Chapter 3 - What Richard Tried to Carry Out of the HouseClaire ran upstairs.
She reached Richard’s office just as he unplugged his laptop.
“What are you doing?”
Richard looked over his shoulder.
“Packing.”
“That stays.”
He laughed.
“It’s my work computer.”
“Nora says otherwise.”
Richard froze.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Claire saw it.
“Nora?”
“Yes.”
His expression changed completely.
“When did you talk to her?”
“Today.”
“What did she tell you?”
Claire leaned against the doorway.
“Enough.”
Richard closed the laptop.
“That woman is unstable.”
“She says you fired her.”
“I did.”
“You told me she quit.”
“Because I didn’t want to drag you into workplace drama.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You mean you didn’t want me asking why.”
Richard picked up the laptop.
Claire stepped into the doorway.
“Put it down.”
“Move.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
For one terrible second Claire wondered whether he would shove her.
Then Emma appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Mom?”
Richard looked toward his daughter.
Emma immediately stepped backward.
That tiny instinctive movement stopped him.
Not because it softened him.
Because he realized Claire had seen it.
He placed the laptop on the desk.
“Happy?”
“No.”
He packed clothing instead.
Twenty minutes later he came downstairs carrying a leather overnight bag.
Claire had photographed Emma’s cheek.
The broken plates.
The soap-covered sink.
The fever patch.
Everything Rebecca instructed her to preserve.
Richard saw her phone.
“You’re documenting this?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“Unbelievable.”
Emma sat wrapped in a blanket on the living-room couch.
Richard approached.
Claire stepped between them.
“I want to say goodbye to my daughter.”
Emma gripped the blanket.
Claire looked at her.
“You don’t have to.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“She’s my child too.”
Emma whispered, “I don’t want to.”
The words were barely audible.
Richard heard them.
His expression flickered.
Then he recovered.
“This is what you wanted, Claire.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Turning her against me.”
“You did that yourself.”
Richard leaned close enough that only Claire could hear him.
“You have no idea what you’re starting.”
Claire didn’t move.
“Leave.”
He walked out.
The front door slammed.
Emma began crying again.
Claire held her until the child finally fell asleep.
Then she went upstairs.
Richard’s laptop remained on the desk.
Rebecca had advised her not to tamper with potentially private business files without legal guidance.
Claire called her immediately.
Rebecca listened.
“Do not start opening random confidential documents,” she warned. “But secure the device so it isn’t removed or destroyed until we determine the proper legal process.”
Claire placed it inside a locked cabinet.
Then Nora called.
“Is he gone?”
“Yes.”
“Did he take the laptop?”
“No.”
Nora exhaled.
“Good.”
“Now tell me what’s on it.”
Silence.
“Nora.”
“Richard has been moving money.”
“I know.”
“No, Claire. You know about the accounts he expected you to find.”
Claire sat down.
“What does that mean?”
“The eighty-five thousand dollars? That was nothing.”
Claire’s mouth went dry.
“How much?”
“At least nine hundred thousand that I could track.”
She stopped breathing.
“That’s impossible.”
“I wish it were.”
“Where did it go?”
“Shell companies. Consulting invoices. Transfers through accounts linked to people I’d never heard of.”
Claire immediately thought about their home.
Retirement.
Emma’s education fund.
“What else?”
“I found a refinancing package involving your house.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“I never agreed to refinance.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“There’s a signature.”
Claire stood.
“I didn’t sign anything.”
“That’s why I confronted him.”
“And that’s why he fired you?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked toward the office cabinet containing the laptop.
“My signature was forged?”
“I can’t prove who signed it. But the application exists.”
Claire felt physically ill.
Richard hadn’t simply become angry.
He had been cornered.
And desperate people could become dangerous.
“Why didn’t you contact me immediately?”
Nora hesitated.
“I was scared.”
“Of Richard?”
“Yes.”
Claire remembered the warning.
“What did he do?”
“He told me if I interfered in his marriage, he’d make sure no company in our industry hired me again.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Why contact me now?”
“Because of Emma.”
Nora’s voice cracked slightly.
“I have a daughter too.”
Claire looked downstairs toward the sleeping child.
“Will you testify?”
There was a long pause.
“Yes.”
Claire exhaled.
Then Nora added, “But there’s something else you should know.”
“What?”
“The money isn’t the only secret.”
Claire waited.
Nora lowered her voice.
“Richard has another phone.”
Claire frowned.
“A second phone?”
“One he never brought into the office.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw him using it in the parking garage once. He hid it when he noticed me.”
Claire thought.
Then remembered Emma saying something months earlier.
Daddy talks in the garage when he doesn’t want noise.
At the time Claire assumed business calls.
Now she walked downstairs.
Emma stirred.
“Sweetheart?”
The girl opened tired eyes.
“Have you ever seen Dad with a different phone?”
Emma became completely still.
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Emma?”
The girl looked toward the garage door.
May you like
Then whispered:
“He told me never to tell you about it.”
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