Chapter 11 - THE DOCUMENTS IN THE CAR
Police searched Margaret’s car after obtaining a warrant.
They found Daniel’s employment contract under the spare tire.
They also found copies of his tax returns, Lily’s birth certificate, the trust agreement, and a sealed envelope addressed to the family court.
Inside was a statement supposedly written by Daniel.
I lose my temper more than I should.
Sometimes I frighten my daughter.
The signature looked like his.
It was not.
A handwriting expert later confirmed the forgery.
But Detective Chen found something even more useful.
Margaret’s portable scanner still contained cached images.
One showed Claire’s passport application under a different last name.
Claire Harper.
Not Reed.
Not even the surname she used when Daniel met her.
She had legally changed her name twice before their marriage.
Daniel sat in the interview room and stared at the records.
“Why?”
Chen tapped one page.
“To separate herself from older complaints, maybe.”
Another page showed a small civil judgment against Claire for unpaid rent.
Attached to it was an address Daniel recognized.
Hearthstone Avenue.
The fake consulting company had been named after the street where Claire and Margaret lived before Daniel met them.
There had never been a real company.
It was theirs.
The money trail was no longer mysterious.
It was theft.
Then Chen received a call.
She listened without speaking.
When she hung up, her face had changed.
“What?” Daniel asked.
“The cloud provider finished restoring deleted files from Claire’s second phone.”
“And?”
“There’s an audio recording from two weeks ago.”
Daniel stood.
“Of what?”
Chen met his eyes.
“Claire and Margaret arguing.”
“About the money?”
“No.”
“About Lily.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
May you like
Chen continued.
“And Claire says she wants to stop.”
