Chapter 4 - The Girlfriend Who Came Back
Claire arrived at the estate carrying coffee and wearing Vincent’s favorite perfume.
He watched her enter the library through a security feed before Cole admitted her.
The meeting had been discussed with investigators. Vincent would ask ordinary questions. He would make no promises and offer no threats.
It felt strangely difficult to follow rules that protected someone who might have helped arrange his death.
Claire stopped in the doorway.
“You missed your flight.”
“So did you.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“I wasn’t going anywhere.”
“Your passport is in your handbag.”
Silence settled between them.
Vincent nodded toward the chair.
“Sit down, Claire.”
She remained standing.
“What happened at the warehouse?”
“You tell me.”
For the first time since he had known her, she looked older than the life she had presented.
The smile vanished.
“Daniel said it was empty.”
Vincent felt his anger become very still.
“What was empty?”
“The warehouse.”
“Why would he need to tell you that?”
She lowered herself into the chair.
Outside the library, a clock struck eleven.
Claire stared at the carpet.
“He told me you were moving company records. He said there were things in those records that could send both of you to prison.”
“So you photographed my meetings.”
“Yes.”
“And my security schedules.”
She nodded.
“And wrote ‘last clean chance’ beside an appointment where somebody set a fire.”
Tears slipped down her face.
“I knew what it sounded like.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I was writing down his words.”
“Why?”
She looked up.
“Because I started keeping copies of everything he asked me to do.”
Vincent said nothing.
Claire reached toward her handbag.
Cole stepped into the doorway.
“Slowly,” he said.
She froze, then withdrew a small key.
“A station locker,” she whispered. “Daniel doesn’t know.”
“Why come here?” Vincent asked.
“Because he called this morning and asked whether you’d contacted me. Then he told me to pack.”
“You could have gone to the police.”
“I should have done that a year ago.”
The answer held no excuse.
That made it harder to dismiss.
She explained that Daniel had first approached her about charitable fundraising. Later, he had offered money for information about Vincent’s business relationships.
She had accepted.
By the time she understood the larger scheme, she had also forged signatures on documents Daniel could use against her.
“He kept saying we were protecting the company from you,” she said.
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
She covered her mouth.
Vincent waited.
“Later, I liked the money.”
There it was.
An ugly truth, finally standing without perfume or silk.
“Did you know someone intended to kill me?”
“I suspected.”
His chest tightened.
She began crying harder.
He did not comfort her.
“What about the Bennetts?”
Claire looked confused.
“Who?”
“The little girl who plays in the kitchen. Her mother works here.”
“I know who they are. What about them?”
Vincent studied her face.
Before he could answer, Cole’s phone vibrated.
He read the message and looked at Vincent.
“Agents are here.”
Claire stared between them.
“You called them?”
“Yes.”
“Vincent—”
“I won’t bargain with this.”
She looked at the key in her hand.
Then she held it out.
When Agent Ortiz entered, Claire asked for an attorney.
Vincent respected her more for that than for anything she had said about love.
As they escorted her away, she stopped beside him.
“Some of it was real.”
He looked at the woman he had once imagined marrying.
“Real feelings don’t make betrayal smaller.”
She nodded.
Then she left.
An hour later, investigators opened the station locker.
Inside were cash, copied contracts, and a second phone.
One saved message from Daniel was dated two years earlier.
Bennett problem handled. Keep the widow employed. Easier to watch.
When Ortiz called, Vincent was holding Lucy’s rabbit.
May you like
He set it down carefully.
And asked her to tell Rachel in person.
