Chapter 8 - What Claire Said Before She DiedMaria did not want to answer Richard's call.
She stared at his name until the phone nearly stopped ringing.
Then she accepted.
“Hello.”
“Why did Claire call you the night she died?”
Maria closed her eyes.
So Vanessa had used it.
Of course she had.
“Where are you?”
Richard asked.
“At my sister's.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Then talk.”
“Not on the phone.”
Maria almost refused.
Then Richard said something that changed her mind.
“Ethan keeps asking for you.”
Twenty minutes later, Maria entered the family waiting room at St. Catherine's.
Richard was alone.
He looked as if he had aged ten years.
Maria stopped several feet away.
His eyes went to the bruise on her cheek.
Shame crossed his face.
“Maria.”
She waited.
“I am sorry.”
“For which part?”
He accepted the hit.
“For striking you. For accusing you. For not listening.”
“You were scared.”
“That doesn't excuse it.”
“No.”
Richard nodded.
“I know.”
Maria sat.
“What did Vanessa tell you?”
“That Claire called you the night she died.”
Maria looked toward the floor.
“She did.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Claire made me promise.”
“My wife died.”
“I know.”
“And you kept something from me for six years.”
“Yes.”
Richard stood.
“What could possibly justify that?”
Maria lifted her eyes.
“She thought someone was following her.”
Richard stopped.
The anger vanished.
“What?”
“Three weeks before the accident, she started receiving messages.”
“What messages?”
“Anonymous.”
“What did they say?”
Maria remembered Claire sitting at the kitchen island, pale and exhausted, hands wrapped around untouched coffee.
“You should leave him.”
“I know where Ethan sleeps.”
“Richard will never believe you.”
Richard sank back into the chair.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She tried.”
“No.”
“She said you thought she was overwhelmed.”
Richard remembered.
Claire had become anxious in the final month of her life.
He had blamed stress.
Ethan was two.
Richard's company was expanding.
Claire had stopped sleeping.
“She never showed me messages.”
“They disappeared.”
“How?”
“She said her phone was wiped remotely.”
Richard's skin prickled.
“What did she think was happening?”
“She didn't know.”
“And the night she died?”
Maria hesitated.
“Claire called me from the car.”
“What did she say?”
“She was crying.”
Richard looked away.
Maria continued.
“She said she had finally figured out who had been watching her.”
Richard's eyes snapped back.
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
“Why?”
“The call disconnected.”
Richard stood again.
“No.”
“Richard—”
“You kept this from me for six years and you don't even know who?”
“She asked me to protect Ethan.”
“From what?”
“I didn't know.”
Maria's voice broke.
“I thought the accident ended it.”
Silence.
Richard covered his mouth.
Maria whispered, “Then you met Vanessa.”
His hand dropped.
“Two years later.”
“Yes.”
“You think Vanessa had something to do with Claire?”
“I didn't say that.”
“You're thinking it.”
Maria looked him directly in the eyes.
“I don't know.”
Richard paced to the window.
“Why did Vanessa know about the call?”
Maria frowned.
“What?”
“She told me to ask you.”
Maria's stomach tightened.
“I never told her.”
“Did Claire?”
“She died before Vanessa entered your life.”
Richard stopped moving.
They stared at each other.
There were only a handful of people who knew Claire had called Maria that night.
Maria.
Claire.
And the police officer who had examined Claire's phone records.
Unless someone had been watching Claire closely enough to know every call she made.
Richard's phone buzzed.
Detective Ward.
He answered.
Maria watched his expression change.
“Yes.”
Pause.
“Who?”
Another pause.
Richard's face went white.
“Are you sure?”
He slowly ended the call.
Maria stood.
“What happened?”
Richard looked at her.
“They identified N.”
“Who is it?”
Richard seemed unable to say the name.
Finally he whispered,
“Nathan Shaw.”
Maria knew it immediately.
Everyone in Richard's life knew Nathan.
His closest friend.
His business partner.
May you like
Best man at both his weddings.
And one of the men who had carried Claire's coffin.
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