Chapter 9 - THE TRUST
“I didn't take anything,” Olivia said.
“No one thinks you did,” Clara told her immediately.
Adrian opened the trust records with shaking hands.
The account had been created by his father shortly before he died. It was supposed to pay for Olivia's education and eventually transfer to her at twenty-five.
But the account number on Vanessa's spreadsheet was wrong.
One digit had been changed.
A fake trust had been created with nearly the same name.
“She's laundering money through Olivia,” Adrian said.
Clara corrected him. “She's making it look like you are.”
That was worse.
If auditors discovered the transfers without context, Adrian would appear to be moving company funds into a private trust for his daughter.
The scheme wasn't only theft.
It was insurance.
If Vanessa got caught, she intended to drag Adrian down with her.
Detective Reyes called twenty minutes later.
“We picked up Martin Hale.”
“Where?”
“Airport hotel. He had a ticket to Costa Rica.”
“Did he talk?”
“Not yet. But he had seventy-eight thousand dollars in cash.”
Adrian looked toward Clara.
Reyes continued. “And Vanessa has retained counsel. She is claiming the stroller incident was an accident.”
“An accident she blamed on Clara?”
“Her lawyer says she panicked.”
Clara laughed bitterly. “She panicked before it happened?”
Reyes paused. “There is something else. Vanessa says Clara threatened her two weeks ago.”
Adrian closed his eyes. “Of course she does.”
“She produced an audio recording.”
Clara looked stunned. “Of what?”
“I haven't heard it yet. Her attorney says you told Vanessa, quote, 'If you come near my family again, I'll make you disappear.'”
Clara shook her head. “I never said that.”
Adrian believed her instantly this time.
The speed of his own certainty almost hurt.
Clara noticed.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him for a long moment.
“Too bad you learned that after you hit me.”
He looked down.
At the station, Reyes played Vanessa's recording.
It sounded like Clara.
The voice was nearly perfect.
But Olivia, listening from the doorway after being told to stay outside, suddenly frowned.
“That's not Clara.”
Reyes turned. “Why?”
Olivia pointed at the speaker.
“Because Clara never calls Emma 'the baby.' She always says her name.”
The room went still.
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And Daniel Price, who had joined by video call, said one word:
“Deepfake.”
