Chapter 10 - Friday)
Friday arrived under a gray sky.
The day Julian had planned everything around.
Instead of controlling Claire’s future, he spent the morning surrounded by attorneys.
Instead of sending Lily to Beatrice’s house, Claire ate pancakes with her daughter in Marcus’s apartment.
Instead of signing control of Claire’s fortune into his own hands, Julian watched investigators remove boxes from Carter Strategic Holdings.
But the danger had not ended.
Because Elena Voss had disappeared.
Police reached her condominium Thursday afternoon.
Empty.
Her car remained in the underground garage.
Her passport was gone.
So were several suitcases.
Airport checks showed no departure under her name.
At 10:20 Friday morning, Marcus entered his kitchen and found Claire standing at the window.
“You didn’t sleep.”
“Neither did you.”
“I slept.”
“For twelve minutes on the couch.”
“Counts.”
Claire almost smiled.
Lily sat at the table drawing a house.
Not their mansion.
A smaller house.
Yellow windows.
Three people holding hands outside.
Claire.
Lily.
Marcus.
Claire noticed Marcus looking.
“She asked if you can live with us forever.”
Marcus sat beside Lily.
“That sounds expensive.”
Lily grinned.
Claire’s face softened.
It was the first easy moment they had shared.
Then Marcus’s phone rang.
Officer Davis.
He answered.
“Tell me.”
“We found the music box.”
Marcus stood.
Claire looked over.
“Where?”
Davis continued.
“In Nathan Vale’s car.”
Marcus stared.
“Nathan took it?”
“No. Security footage shows someone placed a bag near his vehicle while he was inside the terminal.”
“Who?”
“We’re working on it.”
Claire walked closer.
Marcus put the call on speaker.
Davis said, “The memory cards inside the box were destroyed.”
Claire nodded.
“Expected.”
“But there was something else.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Claire frowned.
“I didn’t put a key in there.”
“What kind?”
“Small safe-deposit key.”
Marcus and Claire looked at each other.
Davis continued.
“It has a bank identifier.”
“Which bank?”
“Lake Shore Federal.”
Marcus knew it.
Their father had used that bank.
Claire said, “Julian doesn’t bank there.”
“Apparently someone does.”
“Who?”
Davis paused.
“Elena Voss.”
Claire’s face hardened.
Marcus asked, “Can you access the box?”
“We’ll need proper process.”
“Of course.”
Davis continued.
“There’s something else. We located Elena.”
“Where?”
“Your family lake property.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“The lake house?”
“Yes.”
Marcus grabbed his coat.
Davis immediately said, “Do not go there.”
“Why is she there?”
“We don’t know.”
“Is Julian with her?”
“No.”
“Then what is she doing?”
“She called us.”
Claire spoke.
“She called the police?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Davis hesitated.
“She says she has evidence.”
“What kind?”
“She won’t discuss it by phone.”
Marcus stared at Claire.
“We’re going.”
Davis sighed.
“I knew you were going to say that.”
The drive to Lake Geneva took just over an hour.
Police cars were already parked outside the Bennett lake house.
The property sat above dark water and tall trees.
Claire had not visited in almost a year.
The sight of it made her stop at the gate.
“My mother loved this place.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
“She taught Lily to swim here.”
“I remember.”
Claire looked at the dock.
“If Nathan is telling the truth…”
Marcus touched her shoulder.
“Don’t.”
“I need to.”
“No, you need facts.”
She looked at him.
“You always say that.”
“Dad said it.”
“No. Dad said facts first, feelings second.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“You remember.”
“I remember everything.”
They entered.
Elena sat at the dining table with Officer Davis and two detectives.
She looked nothing like her photographs.
No polished makeup.
No corporate confidence.
Her hair was pulled into a loose knot.
Her hands shook around a glass of water.
Claire stopped in the doorway.
Elena looked up.
For several seconds neither woman spoke.
Then Elena stood.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire’s expression became unreadable.
“No.”
Elena swallowed.
“You have every right.”
“No.”
Claire walked closer.
“You don’t get to begin with sorry.”
Elena looked down.
Claire sat opposite her.
“Begin with the truth.”
Elena nodded.
So she did.
The affair had begun eleven months earlier.
At first, Julian told Elena his marriage was ending.
Then he told her Claire was mentally ill.
Then he told her Claire had become dangerous.
Elena believed him.
Not all at once.
But gradually.
Julian was patient.
He showed her edited recordings.
Selected medical notes.
Messages taken out of context.
“He said you refused treatment,” Elena whispered.
Claire stared at her.
“He said you frightened Lily.”
Claire’s eyes sharpened.
“That was the part that made me start questioning him.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw you with Lily at the Christmas party.”
Claire said nothing.
Elena continued.
“She wasn’t afraid of you.”
Marcus stood near the wall.
Officer Davis listened silently.
Elena opened a laptop.
“Julian asked me to create offshore accounts.”
Claire looked at the screen.
“For my money.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Eventually everything he could reach.”
“And Friday?”
Elena’s hands trembled.
“He said after Friday you would be in treatment.”
“Alive?”
Elena looked at her.
Claire repeated, “Did he say I would be alive?”
“He said you would be taken care of.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“It isn’t.”
She opened another folder.
“I copied his files.”
“Why?”
“Because two weeks ago I found the insurance policy.”
Claire’s face remained still.
“I confronted him.”
“What did he say?”
“That it was protection.”
“For whom?”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Himself.”
She turned the screen.
A document appeared.
Flight reservations.
Two tickets.
Julian Carter.
Elena Voss.
Zurich.
Friday, 11:55 p.m.
Claire looked at Elena.
“You were going with him.”
“I thought you would be in treatment.”
“And Lily?”
“With his aunt.”
Claire swallowed.
“For how long?”
Elena looked away.
“Julian said he would arrange permanent care.”
The room froze.
Claire’s voice became almost inaudible.
“He was leaving our daughter.”
Elena nodded.
Claire stood so quickly the chair struck the floor.
Marcus moved toward her.
She held up a hand.
“No.”
Then she looked at Elena.
“What else?”
Elena opened one final file.
A video.
Julian stood in the basement beside the generator.
The timestamp showed Monday night.
He was speaking to someone off camera.
“If the facility plan works, none of this matters.”
A man’s voice answered.
“And if it doesn’t?”
Julian looked toward the basement door.
“Then Friday ends differently.”
Claire covered her mouth.
The video continued.
The unseen man asked, “What about the kid?”
Julian replied without hesitation.
“She’ll be gone before anything happens.”
Elena paused the video.
Claire stared at her husband’s frozen face.
The man she had married.
The father of her child.
The person who had convinced her to question her own mind.
And suddenly she stopped trembling.
“What happens now?”
Officer Davis said, “Now we finish proving what he did.”
Claire looked toward the dark lake.
“No.”
Everyone waited.
May you like
She turned back.
“Now I help you prove what he was still planning to do.”
