Chapter 2 - The Woman in the Driveway
Claire did not move.
The photograph trembled between her fingers.
Outside the garage, the woman closed the driver's door and looked toward the house.
She wore a camel-colored coat and carried a leather folder beneath one arm.
No child was with her.
Derek pushed past Richard.
"Stay here."
Richard blocked him again.
"You seem confused about who gives orders now."
The woman approached the garage.
When she saw Claire, she stopped.
When she saw Richard, she looked puzzled.
Then her gaze found Derek.
Her expression hardened.
"You didn't tell them."
Derek closed his eyes.
Claire's voice barely worked.
"Tell us what?"
The woman looked at her.
"I'm Natalie Mercer."
Claire waited.
Natalie seemed to realize her name meant nothing.
She looked back at Derek.
"You said she knew."
Claire laughed once.
It was a broken sound.
"Knew what?"
Derek stepped forward.
"Natalie, now isn't a good time."
"Good time?"
She pulled the leather folder from under her arm.
"You haven't answered me in four days. The payment bounced. Again."
Claire looked down at the prepaid cards in the drawer.
"What payment?"
Natalie finally understood.
"Oh, God."
Derek shook his head at her.
"Don't."
Richard said, "Do."
Natalie looked at Claire.
Then at Lily standing in the doorway.
Her anger softened.
"Maybe the little girl should go somewhere else."
Richard nodded.
"Claire."
Claire led Lily into the living room and turned on a cartoon.
When she returned, Natalie was still standing beside the garage entrance.
Derek had begun pacing.
Claire held the photograph.
"Who is the boy?"
Natalie answered.
"My son."
Claire's face tightened.
"And Derek?"
Natalie looked at him.
"Derek is not his father."
Claire exhaled.
The relief lasted less than a second.
Natalie continued.
"But he told my son he was going to become his stepfather."
Silence.
Richard watched Derek.
Claire did not cry.
That worried him more.
"How long?"
Natalie rubbed her forehead.
"Derek and I met nine months ago."
Claire stared at her husband.
Nine months.
Richard remembered nine months earlier.
Claire had missed Sunday dinner because Derek said she was working overtime.
Maybe she had been.
He had not.
Natalie continued carefully.
"He told me you two were separated."
Claire's voice sharpened.
"We sleep in the same bedroom."
Derek snapped, "Barely."
Richard stepped toward him.
Claire lifted a hand.
"No, Dad."
Her father stopped.
Claire wanted this.
Needed it.
"How much money did he give you?"
Natalie frowned.
"Give me?"
"The payment you mentioned."
Natalie's face changed.
"That wasn't for me."
Claire looked confused.
"It was for the property."
"What property?"
Natalie opened the folder.
Inside were photocopies of financial documents.
A purchase agreement.
Bank transfers.
A floor plan.
Claire stared at the first page.
Derek stepped toward Natalie.
"Give me those."
Richard intercepted him.
Natalie handed the papers to Claire.
The purchase agreement listed a rural property on seventeen acres.
Purchase price: $468,000.
Claire looked at Derek.
"Where did you get four hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars?"
"I didn't buy it."
Natalie pointed to the document.
"He put down eighty thousand."
Claire went pale.
Richard took the agreement.
The buyer was listed as Collins Restoration Holdings LLC.
Richard read the name again.
"What's Collins Restoration Holdings?"
Derek stared at the concrete floor.
Natalie answered.
"His company."
Claire shook her head.
"He doesn't have a company."
Natalie gave Derek a look of disgust.
"He told me he owned a contracting business."
Richard almost admired the scale of it.
Almost.
Claire turned pages faster.
Bank statements.
Wire confirmations.
Checks.
Then she stopped.
One transaction showed $22,000 originating from an account ending in 4408.
Claire covered her mouth.
Richard knew that number.
It belonged to the education fund Richard and his late wife had established for Lily.
"Claire," he said.
She could not answer.
Richard took the page.
His vision narrowed.
Years earlier, he had deposited a portion of his wife's life-insurance money into that account.
It was for Lily's future.
College.
Training.
A first apartment.
Whatever the child needed when she grew up.
Derek had somehow accessed it.
Richard turned toward him.
"You took Lily's money."
Derek raised both hands.
"It's temporary."
Richard walked forward.
Derek backed up.
"I was investing it."
"You stole from a six-year-old."
"I was building something for all of us."
Claire finally spoke.
"You let her ask my father for bread."
Derek looked at her.
"Claire."
"You stole her education money."
"I was going to replace it."
"With what?"
Derek said nothing.
Claire screamed.
"WITH WHAT?"
Lily began crying in the living room.
Claire immediately covered her mouth.
Her anger collapsed into guilt.
Richard went to Lily and carried her upstairs.
He found coloring books in her bedroom and stayed until she calmed down.
When he returned, Natalie was sitting at the kitchen table.
Claire was standing by the window.
Derek had disappeared.
Richard looked around.
"Where is he?"
Claire turned.
"He went to the bathroom."
Richard checked the hallway.
Bathroom door open.
Empty.
He ran to the garage.
The black phone was gone.
So were the prepaid cards.
The cash remained.
Richard looked toward the driveway.
Derek's SUV was peeling away from the house.
Richard reached for his truck keys.
Claire grabbed his arm.
"No."
"He stole your daughter's future."
"And if you chase him and crash?"
Richard looked at her.
Claire was shaking.
"I can't lose you too."
The words stopped him.
Natalie walked into the garage.
"There may be another reason he ran."
Richard turned.
"What?"
Natalie pulled one final document from her folder.
"I came here because the seller's attorney called me this morning. Derek's deposit wasn't simply late."
She handed Richard the page.
"The bank flagged part of the money."
"For what?"
Natalie swallowed.
"Fraud."
Claire stared at her.
Natalie pointed to a series of transfers.
"Some of this money appears to have come from accounts belonging to elderly pharmacy customers."
Claire stopped breathing.
Richard looked at his daughter.
"What access does Derek have to your work?"
Claire's face went white.
"He shouldn't have any."
"Shouldn't?"
Claire slowly sat down.
"Sometimes I bring insurance paperwork home."
Natalie frowned.
"What kind of paperwork?"
"Patient reimbursement forms. Nothing with complete banking credentials."
Richard asked, "Could he get names?"
"Yes."
"Addresses?"
"Sometimes."
"Birth dates?"
Claire closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Richard looked toward the empty driveway.
Derek had not simply been stealing from his wife.
He might have been stealing through her.
Which meant when investigators eventually followed the paperwork, Claire Bennett's name would be the first one they saw.
Then the doorbell rang.
Richard walked to the front door.
Two people stood outside.
A man and woman in dark coats.
The man held up identification.
"Mr. Bennett?"
Richard looked at the badge.
State Financial Crimes Division.
The investigator glanced beyond him.
"We're looking for Claire Collins."
Claire appeared in the hallway.
The investigator's expression became formal.
"Mrs. Collins, we need to ask you some questions regarding a series of unauthorized transfers connected to your pharmacy."
Claire's knees nearly gave out.
Richard caught her.
The investigator continued.
"And your husband, Derek Collins, is currently considered a person of interest."
Richard looked toward the road where Derek had disappeared.
The empty refrigerator had exposed a thief.
But now they were beginning to understand something worse.
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Derek had not merely stolen Claire's money.
He had built a trail designed to make it look as though Claire had stolen everyone else's.
