Chapter 10 - the name on the prescription bottle)
The prescriptions were new.
That fact broke something open.
One bottle had been filled seven weeks earlier.
Claire had been dead for eighteen months.
The pharmacy information was legitimate.
The doctor's name was real.
The patient name was Claire Mercer.
David sat inside the police station with both hands locked around a paper cup he had forgotten to drink from.
"Identity theft," he said.
Ruiz nodded.
"Most likely."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because the prescription was picked up using identification."
"What identification?"
"A driver's license bearing Claire's name."
David's throat tightened.
"With whose photograph?"
"We're obtaining the pharmacy footage."
Laura paced across the room.
"Emma saw a woman who looked like Claire."
"Children notice similarities," Ruiz said.
"Emma also said Mom told her never to mention it."
Ruiz nodded.
"I know."
David pressed his palms against his eyes.
This was impossible.
Claire had died at County Memorial.
David had identified her.
Or had he?
He remembered the night.
The rain.
A state trooper at the door.
The drive to the hospital.
A doctor telling him the crash had caused catastrophic injuries.
The body had been covered.
David had seen Claire's face.
Swollen.
Bruised.
But unmistakably Claire.
He had held her hand.
He remembered her wedding ring.
He remembered the small scar near her thumb.
It had been her.
He knew it had.
"She's dead."
Ruiz sat across from him.
"I am not telling you otherwise."
"Then stop making it sound possible."
"I'm telling you someone is using her identity."
The pharmacy footage arrived an hour later.
A woman entered at 4:18 p.m.
She wore sunglasses and a scarf.
She was thin.
Approximately Claire's height.
Blonde hair.
The camera angle never captured her face clearly.
David stared until his eyes hurt.
"That's not enough."
"No," Ruiz agreed.
The woman signed electronically and left.
A gray sedan waited outside.
Easton Property Services.
Raymond's vehicle.
Laura whispered.
"He was driving her."
Ruiz paused the video.
"Or someone using the same company vehicle."
David stood.
"I want to talk to Raymond."
"He's still in intensive care."
"When he wakes up."
"If he wakes up."
David looked at him.
"You said he survived."
"Surviving isn't the same as recovering."
At two in the morning, Ruiz received another call.
Diana had been found.
She was sitting inside a church twenty miles away.
Alone.
A priest recognized her photograph from the local alert.
Police brought her in.
Diana refused to explain where she had been.
She demanded an attorney.
When Martin Keene arrived, he looked angry.
Not concerned.
Angry.
David watched through glass as they spoke.
Keene leaned close to Diana.
Diana shook her head repeatedly.
Then Keene slammed one palm against the table.
Ruiz noticed too.
"Interesting attorney client relationship."
David studied him.
"Maybe Keene is involved."
"We've considered it."
"Check his finances."
Ruiz gave him a tired look.
"Police generally require reasons before exploring someone's private accounts."
David gestured toward Diana.
"There's your reason."
Minutes later, Keene left the interview room.
He spotted David.
For the first time, his polished expression vanished.
"You shouldn't be here."
David stood.
"Neither should you."
Keene approached.
"Take your daughter and leave this alone."
David stared.
"What did you say?"
"Your mother will withdraw the guardianship petition."
"Why?"
"Because this has gone too far."
"My daughter was chained outside."
"I am aware."
"Claire investigated stolen money."
Keene's face remained still.
"Who told you that?"
David noticed it.
The question came too quickly.
He smiled without humor.
"You already knew."
Keene stepped back.
"I represent your mother."
"You represent more than that."
"Be careful."
"No. You be careful."
Ruiz approached.
"Everything okay?"
Keene looked at him.
"I was just leaving."
David called after him.
"Do you know the cottage with the green door?"
Keene stopped.
Only for a second.
But he stopped.
Then he walked away.
Ruiz looked at David.
"That was useful."
"You saw it."
"I did."
Diana finally agreed to speak the next morning.
Only with David present.
Ruiz objected.
Diana insisted.
Her attorney objected too.
That was what convinced David to agree.
They sat across from each other.
Diana looked older.
For the first time since the storm, she appeared frightened.
David did not feel sympathy.
"Why Emma?"
Diana closed her eyes.
"I needed guardianship."
"We know."
"You don't know why."
"Money."
She opened her eyes.
"No."
"You stole from Dad's foundation."
Diana looked toward the mirrored wall.
"Not all of it."
David leaned forward.
"What does that mean?"
"I moved money."
"For who?"
She shook her head.
"Who?"
"I can't tell you."
"You nearly destroyed my life."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
David laughed in disbelief.
"You chained Emma outside."
Diana flinched.
"That wasn't supposed to happen like that."
"How was it supposed to happen?"
"She was supposed to be outside for five minutes."
"You left her for hours."
"I didn't."
David froze.
"What?"
Diana looked genuinely confused.
"I put her beside the kennel at nine fifty."
"Emma said it was dark."
"It was dark at nine fifty."
"She was soaked through."
"The storm became heavy after ten."
David stared at her.
"Who moved her earlier?"
"No one."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I went inside to make the call. Raymond was supposed to arrive at ten."
"What call?"
"Child services."
David pushed away from the table.
"You staged it."
Diana began crying.
"I needed them to believe you left her there."
The room went silent.
Even Ruiz behind the glass would later say that sentence changed the case.
David's voice shook.
"You were going to tell them I chained my own daughter."
"Raymond said nobody would take her permanently. Just long enough."
"For you to get guardianship."
Diana nodded.
"And access Emma's accounts."
She looked down.
"Yes."
David felt sick.
"You used her."
"I didn't want to hurt her."
"You did."
"I know."
David stood.
"Who are you afraid of?"
Diana raised her eyes.
For the first time, David saw terror.
"Martin Keene isn't my attorney."
David stopped.
"What?"
"He was assigned to me."
"By who?"
Diana's mouth trembled.
"The person Claire found."
David leaned closer.
"Name."
Diana shook her head.
"If I say it, they'll kill me."
"Who?"
She whispered something.
David couldn't hear.
"What?"
Diana leaned forward.
Before she could repeat it, the fire alarm began screaming.
Lights flashed.
Ruiz burst through the door.
"Everybody out."
Diana grabbed David's wrist.
Her fingers were ice cold.
"The woman at the cottage isn't Claire."
David stared.
May you like
Diana tightened her grip.
"But Claire knew her."
