Chapter 3 - Eleven Fifty-Nine
Claire stared at the officer. "Do not let her anywhere near my daughter."
"We won't," he said. "Her name's going straight to our security team."
Detective Lena Ortiz arrived with a notebook and an expression that told Claire she understood the difference between an accident and a crime. She asked for the story twice, slowly, without interrupting when Claire shook.
"She wasn't trying to help me," Claire said. "She stood in my way. She had papers in her hand. She wanted the house."
"Why tonight?"
"I have no idea."
Their mother, Ruth Morgan, had left Claire the house two years earlier. It was an old brick place on a slope above Hawthorne Creek. Vanessa inherited an insurance policy and most of Ruth's savings. She had called the house a pile of wet bricks until six weeks ago. Then she'd started asking about its deed, tax papers, and basement.
Claire had thought her sister was worried about maintenance. Claire was exhausted and newly widowed; she hadn't wanted another fight.
"Tell me about your husband," Ortiz said gently.
"Sam died last winter. A highway collision. Emma's the last thing he gave me."
Ortiz waited while Claire recovered. "Did Vanessa know you were at the pharmacy?"
"She offered to stay with Emma so I could pick up medication. She begged me to get out of the house for twenty minutes."
Ortiz's pen stopped. "We'll need the doorbell camera and any messages she sent."
Claire remembered a message Vanessa had sent at dawn: NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TODAY, DON'T MAKE ME THE BAD GUY.
She had deleted it because she thought Vanessa was being dramatic.
Dr. Shah returned. The scans showed no obvious major bleed, but Emma had a bruise and signs of a mild head injury. They would watch her closely through the night.
Claire kissed the edge of the baby's blanket as nurses settled her in an observation room.
At 8:14 p.m., Ortiz's phone rang. She listened, her face tightening.
"We found a transaction tied to your property," she said. "Someone promised to deliver your house to a buyer by midnight."
Claire looked up. "Who?"
May you like
Ortiz turned the screen toward her.
The signature on the contract said: CLAIRE MORGAN.
