Chapter 6 - The Recordings)
Claire spent the night in the hospital.
Marcus spent it in a chair beside the door.
Lily slept curled against her mother, one small hand wrapped around Claire’s sleeve.
At 2:43 in the morning, Claire woke.
Marcus was staring at his phone.
“You should sleep.”
He looked up.
“So should you.”
“I tried.”
Silence.
The hospital room was dim.
Marcus glanced at Lily.
“Is she okay?”
“She will be.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
“But I’m going to make sure she gets there.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Tell me where the recordings are.”
Claire gave him a tired smile.
“You never were patient.”
“You said Friday mattered.”
“I know.”
“It’s Thursday now.”
“I know.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Claire.”
She looked toward the sleeping child.
“I hid everything in Lily’s old music box.”
Marcus blinked.
“The wooden one?”
“Yes.”
“The one Mom gave you?”
Claire nodded.
“Julian hated it. Said it was old-fashioned. He never touched it.”
“Where is it?”
“In Lily’s closet.”
Marcus stood.
“I’m going.”
“Not alone.”
“Julian isn’t at the house.”
“He has employees. Assistants. People I don’t know.”
“Police secured the office.”
“Not Lily’s room.”
Marcus sat again.
“What exactly did you record?”
Claire stared at the blanket over her legs.
“Arguments.”
“How many?”
“Twenty-seven.”
Marcus stopped.
“Twenty-seven?”
“I started in March.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I still wanted to believe there was an explanation.”
“For him stealing from you?”
“I didn’t know about the money then.”
“What did you know?”
Claire hesitated.
“That he was lying about small things.”
“Like?”
“Where he was. Who he talked to. Why certain documents needed my signature.”
She swallowed.
“And he started telling people I forgot things that I knew I remembered.”
Marcus felt anger rising again.
“He was gaslighting you.”
“I hate that word.”
“Why?”
“Because it sounds too clean.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“It doesn’t explain what it feels like when someone you love looks at you and calmly tells you an event you remember never happened.”
Marcus said nothing.
Claire continued.
“He would move things and say I misplaced them. Change appointments and say I had written the date down wrong. Tell Lily I had promised something I never promised.”
“Why?”
“To create witnesses.”
Marcus understood.
“People who thought you were forgetting things.”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“My doctor.”
“What?”
“He started coming to appointments.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Of course he did.”
“He would mention how tired I was. How distracted. How I seemed anxious.”
“He was building medical evidence.”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked toward Lily.
“And Friday?”
Claire reached for the water beside her bed.
“I found an email printed in his office.”
“To the doctor?”
“No. To a private care facility in Wisconsin.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“What kind of facility?”
“Residential psychiatric treatment.”
Marcus stared at her.
“He was going to commit you.”
“I think so.”
“Can he do that?”
“Not legally without evaluation and consent unless there’s an emergency.”
“So he needed an emergency.”
Claire looked at him.
“That’s what scares me.”
Marcus stood again.
“What was scheduled Friday?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I have been thinking.”
“Anything. Appointment. Dinner. Trip.”
Claire froze.
Marcus saw it.
“What?”
“Lily was supposed to spend Friday night at Beatrice’s.”
“Julian’s aunt?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Julian said he wanted to take me to dinner.”
Marcus waited.
Claire’s face changed.
“He insisted.”
The truth settled between them.
A night with Lily out of the house.
A wife already portrayed as unstable.
A private facility waiting.
Marcus whispered, “He was going to manufacture a breakdown.”
Claire looked away.
“I think so.”
Marcus’s hands curled.
“If he had gotten you admitted…”
“He would have used the forged amendment.”
“To control everything.”
“Yes.”
The door opened.
Officer Davis entered carrying coffee.
“I spoke to the detective assigned to the financial side.”
Marcus looked at him.
“And?”
“They found evidence of document destruction in Mr. Carter’s office.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
“He shredded things?”
“Some. The machine was still warm when the house was secured.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Perfect.”
“But.”
Davis set the coffee down.
“We recovered several pages from the shredder bin. One had a heading from a psychiatric facility.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Marcus asked, “Friday?”
Davis nodded.
“Admission consultation scheduled for tomorrow at nine p.m.”
Claire went pale.
Marcus looked at his sister.
Her theory was no longer a theory.
Davis continued.
“We also found a typed statement describing an incident that supposedly happened tomorrow.”
Marcus frowned.
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Claire stared.
Davis looked at her.
“The statement says that on Friday evening you became violent, threatened your husband with a kitchen knife, attempted to harm yourself, and had to be restrained until medical assistance arrived.”
The room went completely silent.
Marcus spoke first.
“He wrote the incident before it happened.”
“Yes.”
Claire started shaking.
Lily moved in her sleep.
Claire immediately controlled herself.
Davis lowered his voice.
“There’s more.”
Marcus almost did not want to ask.
“What?”
“The statement included a witness.”
“Who?”
“Julian’s business partner. Nathan Vale.”
Claire looked confused.
“I’ve met him twice.”
“Apparently he was supposed to be at the house tomorrow.”
Marcus sat down.
“So Julian would create the breakdown. Nathan would witness it. Claire would be taken to the facility.”
Davis nodded.
“And Julian would have documents claiming authority over her assets.”
Claire whispered, “He planned all of it.”
Davis looked at her.
“We still need the recordings.”
Claire nodded.
“The music box.”
“I’ll have the detective retrieve it.”
Marcus asked, “Can we go with them?”
Davis looked at him.
“I’d prefer you didn’t.”
Claire spoke.
“There’s a false bottom.”
Davis took out his notebook.
“Explain.”
“Turn the box upside down. There are four felt pads. Remove the back-left pad. Under it is a tiny screw.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“Dad taught you that.”
Claire smiled too.
“He taught both of us.”
“The hidden compartment in his desk.”
“Yes.”
Davis wrote everything down.
Claire leaned back.
For the first time all night, her shoulders lowered.
The recordings existed.
The police would find them.
Julian’s story was collapsing.
Then Davis’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
Marcus stood.
Davis looked at Claire.
“When was the last time you checked the music box?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Davis ended the call.
Marcus said, “What happened?”
The officer’s voice was careful.
“Someone entered the house after it was secured.”
Claire went still.
“They went directly to Lily’s bedroom.”
Marcus felt a cold pressure in his chest.
May you like
Davis continued.
“The music box is gone.”
