Chương 8
Claire watched his expression remain professional.
That made the moment worse.
“What does it say?” Daniel asked.
Martinez looked toward Margaret.
“Ms. Ellis, I’ll show it to you without handing it around.”
He carried it over.
Margaret adjusted her glasses, which had been hanging from a thin chain beneath her cardigan.
Claire had not noticed them until then.
Margaret read slowly.
Her mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Claire asked.
Margaret pointed.
“A notice confirming a transfer.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
Claire closed her eyes briefly.
It was the number on the bank statement.
Margaret continued reading.
“The destination account ends in the same four digits.”
Ryan stood.
“I’m leaving.”
Martinez straightened.
“You’re not under arrest at this time.”
Ryan reached for his phone.
Claire stepped toward him.
“Don’t you dare.”
He looked at her.
“I’m not staying here while everybody decides I’m guilty.”
“You admitted the account was yours.”
“I said I controlled it.”
“That’s not better.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
Daniel moved closer.
Ryan looked between them.
“I’m not doing this with you two.”
Martinez stepped slightly into the space between the men.
“Nobody is stopping you from leaving unless circumstances change.”
Ryan nodded.
“Good.”
He headed toward the doorway.
Margaret’s voice stopped him.
“Was there ever a business emergency?”
Ryan froze.
Claire stared at Margaret.
Margaret looked tired now, but clear.
“Was that part true?”
Ryan turned slowly.
His face had lost its defensive sharpness.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
He hesitated.
“The company was in trouble.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“About a hundred forty by December.”
Claire frowned.
“You said two hundred.”
“It got worse.”
Margaret looked at the bank statements.
“How much of my money went into the company?”
Ryan glanced at Martinez.
The officer said nothing.
Ryan swallowed.
“Most of it.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Most.”
Ryan looked away.
Claire saw it.
Margaret saw it too.
“What didn’t?”
He remained silent.
Margaret’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Ryan.”
He closed his eyes.
Claire felt something cold move through her.
“What didn’t go to the company?”
Ryan opened his eyes.
“I’m leaving.”
Margaret stood too quickly.
Elena caught her arm.
“No.”
Margaret ignored her.
“Where did the rest go?”
Ryan backed toward the hall.
Claire stepped in front of him.
He stopped.
“Move.”
“Answer her.”
“I don’t have to.”
“No, you don’t.”
Claire’s voice shook.
“But if you walk out that door without answering, whatever is left between us walks out with you.”
His face went still.
Daniel looked at Claire.
Margaret lowered herself back onto the stool.
The room seemed to contract around Ryan.
He stared at Claire for several seconds.
Then he looked at his mother’s empty stool.
Diane’s purse sat open on the island behind him.
“There was another account.”
Claire’s pulse jumped.
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
“You already said that.”
“Not the business account.”
Margaret whispered, “How much?”
Ryan’s jaw worked.
“Thirty-two thousand.”
Claire felt as if the floor tilted.
“What was it for?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was going to pay it back.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
Claire took one step closer.
“What did you spend thirty-two thousand dollars of my mother’s money on?”
Ryan looked at her then.
Something in his expression made her wish, for one irrational second, that he would lie.
“A woman.”
The word barely carried.
Claire did not understand it immediately.
Daniel did.
His face hardened.
Margaret looked from Ryan to Claire.
Ryan continued before anyone asked.
“It wasn’t all for her.”
Claire’s ears rang.
“What does that mean?”
“Hotels.”
He swallowed.
“Trips.”
“How long?”
He looked toward the windows.
“Claire.”
“How long?”
“About a year.”
She stared at him.
Her mind produced useless details.
A restaurant receipt from Nashville.
A conference in Phoenix.
Three Saturdays he claimed a client could only meet on weekends.
The new shirts.
The way he had started showering before dinner on Thursdays.
None of those things had seemed like clues at the time.
They had simply been marriage.
“Who?”
Ryan shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Claire laughed.
The sound surprised her.
“It matters to me.”
“I’m not dragging someone else into this.”
“You stole from my mother to pay for an affair.”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
Margaret made a weary sound.
“Everything with you seems to require that sentence.”
Ryan looked at her.
For once, he had no answer.
Claire’s hands had gone numb.
She looked down at them.
Her wedding ring caught the kitchen light.
She twisted it once.
It did not come off easily.
Her knuckle had thickened over fifteen years.
The tiny physical resistance almost broke her.
She stopped trying.
Martinez spoke quietly.
“Ms. Ellis, we need to continue your statement.”
Claire nodded without looking at him.
“In a minute.”
Ryan moved toward the front door again.
Claire stepped aside this time.
He stopped beside her.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
His eyes were wet.
That hurt more than if he had been cold.
“For which part?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came.
Claire nodded once.
“Exactly.”
Ryan walked out.
A few seconds later, the front door closed.
Claire stood motionless.
Daniel came near but did not touch her.
Elena checked Margaret’s blood pressure again.
Martinez walked toward the dining room to speak with Bell.
Life continued around Claire in small professional movements.
A zipper opened.
A pen clicked.
The air conditioner came on.
Margaret watched her daughter’s face.
“Claire.”
Claire turned.
Margaret’s eyes had softened.
“I’m sorry.”
The apology made Claire angry.
“No.”
“I am.”
“No, you don’t apologize to me for what he did.”
“I’m not.”
Margaret looked at the wedding ring Claire had been twisting.
“I’m apologizing because I saw more than I said.”
Claire went still.
“What did you see?”
Margaret looked toward the doorway Ryan had disappeared through.
“Three months ago, I saw him with her.”
Claire felt the words before she understood them.
“Who?”
Margaret looked down at her own hands.
“I don’t know her name.”
“Where?”
May you like
“At the hotel near the medical center.”
Claire’s face changed.
