Chương 8
“Claire, don’t touch anything else in this folder for a minute.”
“I already opened it.”
“That’s fine.”
Naomi reached for her phone.
“I want a forensic copy made before anyone starts forwarding individual files around.”
Claire stared at the document.
The signature was good.
That was the part that frightened her most.
It had the slight rightward slant of her real signature and the abbreviated loop she used when she was tired.
Whoever had created it had not guessed.
They had copied.
The memory of October seventh returned in fragments.
Ryan driving her home.
The clinic bracelet still around her wrist.
A heating pad across her lower abdomen.
His voice telling her to sleep.
The bitter taste of medication.
At some point, she had woken on the couch and found him sitting nearby with her laptop open.
She had asked what he was doing.
Taxes, he had said.
Then he had closed the screen.
Claire pressed both hands over her face.
Naomi lowered her phone.
“What?”
“I saw him with my laptop that day.”
Naomi went still.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Did you give him permission to use it?”
“I don’t remember.”
“That matters.”
“I was half asleep.”
“That also matters.”
Claire stood too quickly and had to grip the table again.
“I feel stupid.”
Naomi’s expression hardened.
“No.”
“I gave him access to everything.”
“You gave your husband ordinary access to your life.”
“I knew he resented the money.”
“That is not the same as consenting to fraud.”
Claire looked away.
She did not want absolution.
Not yet.
Absolution felt too clean.
Her phone buzzed again.
Brooke.
One message.
Outside.
Claire called immediately.
Brooke answered on the second ring, breathing hard.
“Where are you?”
“In my car.”
“Drive.”
“I am.”
Claire heard an engine rev.
“Do they know you took anything?”
“I didn’t take the laptop.”
“You said you copied the folder.”
“I copied it to my drive.”
“Does Ryan know?”
A pause.
“Maybe.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“What does maybe mean?”
“He came upstairs while I was doing it.”
Naomi stood.
“Put her on speaker.”
Claire did.
Brooke’s breathing filled the room.
“What happened?” Naomi asked.
“Who’s that?”
“Naomi.”
“Oh.”
Brooke sounded instantly less confident.
Naomi did not soften.
“Did Ryan see you access the laptop?”
“No.”
“Did he see the laptop open?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ask what you were doing?”
“He asked why I was in Dad’s office.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said I was looking for my charger.”
Naomi looked at Claire.
“That’s not terrible.”
Brooke gave a short, nervous laugh.
“Thank you, counselor.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Claire almost smiled despite herself.
Then Brooke’s voice changed.
“He knows something’s wrong.”
“How?”
“Because Dad started yelling about the canceled wire and Ryan said Claire must have found the Meridian account.”
Claire felt a chill.
“He said the account name?”
“Yes.”
“Exactly?”
“Yes.”
That mattered.
Ryan had just connected himself to an account Claire had never discussed with Brooke.
Naomi picked up a pen.
“What else did he say?”
Brooke hesitated.
“Brooke.”
“I’m trying to remember.”
“Don’t improve it.”
“What?”
“Don’t make it cleaner for us.
Just tell us what you actually remember.”
Brooke exhaled.
“Dad said, ‘She can’t know about Northstar.’
Then Ryan told him to shut up.
Mom started crying.
Dad told her to stop making noise.”
Claire looked down at the dark wood grain of the table.
“Was the condo for Grant?”
Brooke did not answer.
“Brooke?”
“No.”
Claire felt something tighten inside her.
“Who was it for?”
“I think Ryan.”
The room became very quiet.
Claire’s first response was absurdly domestic.
Ryan hated mountain properties.
He complained about snow tires.
He said second homes were maintenance disguised as relaxation.
Then another possibility arrived.
“For Ryan alone?”
Brooke swallowed audibly.
“I don’t know.”
That was not true.
Claire heard it immediately.
“Brooke.”
“I said I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
“No, I know pieces.”
“Then give me the pieces.”
Naomi raised a hand, warning Claire to slow down.
Claire ignored her.
Brooke spoke after several seconds.
“There’s a woman.”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the phone.
Naomi closed her eyes briefly.
Claire did not.
“What woman?”
“I don’t know her.”
“Name.”
“I only saw initials in a couple messages.”
“Which initials?”
“EM.”
Claire searched her memory automatically.
Work contacts.
Friends.
Neighbors.
Ryan’s clients.
The initials meant nothing.
“Why do you think the condo was for her?”
“Because I saw a message from Ryan months ago.”
“What did it say?”
Brooke hesitated again.
“Something about finally having a place where nobody could tell them how to live.”
Claire’s stomach rolled.
“Who was he messaging?”
“I don’t know.”
“Brooke.”
“I don’t know because I only saw the notification preview.”
Claire sat.
The chair felt too hard.
Naomi mouthed, Breathe.
Claire hated that she needed the reminder.
She inhaled slowly.
The baby moved once beneath her ribs.
“Did Ryan ever tell you he was seeing someone else?”
“No.”
“Did you ever see him with someone?”
“No.”
“Then don’t call her an affair.”
“I didn’t.”
“You said there’s a woman.”
“There is a woman.”
“That does not tell me what she is.”
Brooke went quiet.
Claire heard traffic through the phone.
A horn.
Then a turn signal.
Ordinary morning sounds.
“I’m sorry,” Brooke said.
Claire almost snapped at her.
Instead she looked at Naomi.
Naomi shook her head slightly.
Not now.
“Where are you going?” Claire asked.
“My apartment.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“If Ryan thinks you copied those files, don’t go somewhere he knows you’ll be.”
Brooke made a nervous sound.
“I’m not exactly in witness protection.”
“No, you’re a person who just took evidence from your father’s office while both he and Ryan are panicking.”
That silenced her.
Naomi leaned toward the phone.
“Go somewhere public and stay there until Detective Ortiz contacts you.”
Brooke groaned.
“I knew the lawyer was going to ruin my morning.”
“You already ruined your morning.”
“Fair.”
Claire heard the faint tremor underneath Brooke’s sarcasm.
“Brooke.”
May you like
“Yeah?”
“Why did you copy the folder in the first place?”
