Chapter 8 - The RingClaire’s father wore a heavy onyx ring on his right hand.
It had belonged to his own father.
George removed it slowly when Detective Morales asked.
Rosie watched from across the bank conference room.
Her expression changed when she saw it.
Not fear.
Confusion.
Claire crouched beside her.
“Sweetheart, is that the ring you saw?”
Rosie looked at George.
Then at the ring.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone exhaled.
Claire hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath.
Rosie pointed at the stone.
“Black like that.”
Morales asked gently, “But not Grandpa’s?”
Rosie shook her head.
“Different.”
Ethan wore no rings except his wedding band.
Maria wore a small silver band.
The drawing had created suspicion but not an answer.
Morales bagged George’s ring for photographs anyway.
At six that evening, Claire returned to the mansion under police supervision.
Ethan was waiting outside.
“You changed the gate code.”
“Yes.”
“You locked me out of my own house.”
“It isn’t your house.”
The words landed hard.
Legally, Claire knew she was mostly correct.
The mansion had been placed in Evelyn’s trust and later distributed to Claire.
Ethan’s name was not on the deed.
He stared at her.
“So this is where we are?”
“This is where you brought us.”
“You read the letter.”
“Yes.”
“My dead mother warned me not to marry you.”
“Evelyn was wrong.”
“Then explain Red Harbor.”
“I did legitimate work.”
“Explain tomorrow’s board meeting.”
He stopped.
Claire stepped closer.
“You were going to take Dad’s proxy.”
“Temporarily.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“The board called me yesterday.”
“That’s a lie. The notice was dated three days ago.”
Ethan’s jaw flexed.
Claire continued.
“You knew Dad might lose control. You knew I could eventually take control under Mom’s trust. And suddenly Rosie disappears into a cabinet the night before the board vote.”
His face hardened.
“You think I hurt Rosie over a corporate vote?”
“I think I don’t know you.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No. It’s worse.”
Ethan looked through the window toward the kitchen.
“Where is Rosie?”
Claire stepped between him and the door.
“You’re not seeing her.”
Pain crossed his face.
Real pain.
That almost broke Claire.
Almost.
“I love her.”
“She was terrified when she saw you.”
“Because somebody made her afraid.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You lied about seeing her with the key.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about leaving the house.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about my mother.”
“I didn’t kill Evelyn.”
Claire stared.
“I didn’t say you did.”
Ethan’s face changed.
A mistake.
A small one.
But irreversible.
Claire stepped backward.
“Why would you even say that?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Because I know what you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Claire—”
A police officer approached.
“You need to leave.”
Ethan looked at Claire one last time.
“Ask George what happened on March fourteenth, 2018.”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
“Ask him.”
Then Ethan walked away.
George was in the library when Claire confronted him.
“What happened March fourteenth, 2018?”
The color left his face.
Claire laughed bitterly.
“I’m getting very good at reading that expression.”
George sat down.
“That was the day Evelyn discovered Northbridge.”
“What else?”
“She confronted me.”
“And?”
George looked toward the window.
“She told me she had hired a forensic accountant.”
“Who?”
“Martin Vale.”
Claire had never heard the name.
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
Her skin prickled.
“Disappeared?”
“He resigned. Stopped answering calls.”
“When?”
“Two weeks after your mother died.”
“And nobody thought that was suspicious?”
“I did.”
“Then why didn’t you find him?”
“I tried.”
“Did Ethan know him?”
George hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Ethan recommended him.”
Claire stared.
A knock sounded at the library door.
Detective Morales entered holding her phone.
“We found Martin Vale.”
Claire stood.
“Where?”
Morales’s expression was grim.
“He’s been living under a different name in Oregon for six years.”
“Why?”
“He says because someone threatened to kill his daughter if he ever spoke about Bennett Development.”
Claire felt cold all over.
“Who threatened him?”
Morales looked at George.
“He says he never saw the man’s face.”
May you like
Then she looked at Claire.
“But he remembers the ring.”
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