Chapter 3 - The Woman Behind the Numbers
Claire woke to someone knocking.
She sat upright so quickly that pain shot through her neck.
Lily was already at the door, looking through the peephole.
“It’s Daniel.”
Behind him stood a woman in an oversized coat.
Her hair was cut unevenly. One lens of her glasses was cracked.
Claire got off the bed.
“Mara?”
The accountant began crying.
Claire reached her before she could apologize.
For several minutes, the room contained nothing but the sound of a woman finally allowing herself to be frightened.
Then Mara sat at the table while Claire found water.
Daniel remained near the door.
“How did you find us?” Claire asked.
“I called his office.” Mara nodded toward Daniel. “You gave me his card when the transfers first started.”
Claire remembered.
Just in case, she had said.
At the time, it had felt dramatic.
Now she wished she had insisted Mara use it sooner.
“What happened?”
Mara wrapped both hands around the glass.
“Tomas found duplicate invoices. Freight charges billed to companies that didn’t receive anything. Foundation grants routed through vendors with no real staff.”
“Raymond?”
“I didn’t know at first. I only knew the approvals led to his office.”
She swallowed.
“Tomas wanted to tell Adrian. Then someone searched his apartment.”
Claire’s expression changed.
“Did he report it?”
“He was afraid of what they would find in his files. Some of the records proved he’d approved payments he shouldn’t have.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Where is Tomas now?”
“With his brother in Pennsylvania. He’s willing to talk if someone can explain how to do it safely.”
Daniel wrote down the number.
Mara looked at Claire.
“The day after you met Nicholas, Raymond called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether I understood the difference between loyalty and curiosity.”
Lily muttered something vicious beneath her breath.
Mara continued.
“That evening, a car followed me home. I left through my building’s rear entrance and stayed with a friend.”
“Did Raymond know you had copies?”
“I think he suspected. I didn’t take anything I wasn’t authorized to access, but he’d never believe that mattered.”
Daniel asked careful questions.
Dates.
Names.
Who had sent which file.
Where the original records were stored.
Claire listened, feeling the outline of something larger assemble around the table.
This was not a jealous husband being manipulated by an ambitious uncle.
Money had disappeared from organizations that paid for actual care.
One canceled grant had supported transportation for children receiving treatment.
Claire remembered defending the cancellation to a hospital administrator.
She had repeated an explanation Raymond gave her.
A temporary liquidity issue.
She stood abruptly and walked to the window.
“Claire?” Lily asked.
“I helped him.”
“No,” Mara said.
“I told people there wasn’t enough money.”
“You didn’t know.”
Claire looked back.
“That doesn’t put it back.”
Daniel let the silence stand.
Then he said, “We can work on what happens next.”
At noon, Adrian called Daniel instead of Claire.
“I understand Mara Ellis may have contacted you.”
Daniel’s face became unreadable.
“Who told you that?”
“No one. An independent review identified her role. I want her to have counsel separate from mine.”
Claire listened from across the room.
Adrian continued.
“I also want Claire to know the original photographs support her account.”
Daniel looked at her.
She gave one small nod.
“You can tell her yourself,” he said, placing the phone on speaker.
Adrian’s breathing changed.
“Claire?”
“I’m here.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then: “I saw the rest.”
She closed her eyes.
“The rest was always there.”
“I know.”
“Someone just had to think I deserved to have it looked for.”
“Yes.”
She hated how much she had wanted that word.
Adrian told her about the changed London car.
He did not call it a misunderstanding.
He did not claim certainty where he had only suspicion.
“There’s no legitimate reason for Raymond to have arranged it without telling me,” he said. “The company named in the request doesn’t appear to operate at the address provided.”
Lily moved closer to Claire.
Daniel began taking notes.
“Are you telling me your uncle planned to hurt me?” Claire asked.
“I’m telling you there is a serious concern, and you deserve the facts.”
She looked down at her bare hand.
“You were going to put me on that plane.”
His answer came quietly.
“Yes.”
No defense followed.
No reminder that he thought she was guilty.
Mara watched Claire with tears still drying on her cheeks.
Claire drew a slow breath.
“Then help Daniel find the person who arranged that car.”
“I will.”
“And Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t get to be the only person investigating yourself.”
Across the city, he stood in an empty kitchen.
May you like
“I’ve hired outside counsel,” he said. “They’re contacting the appropriate authorities.”
For the first time since the photographs arrived, Claire believed he had said something that might cost him more than pride.
