Chapter 4 - CLAIRE
I read the message three times.
Jenna read it over my shoulder.
“Who sent that?”
“No idea.”
Patricia moved too quickly. “Probably some scam.”
Rachel noticed.
“So you know who Claire is?” she asked.
Patricia laughed. “Emma just spent dinner accusing my son of sleeping with her.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Patricia walked out of the room.
At 11:20 that night, Rachel drove me to Northwestern Memorial to get stitches. By midnight, Michael had posted bond.
At 12:14, Claire called me.
I nearly declined.
Rachel shook her head. “Answer.”
Claire’s voice was thin and breathless.
“Emma, I need to explain.”
“You were kissing my husband outside a hotel.”
“I know.”
“Then explain quickly.”
Silence.
“I thought he was separated.”
Of course she did.
But then she said, “The hotel wasn’t about us.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Michael uses rooms there for meetings he doesn’t want on the company calendar. I do payroll and vendor reconciliation. Three months ago, I found transfers that didn’t match invoices.”
Rachel leaned closer to the phone.
“What kind of transfers?”
Claire swallowed.
“Money from Bennett Development to Bennett Family Holdings. Then from Holdings to something called North Shore Custodial Services.”
Patricia’s LLC.
I felt cold.
“Why were you kissing him?”
“He found out I knew. He started acting like he was leaving you. He said if I helped clean up the books, we could start over together.”
“Did you?”
“No. I copied everything.”
Rachel’s eyes sharpened.
“Where are the copies?”
Claire hesitated.
Then we heard a car door slam through the phone.
Claire whispered, “Oh God.”
“What?” I said.
May you like
“He found me.”
The line went dead.
