Chapter 7 - The Locked Office)
Bennett Home Medical Supply looked ordinary when Claire arrived at 2:46.
Delivery truck by loading dock.
Reception phone ringing.
Warehouse doors open.
Employees carrying boxes.
Nothing about the building suggested that someone might be trying to steal control of it.
Laura parked beside Thomas.
Claire refused the wheelchair the hospital had offered and entered using crutches.
The receptionist, Maria, stood when she saw her.
"Claire, what happened?"
"I'm okay."
Maria looked toward the executive corridor.
"Daniel's here."
Thomas stopped.
"Where?"
"Your office."
Claire's chest tightened.
"Did he say why?"
"He said you were hospitalized."
Claire closed her eyes.
Of course.
Maria continued.
"He told us you had a psychiatric emergency."
Laura swore.
Thomas asked, "Who else is with him?"
"Mr. Graves."
Claire looked at Thomas.
"Who?"
Thomas's face went pale.
"Attorney for the buyer."
Daniel had gone directly from the prenatal clinic to Claire's office.
He had not changed strategy.
He had accelerated it.
Claire moved down the hallway.
Thomas caught her arm carefully.
"Don't go in alone."
"I'm not."
Laura stayed beside her.
The office door was closed.
Claire tried the handle.
Locked.
Her office.
Locked from inside.
Thomas knocked.
"Daniel."
No answer.
Claire knocked harder.
"Open the door."
Movement inside.
Then Daniel's voice.
"Claire?"
He sounded surprised.
Not frightened.
"You're supposed to be at the hospital."
Claire said, "Open my door."
A pause.
The lock clicked.
Daniel stood inside beside a gray-haired attorney Claire recognized from acquisition meetings.
Mr. Graves looked uncomfortable.
Several folders covered Claire's desk.
Her computer was on.
Daniel looked at the crutches.
"You shouldn't be here."
Claire ignored him.
"Get out."
Graves stepped forward.
"Mrs. Bennett, I was told you had authorized an emergency negotiation."
"You were lied to."
Daniel sighed.
"Claire."
She turned on him.
"Don't."
He glanced toward Laura.
"So she got to you."
Laura moved forward.
Thomas stopped her.
Claire looked at her computer.
"What were you accessing?"
"Company files."
"You have no authority."
"I am your emergency representative."
"Not unless I'm medically incapacitated."
Daniel smiled slightly.
"That process is ongoing."
Claire stared at him.
"Dr. Morgan rejected it."
The smile disappeared.
Only for a second.
Then returned.
"One doctor."
Thomas stepped in.
"The board meeting is canceled."
"You can't cancel it."
"I can as corporate secretary."
Daniel opened a folder.
"Not if Claire is unable to perform her role."
Claire saw a signed letter.
Medical stationery.
A physician's name she did not recognize.
Dr. Elliot Warren.
Psychiatry.
Her stomach dropped.
"What is that?"
Daniel did not hand it to her.
"An evaluation."
"I have never met that doctor."
"You had a telehealth assessment."
"No."
"Yesterday."
"No."
Daniel looked at Graves.
Then Thomas.
"You see the problem."
Claire felt Laura grab her hand.
Daniel continued.
"She does not remember."
Thomas stepped around the desk and snatched the letter.
Daniel reached for it.
Thomas held it away.
"This says she was evaluated for forty-three minutes."
"Yes."
"She was in this office all afternoon yesterday."
Claire looked at the time.
3:10 p.m.
Thomas stared at Daniel.
"She was in a finance meeting with me from two-thirty until four."
Daniel said nothing.
Claire almost smiled.
A real witness.
A calendar.
A room full of people.
The false psychiatric evaluation could not survive five minutes.
Graves closed his briefcase.
"I was not informed there was a dispute about authenticity."
Daniel turned.
"Sit down."
Graves looked at him.
"Excuse me?"
"We have an agreement."
"We have no agreement without authorized seller consent."
Daniel's mask cracked again.
"She consented."
Claire said, "I did not."
Graves looked at Claire.
"Then I am leaving."
Daniel stepped toward the door.
Laura moved between him and Graves.
"Don't even try."
Daniel stopped.
For a moment, everyone in the office saw him differently.
Not persuasive.
Not composed.
Not protective.
Cornered.
Graves walked out.
Daniel turned toward Claire.
"You think this helps you?"
"It helps me understand you."
"You understand nothing."
"I understand you forged a psychiatric evaluation."
His voice dropped.
"Be careful."
Claire looked directly at him.
"No."
It was the smallest word she had spoken all day.
It felt enormous.
"No more being careful so you stay comfortable."
Daniel stared at her.
Thomas held up the letter.
"This goes to counsel and police."
Daniel laughed.
"You think a letter proves anything?"
"No," Claire said. "But the doctor's records will."
Something changed in Daniel's eyes.
Claire saw it.
That doctor was a vulnerability.
Daniel grabbed his jacket from the chair.
"Fine."
Laura stepped aside.
He walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he stopped beside Claire.
His voice was barely audible.
"If you destroy this family, don't pretend you did it for the baby."
Claire did not answer.
Daniel left.
Thomas immediately called corporate counsel.
Laura photographed every document.
Claire sat behind her desk.
Her leg throbbed.
Her head hurt.
But she felt clearer than she had in months.
Then Maria appeared at the door.
"Claire?"
"Yes?"
"There's a delivery downstairs."
"From who?"
"Dr. Elliot Warren."
Everyone in the room stopped.
Maria held up a large envelope.
"It requires your signature."
Claire looked toward the empty hallway where Daniel had disappeared.
Then she looked at the forged psychiatric letter.
"Bring it here."
Inside the envelope was not another evaluation.
There was a handwritten note.
Mrs. Bennett,
May you like
I believe my credentials have been used without my authorization.
Please contact me before your husband does.
