Chapter 7 - The Attorney in the River
Elliot Crane’s body had been found inside a submerged car beneath the Bellweather Bridge.
The driver’s window was open.
His seat belt had been cut.
There were bruises around his throat.
Claire Vale’s fingerprints were found on the exterior door handle and inside the vehicle.
Police arrested her at a roadside motel twenty miles away.
Rachel listened as Detective Blake explained the evidence.
“I saw Elliot alive when I left the house,” she said.
“The estimated time of death is between midnight and three in the morning.”
“Claire was at the cemetery with me at noon.”
“That does not exclude her.”
“Why would she kill him?”
“We are trying to determine that.”
“Did she say anything?”
“She asked for you.”
Rachel looked at Maya, who had joined them at the police station.
Maya shook her head.
“You are not her attorney.”
“I want to hear what she knows.”
“You may also become a witness in a murder investigation.”
“I already am.”
Detective Blake allowed Rachel to view Claire through an interview room window.
Claire sat with both hands cuffed to a metal ring in the table.
She looked exhausted but not frightened.
When Rachel entered, Claire gave a faint smile.
“You survived.”
“Did you kill Elliot?”
“No.”
“Your fingerprints were in his car.”
“I met him.”
“When?”
“After I left your house.”
“Why?”
“He contacted me.”
“What did he want?”
“The flash drive.”
Rachel sat across from her.
“Why did you break into my office?”
“Because your computer contained archived messages Grant believed he had deleted.”
“What messages?”
“Reports about you.”
“I found the caretaker payments.”
Claire nodded.
“Grant was required to submit monthly observations to Judith and Elliot.”
“Observations about what?”
“Your health. Your work. Your relationships. Whether you suspected anything.”
Rachel felt sick.
“And my fertility?”
Claire’s silence answered.
“Did they arrange my medical appointments?”
“Yes.”
“My doctor?”
“Dr. Samuel Pierce received payments through the foundation.”
Rachel remembered Dr. Pierce recommending aggressive fertility procedures even after tests suggested waiting.
She remembered Judith insisting on attending appointments.
“What were they trying to do?”
Claire looked toward the mirrored glass.
“Produce a child before you turned thirty-eight.”
“Why?”
“The trust does not simply transfer to you.”
Rachel leaned closer.
“Explain.”
“The primary Ashcroft trust transfers to Evelyn’s surviving daughter. A secondary bloodline trust transfers only after the birth of the next female descendant.”
Rachel thought of Judith discussing baby names.
She always suggested Evelyn.
“Grant needed me to have a daughter.”
“Judith needed it.”
“What would happen then?”
“You would receive control of the primary trust. Your daughter would become beneficiary of the secondary trust. Grant, as husband and father, would position himself to influence both.”
“And if I had a son?”
“They would continue trying.”
Rachel’s hands curled into fists.
“Did Elliot know all of this?”
“He helped design the legal structure used to hide you.”
“Then why was he killed?”
“Because he wanted out.”
Claire looked down at her cuffed hands.
“He told me Judith had become unstable. She was moving assets out of the trust. Grant had begun borrowing against expected inheritance. Elliot feared they would kill you before your birthday and present a forged will.”
Rachel remembered Grant asking about life insurance.
“Did Elliot give you evidence?”
“He promised to.”
“But?”
“He never arrived at the meeting point.”
“Then why were your fingerprints in his car?”
“I had met him in the same car two days earlier.”
Detective Blake’s voice came through the intercom.
“Ask her about the cemetery shooter.”
Rachel looked at Claire.
“Who shot at us?”
“I do not know.”
“You said we were followed.”
“I saw a vehicle connected to Larkspur.”
“Who owns it?”
“A security contractor named Marcus Dane.”
“Does he work for Judith?”
“He works for whoever pays him.”
Rachel remembered the dark vehicle outside her parents’ house.
“Where is he now?”
Claire looked toward the mirror.
“If the police knew, I would not still be handcuffed.”
Rachel took out the copy of her birth record.
“Who gave you this?”
“My father.”
“Your father disappeared in 1998.”
“He prepared hidden archives before he vanished.”
“Is he alive?”
Claire’s eyes moved back to Rachel.
“I do not know.”
“How did you find the archives?”
“He left instructions with my grandmother. I received them after she died.”
“What did your father discover about Evelyn’s death?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“Evelyn did not die during childbirth, as Judith claimed.”
“How did she die?”
“She was sedated after delivering you. Her medical chart shows a fatal dosage error. My father believed Judith changed the medication.”
Rachel felt pressure behind her ribs.
“Why?”
“Evelyn planned to remove Judith from the trust.”
“Why was Judith a trustee at all?”
“They were cousins.”
That revelation landed differently.
Judith had not been an outsider who infiltrated the Ashcroft family.
She had been a relative close enough to be trusted.
Claire continued.
“Evelyn inherited control after her parents died. Judith believed part of the estate should belong to her branch of the family. Evelyn disagreed.”
“So Judith killed her and took me.”
“My father believed so.”
“What happened to him?”
“He confronted Malcolm Crane, Elliot’s father. Three days later, he disappeared.”
Rachel looked toward the mirrored glass.
“Why did you wait until now?”
“I did not know where you were. Judith changed your identity, removed the clinic records, and arranged for you to be raised privately.”
“You found me before Grant did?”
“No. I found Grant’s reports years later.”
“How long have you been watching them?”
“Four years.”
“You watched me remain married to him for four years.”
“I needed proof.”
“You could have warned me.”
“And if you told Grant? If you trusted your husband more than a stranger?”
Rachel hated that Claire’s answer made sense.
“Did you kill Elliot?”
“No.”
“Can you prove where you were?”
Claire hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Then why have you not told the police?”
“Because the person I was with would be killed.”
“Who?”
Claire leaned forward until the chain between her cuffs tightened.
“Your father.”
Rachel stared at her.
“My father is sitting outside.”
“No,” Claire said. “Thomas is the man who raised you.”
May you like
She lowered her voice.
“I was with the man whose name was removed from your birth certificate.”
