
“Mara?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember the name.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Vanessa made a frustrated sound.
“Something with an E.”
Claire’s eyes opened.
“Elise?”
Silence.
Then Vanessa whispered, “Yes.”
Claire was already walking toward the connecting door.
“Elise Morton?”
“That’s it.”
Claire knocked hard enough to wake anyone.
Mara opened the door almost immediately, fully dressed except for her shoes.
Claire held up one finger and put the call on speaker.
“Vanessa, tell Mara what you just told me.”
Vanessa repeated it.
Mara’s face changed before she could hide it.
Not surprise.
Alarm.
“How did Ethan know Elise’s name?” Mara asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Did he say he had spoken to her?”
“No.”
“Did he say she contacted Claire?”
“He said she was trouble.”
Mara turned away and reached for her phone.
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
Mara did not answer at first.
She called someone.
No response.
She tried again.
May you like
“Mara.”
Mara lowered the phone.
