Chapter 5 - the insurance assessor
Maya Chen arrived at ten the next morning wearing a navy coat and carrying a leather folder with the logo of an insurance company.
She looked exactly like someone who had come to inspect a leaking pipe.
David had already left for work.
Margaret had not yet made her daily visit.
Sarah led Maya through the house while speaking loudly about water damage in case any listening devices were nearby.
“The basement is this way.”
Maya photographed the ceiling, the walls and the leaking pipe.
“The moisture has spread farther than expected,” she said.
“Can it be repaired?”
“We need to understand the source first.”
Once they reached the far corner of the basement, Maya turned on a small device.
A green light became red.
“What is that?” Sarah whispered.
“Noise generator. Any microphone in this room will hear static.”
Sarah looked toward the ceiling.
“Do you think the house is being monitored?”
“I found two devices before reaching the basement.”
“Where?”
“One beneath the telephone table. One inside the smoke detector near your office.”
Sarah felt sick.
“Can you remove them?”
“Not yet. If David sees they are gone, he will know we found them.”
Maya opened her folder.
Inside were photographs of three properties, several bank records and a diagram of interconnected companies.
“Northbridge Holdings received money from seven accounts,” Maya said.
“One of them was mine.”
“Yes. But your money was not the largest source.”
She pointed to a series of transfers totaling more than $11 million.
Sarah stared at the figure.
“Whose account is that?”
“We don’t know. It was moved through an entity called Meridian Stewardship.”
“Does that belong to David?”
“No.”
“Margaret?”
“Not directly.”
Sarah remembered the email hidden beneath the sink.
“What is the second account?”
Maya’s expression changed.
“What second account?”
Sarah showed her a photograph of the email.
Maya read it twice.
“Where did you get this?”
“My father left it here.”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“Maybe he found it after speaking to you.”
Maya placed the phone on a box and enlarged the email.
“The address appears genuine.”
“What could they mean by move her?”
“A hotel, a private clinic or another house.”
“Against my will?”
“I cannot prove that.”
“But you believe it.”
Maya met Sarah’s eyes.
“I believe David and Margaret are preparing to tell people that you are incapable of making decisions.”
Sarah folded her arms.
“What do you need from me?”
“Access to David’s home office.”
“It is locked.”
“Can you get the key?”
“He keeps it on his car ring.”
“Then we need another way.”
Sarah remembered Emma playing beneath David’s desk the previous weekend.
“She found a key behind a book.”
Maya looked at her.
“Where is it now?”
“In Emma’s toy kitchen.”
They went upstairs.
Emma sat in the family room arranging plastic cups for Doctor Bunny.
“Sweetheart,” Sarah said, “do you remember the shiny key you found?”
Emma pointed toward a toy oven.
Inside was a brass key with a strip of black tape around the handle.
Maya tried it on David’s office door.
The lock opened.
The room smelled of leather and cedar.
Everything was arranged perfectly.
A laptop sat on the desk.
Two filing cabinets stood against the wall.
Maya photographed each drawer before touching anything.
Most contained business documents.
The final drawer was empty except for a bottle of wine and a photograph of David with Margaret at the Vermont lake house.
Sarah picked it up.
The date printed on the back was three months earlier.
David had claimed he was in Toronto that week.
Maya pressed the drawer’s interior panel.
It shifted.
Behind it was a small external drive.
Maya removed it carefully.
“We need to copy this without changing the access history.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Sarah stood guard at the door while Maya worked.
After seven minutes, the front gate opened.
A black sedan moved up the driveway.
Margaret.
Sarah hurried downstairs and locked David’s office.
Maya returned to the basement.
Margaret entered without knocking.
She carried a white box tied with a gold ribbon.
“I brought pastries,” she announced.
Her eyes moved from Sarah to the basement door.
“Is someone here?”
“The insurance assessor.”
Margaret placed the box on the counter.
“Insurance assessor?”
“The basement pipe is leaking.”
Margaret smiled, but her hand tightened around the ribbon.
“That is unfortunate.”
Maya came upstairs carrying her folder.
“The damage is manageable,” she said. “I’ll send a report.”
Margaret studied her face.
“Have we met?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“You look familiar.”
“I inspect many houses.”
Maya left through the front door.
Margaret watched her drive away.
Then she turned to Sarah.
“What company did you say she was from?”
Sarah pointed to the card Maya had deliberately left on the table.
Margaret picked it up.
May you like
Her smile vanished.
“This company closed three years ago.”
