Chapter 5 - Claire's Apartment
The police had searched Claire's apartment after I reported her missing.
That was what I believed.
They had done a welfare check.
Different thing.
No forced entry.
No body.
Most of her clothes remained.
Vanessa told me that proved Claire left in a hurry.
Now building logs showed Vanessa and Marcus entered at 9:41 p.m.
Claire arrived at 9:18.
Vanessa left at 11:07.
Marcus left at 11:19.
Claire never used her key card again.
Ortiz asked the building manager for archived camera footage.
Most had been overwritten.
One elevator camera had been saved for an unrelated insurance dispute.
It showed Marcus leaving.
He carried Claire's black laptop bag.
I watched the clip three times.
Rachel finally closed the tablet.
"Enough."
"No."
"Daniel."
"Play it again."
Good lawyers know when grief starts pretending to be investigation.
Ortiz interviewed Claire's neighbor, Mrs. Patel.
She remembered shouting that night.
She opened her door but saw only Vanessa in the hall.
Vanessa smiled and said Claire had dropped a lamp.
Mrs. Patel went back inside.
Forty minutes later, she heard the service elevator.
I asked Ortiz, "Where did they take her?"
"We're working on it."
Then Noah appeared in the office doorway.
"Dad?"
"Hey, buddy."
He held something in his hand.
"I found this under Aunt Claire's old picture in Vanessa's room."
"What picture?"
Vanessa had kept a framed photograph of Claire, me, and our father at a company picnic.
Behind the cardboard backing was a handwritten number.
B-417.
Rachel looked at the key.
"Storage unit?"
It belonged to HarborLock Storage.
Unit B-417 was rented thirteen months earlier.
Renter name:
Claire Carter.
May you like
Monthly payment method:
Vanessa Sterling's credit card.
