Chapter 3 - The Woman in Silver
Claire almost deleted the message.
Then she opened it.
I owe you an apology. I also think Blake may be using your program. I can explain somewhere public. Bring someone you trust.
Claire read it twice.
Then she forwarded it to Elaine.
They met Tessa Wednesday afternoon at a coffee shop across from the clinic. Hannah came too, wearing the expression she reserved for contractors who underestimated her.
Tessa arrived in jeans and a camel coat.
Without the silver gown, she looked younger.
And frightened.
“I didn’t know about the ultrasound,” she said before sitting down.
Claire kept her hands around her tea.
“What did you know?”
“That you’d separated. That the pregnancy had been unexpected. That you wouldn’t accept it was over.”
Hannah leaned back.
“Convenient.”
“Yes,” Tessa said. “It was.”
She did not defend herself.
That earned Claire’s attention.
Tessa removed a folder from her bag.
“I work in donor relations for the Blackstone Community Trust. Blake approached us about a transportation initiative last spring.”
Claire looked at Elaine.
Their proposal had gone to Blackstone last spring.
“What initiative?”
“He called it Harbor Reach.”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the cup.
Their internal working title.
A name they had abandoned before submitting the final grant application.
Tessa opened the folder.
There was Claire’s route map.
Her budget structure.
A paragraph she had written at one in the morning while eating cereal over the kitchen sink.
At the bottom sat a company logo.
Halpern Community Logistics.
Claire felt cold.
“He told us the clinic had contracted him to manage transportation,” Tessa said.
Elaine shook her head.
“We have no contract with Blake Halpern.”
“I know that now.”
“How much?” Claire asked.
Tessa swallowed.
“Two hundred and forty thousand dollars.”
The coffee shop seemed to recede.
Claire heard the hiss of the espresso machine, a chair scraping tile, somebody laughing by the window.
Ordinary sounds.
An ordinary afternoon.
While her work sat inside another person’s fraud.
Tessa slid over copies of emails she had received through her job.
“I can give these to our compliance officer. I haven’t accessed anything outside my responsibilities.”
Elaine nodded.
“That’s the right next step.”
Hannah looked at Claire.
“Did Blake have your passwords?”
“He used my laptop.”
For years, Blake had watched her work at the kitchen table.
He had complained about the calls.
The late evenings.
The parents who needed something after office hours.
Apparently he had paid closer attention than she realized.
Claire turned a page.
A proposed expansion included a waterfront property she recognized from a news article.
Veyne Maritime owned it.
“Why is Roman’s terminal listed here?”
Tessa hesitated.
“Blake said he had approval from a Veyne executive.”
“Which executive?”
“Ellis Veyne.”
Elaine closed the folder.
“We need counsel.”
By evening, the clinic’s attorney had advised them to preserve records, secure accounts, and notify the trust through formal channels.
Claire changed every password she owned.
She checked her credit.
She printed bank statements.
Then she sat on her bed, too tired to take off her shoes.
Roman called at seven.
She watched his name appear.
For a moment, she wanted to let it ring.
His uncle’s name was on the documents.
She answered anyway.
“There’s something you need to know.”
Roman listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he was quiet.
“Did you know?” Claire asked.
“No.”
She wanted to believe him.
Wanting made her cautious.
“I’m sending this through the clinic’s attorney.”
“Good.”
“I don’t want you handling Blake privately.”
Another pause.
Then Roman said, “Neither do I.”
Claire stared at the folded crib.
“People say things about you.”
“I know.”
“Are they true?”
“Some things about my family are. Some things about me aren’t.”
“That’s not much of an answer.”
“It deserves a longer conversation than I can give you while you’re trying to understand what happened to your work.”
Claire appreciated the honesty and resented needing to.
“Your uncle is involved.”
“I’ll remove him from decisions affecting this project while independent counsel reviews it.”
“You can do that?”
“I can protect records and suspend his authority. I can’t decide the facts.”
After they hung up, Claire’s phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Her proposal, open on Blake’s desk.
May you like
Beneath it came a message.
You should have taken the flowers.
