Chapter 13 - Someone Had Been Inside
Claire did not touch the duffel.
She photographed everything first.
Cut fabric.
Broken lock.
Empty document sleeve.
The small notebook she carried on flights was missing.
So was a printed copy of her communication with Marisol.
Ethan stood behind her.
“Who knew that bag was in the garage?”
“Everyone in this house.”
Mark winced.
Claire looked at him.
“I’m not accusing you.”
“You should.”
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
“Then don’t waste time volunteering guilt.”
Marisol arrived fifteen minutes later with two agents.
They checked doors, windows, locks, and the camera system.
The rear camera had been disabled for eleven minutes.
The front camera had continued recording.
No stranger entered.
Ethan stared at the monitor.
“So whoever took it was already here.”
Linda sat at the table.
Claire looked from her mother to Mark.
Then upstairs.
“Where’s Dad?”
Marisol answered.
“He was released pending further review about an hour ago.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
No one had told them.
She called him.
Straight to voicemail.
Ethan muttered, “Of course.”
Then one of the agents came in from the garage.
“We found a print on the cut edge.”
Claire waited.
“It’s your father’s.”
Linda covered her face.
Claire felt something inside her go very still.
Robert had come home.
He had taken the documents.
And left without facing them.
Mark stood.
“He’s going to Walter.”
Marisol shook her head. “Walter is still being held.”
“For now,” Mark said. “But Dad doesn’t think like us when he’s scared.”
Claire looked at Mark.
“What does he do?”
“He tries to buy the problem.”
Ethan laughed bitterly. “With somebody else’s money.”
Claire’s phone buzzed.
A bank alert.
WIRE TRANSFER ATTEMPT — $164,000 — FAMILY TRUST ACCOUNT.
She stared at it.
“That account is frozen.”
Marisol asked, “Who initiated it?”
Claire opened the detail page.
Authorized user: ROBERT BENNETT.
Destination: PRICE CONSULTING GROUP.
Mark swore.
Ethan’s face flushed.
“He’s paying Walter again?”
“No,” Claire said.
She zoomed in.
The account number did not match Walter’s known company records.
Marisol leaned closer.
Claire read the receiving bank location.
Springfield, Missouri.
Mark’s face changed.
“What?”
He looked at the screen.
“That’s not Walter.”
“Then who?”
Mark backed away from the table.
“That’s where Dad hid me the first year.”
Claire understood.
“He’s moving money to one of your old accounts.”
Mark shook his head.
“No. That account was controlled by the accountant.”
The room went silent.
The family accountant.
Harold Crane.
The man seen with Mark in the motel photograph.
Claire looked at Marisol.
“We’ve been watching Walter.”
Marisol was already reaching for her phone.
Claire finished the thought.
May you like
“But Crane has the money.”
Then Linda whispered, “And he has Robert.”
