Chapter 6 - The Blue Room)
The Blue Room was the name Claire's grandmother Evelyn Vale had given to a private vault at First Commonwealth Bank.
Evelyn hated banks.
She also distrusted lawyers, accountants, and almost anyone who wore cuff links before noon.
But she believed in paper.
Claire remembered her as a tiny woman with white hair who stored important documents inside blue envelopes.
Edward explained this while driving Claire to his townhouse after the police released her.
"You never mentioned a vault."
"I didn't know it still existed."
"But Mom did?"
"Apparently."
"How?"
"My mother gave your mother access shortly before she died."
Claire looked through the car window.
Streetlights moved across the glass.
"What would Harold put there?"
"I don't know."
"Why would Mom help him hide something?"
Edward tightened his hands on the steering wheel.
"Because by then your mother believed Harold wanted to expose Margaret."
Claire looked at him.
"Expose her for what?"
"That's what we need to find out."
At Edward's townhouse, Samuel Price was already waiting.
So was Rachel.
Claire stopped in the entryway.
Rachel looked exhausted.
"I'm sorry."
Claire almost asked which part she meant.
Instead she said, "Stay."
Rachel nodded.
Samuel spread documents across Edward's study table.
"The bank confirms the vault exists."
"Who has access?" Claire asked.
"You."
Claire stared.
"Me?"
"Your grandmother named your mother as successor. Your mother named you."
"I've never signed anything."
"You don't need to. We have the original access instrument."
Edward placed a blue envelope on the table.
Claire stared at it.
"You had this?"
"Your mother gave it to me."
"When?"
"Three weeks before she died."
Claire touched the envelope.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"She asked me not to unless Harold's letter surfaced."
Claire laughed without humor.
"Apparently everyone in my life had secret instructions."
Edward accepted the accusation.
"Yes."
"Do you understand how insane this feels?"
"Yes."
"No, you don't."
Claire looked at Rachel.
"My husband fabricated messages for years. My mother-in-law tried to make me sign away control of my own estate. My dead grandfather-in-law apparently hid evidence inside my dead grandmother's bank vault."
Rachel whispered.
"I know."
Claire shook her head.
"No one knows."
She walked toward the window.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Then Rachel said, "There's something else."
Claire closed her eyes.
"Of course there is."
Rachel opened her laptop.
"The thirty-eight million dollar loan wasn't used entirely for the company."
"Where did it go?"
"Nine million went into development projects."
"And the rest?"
Rachel hesitated.
"Eleven million paid older debt. Six million covered margin calls on Daniel's personal investments."
Claire turned.
"Personal investments?"
Rachel nodded.
"Four million went through a consulting company controlled by Margaret."
"That's thirty million."
"Yes."
"Where are the other eight?"
Rachel opened another file.
"I don't know."
Edward stepped closer.
"What do you mean?"
"The transfer disappeared into Northbridge Holdings."
Claire remembered the letter.
"Project Northbridge."
Rachel nodded.
Samuel leaned over the laptop.
"Who owns it?"
"That's the problem."
Rachel pulled up corporate filings.
"The ownership is hidden behind three entities."
Edward read the screen.
"Delaware."
"Then Nevada."
"Then?"
Rachel looked at Claire.
"A trust in the Cayman Islands."
Samuel frowned.
"Beneficiary?"
"Sealed."
Claire stared at the name Northbridge Holdings.
"Daniel knows."
Rachel did not answer.
"What?"
Rachel's eyes filled with discomfort.
"There is one signature on the initial authorization."
"Whose?"
Rachel turned the laptop.
Claire saw a scanned document.
At the bottom was Daniel's signature.
Beside it was another.
Rachel Hayes.
Claire looked up.
Rachel began crying.
"I didn't know what it was."
Claire said nothing.
Rachel rushed to explain.
"I was working for a small accounting firm. Daniel called me six years ago. He said he wanted to repair things between us. He said you were embarrassed about how our friendship ended."
"And you believed him again."
"Yes."
Claire's voice became cold.
"What did you sign?"
"A witness verification."
"For eight million dollars?"
"I didn't see the amount. The page I witnessed was separated."
Claire looked at Edward.
"Is that legal?"
"Not if the document was altered."
Rachel wiped her face.
"Three months ago I found the complete file. That's when I realized my signature had been attached to something I never reviewed."
"Why didn't you come directly to me?"
"I tried."
Claire almost laughed.
"Daniel?"
Rachel nodded.
"He intercepted me in the lobby of your office."
"What did he say?"
"That if I contacted you, he'd report me for financial misconduct."
"Would that destroy your career?"
"Yes."
Claire looked back at the laptop.
"Why risk it now?"
Rachel's answer came without hesitation.
"Because I found a life insurance policy."
Edward straightened.
"On whom?"
Rachel looked at Claire.
"You."
The room became silent.
Claire stared at her.
"How much?"
"Twenty-five million dollars."
Claire gripped the back of a chair.
"Who is the beneficiary?"
Rachel's face answered before she spoke.
"Daniel."
Edward swore quietly.
Samuel asked, "When was it issued?"
"Seven months ago."
Claire whispered.
"I never applied for life insurance."
Rachel nodded.
"I know."
Claire thought about medical forms she had signed at Daniel's insistence.
Routine financial planning.
Health screening.
Tax documents.
"What did they use?"
"An electronic signature."
Claire sat down.
A terrible possibility formed.
"Was tonight about the guardianship?"
Rachel hesitated.
"I think that was part of it."
"Part?"
Rachel opened another file.
"Yesterday Daniel sent instructions to increase the policy."
Edward stepped forward.
"To what amount?"
Rachel looked at Claire.
"Forty million."
No one spoke.
Then Samuel's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
"What?"
Edward asked.
Samuel lowered the phone.
"The laboratory finished a preliminary test on Claire's wine."
Claire went cold.
"And?"
May you like
Samuel looked at her.
"There was a sedative in the glass."
