Chapter 4 - The Dead Woman's Account)
Grant waited until midnight before speaking to Claire.
He entered the kitchen after every other employee had gone to bed.
Claire was sitting at the table with the note in front of her.
Grant closed the door.
"You shouldn't have written this."
"I needed you to understand."
"Understand what?"
"That I am not ignoring what is happening."
Claire folded her arms.
"Then tell me what's happening."
Grant remained standing.
"For the past four months, money has been moving out of an investment account that belonged to Evelyn."
Claire frowned.
"Your wife?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Almost nine hundred thousand dollars."
Claire stared at him.
"Vanessa?"
"I don't know."
"You obviously suspect her."
"I suspect several people."
Grant sat across from Claire.
"Evelyn created a private trust when Noah was born. Most of the money is locked until he's twenty five. Certain accounts can be accessed for medical or educational expenses."
"And someone is stealing from them."
"Using approvals that appear to have my signature."
Claire understood.
"Forged."
Grant nodded.
"Two months ago I hired an investigator."
"Does Vanessa know?"
"No."
"Then why keep her here?"
"Because whoever is doing this has access to my house, my accounts, and my security system."
Claire thought about the disabled cameras.
Grant continued.
"I originally believed the system failures were technical. Then you mentioned the stroller."
Claire looked at him sharply.
"I never told you someone loosened the brake."
"You didn't have to. I had it recovered from the waste facility."
Claire stared.
"You found it?"
"It is with my investigator."
Grant reached into his pocket.
He placed the small silver screw on the table.
Claire recognized it immediately.
"We found tool marks."
Claire leaned back.
"So you knew."
"I knew someone damaged it."
"Vanessa was beside it."
"I know."
Claire looked toward the closed kitchen door.
"Why hasn't she been arrested?"
"Because damaged stroller brakes and a planted bracelet do not prove she is stealing from Noah's trust."
"They prove she's dangerous."
Grant's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
Claire heard the anger beneath the single word.
For the first time, she understood how controlled he actually was.
He was not passive.
He was waiting.
"There's something else," Grant said.
He took out his phone.
On the screen was a photograph of a transfer authorization.
At the bottom was a familiar name.
Julian Cross.
Claire had met Julian twice.
Grant's chief financial officer.
Forty years old.
Polished.
Confident.
Always smiling.
"Julian approved the payment."
"Does he have authority?"
"Limited authority."
"Could he be working with Vanessa?"
Grant looked at her.
"Possibly."
Claire remembered the charity dinner.
Julian had spent nearly the entire evening beside Vanessa.
She had thought nothing of it.
Now she did.
Grant put his phone away.
"Claire, if you want to leave, I will arrange another position for you and pay you through the year."
She almost laughed.
"You think I'm leaving Noah here?"
His expression softened.
"That's what worries me."
"Why?"
"Because whoever is doing this knows exactly how much you care about him."
Claire was silent.
Grant stood.
"That makes you useful to them."
"For what?"
"To blame."
The word landed heavily.
Claire remembered the bracelet.
The broken stroller.
The anonymous note.
A horrible idea formed.
"If something happened to Noah."
Grant's face went still.
"They'd say it was me."
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then Grant reached into his jacket.
He placed a small device on the table.
It looked like a black button.
"What is that?"
"A portable recorder and location tag."
Claire stared at him.
"No."
"I'm not asking you to spy."
"That's exactly what you're asking."
"I'm asking you to carry it when you're with Noah."
Claire looked toward the ceiling.
"This house has become insane."
"I know."
Grant's voice broke slightly on the last word.
Claire looked at him.
For the first time she saw not the billionaire, not the employer, but a widowed father terrified of failing his son.
She picked up the device.
"Fine."
Grant exhaled.
"Thank you."
Claire slid it into her apron pocket.
Then she remembered something.
"The guardianship document."
Grant froze.
"What document?"
Claire described what she had seen in the study wastebasket.
The more she spoke, the colder Grant's expression became.
"I never signed that."
Claire's skin prickled.
"Then someone prepared it."
Grant stood abruptly.
He left the kitchen.
Claire followed.
They entered the study.
Grant opened the bottom drawer of his desk.
Empty.
His face changed.
"What was there?"
"Evelyn's original trust papers."
He unlocked a cabinet.
Also empty.
Claire felt the room close around her.
Grant went to the safe.
The safe opened.
Inside, several folders remained.
But one was missing.
Grant whispered his wife's name.
Claire stepped closer.
"What?"
He looked at her.
"The day before Evelyn died, she changed the trust."
"How?"
"She added a private instruction."
"What did it say?"
Grant stared at the empty safe.
"I don't know."
Claire frowned.
"You don't know?"
"Evelyn told me she had discovered something about someone close to us."
"Who?"
"She died before she told me."
The study suddenly felt colder.
Claire looked at the photographs on the bookshelf.
One showed Evelyn standing beside Vanessa at a summer party.
They were smiling with their arms around each other.
Claire's stomach turned.
"Grant."
He looked at her.
"What if Vanessa isn't stealing from Evelyn's trust because you're with her?"
Claire pointed toward the photograph.
"What if she's stealing from it because she already knew it existed?"
May you like
Grant stared at the picture.
And neither of them heard the soft movement outside the study door.
