Chapter 10 - THE DEAL BETWEEN RICHARD AND MALCOLM
Richard denied everything.
Of course he did.
His attorney called the payment a misunderstanding.
Malcolm called it fabricated.
Diana Sterling refused all requests for comment.
Naomi did not argue publicly.
She collected evidence.
Two days later, investigators obtained security footage from a private club near Lake Michigan.
Richard arrived at 10:14 p.m.
Malcolm arrived twelve minutes later.
They entered the same private dining room.
They stayed for ninety-three minutes.
Claire watched the footage without blinking.
“My husband is meeting my uncle.”
Eleanor corrected her gently.
“Your soon-to-be ex-husband.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
Naomi placed financial records beside the footage.
Richard had transferred fifty thousand dollars to Malcolm.
Malcolm’s company had then paid twenty thousand dollars to a laboratory consultant.
The consultant had approached an employee involved in Claire’s second DNA test.
The employee reported the contact.
Everything was documented.
Claire stared at the paper trail.
“They’re not very good criminals.”
Naomi shook her head.
“They’re desperate.”
That mattered.
Desperate people became dangerous.
Claire’s doctor finally cleared her to leave the hotel for short periods.
Her first destination was not Eleanor’s mansion.
It was the condominium she had shared with Richard.
She went with Naomi and two security officers.
Richard was not there.
Most of his clothes were gone.
So were several paintings.
The wine collection.
Two watches Claire had given him.
Her jewelry box was empty.
Claire stood in the bedroom.
“He took everything.”
Naomi photographed the drawers.
“Not everything.”
Claire looked at her.
“You’re still standing.”
Claire almost cried.
They searched the home office.
Nothing.
Then Claire remembered Richard’s habit of hiding important paperwork in places he believed she never checked.
She walked into the guest room.
Opened the built-in cabinet.
Removed three old architecture books.
Behind them was a small safe.
Naomi called a locksmith.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Corporate documents.
And a thick yellow envelope with CLAIRE written across the front.
Claire stared at it.
“Why does he have a file on me?”
She opened it.
There were photographs of her.
At college.
At work.
Leaving restaurants.
Walking outside St. Agnes during a visit she had made years earlier.
Some photographs predated her relationship with Richard.
Claire’s hands began shaking.
“What is this?”
Naomi looked disturbed.
The oldest photo was seven years old.
Claire had met Richard four years ago.
Someone had been watching her three years before that.
At the bottom of the envelope was a handwritten letter.
DIANA,
THE GIRL HAS NO MEMORY.
SHE USES THE NAME CLAIRE MORGAN.
KEEP HER AWAY FROM CHICAGO.
M.
Claire sat down.
The letter was dated 2016.
One year before she met Richard.
Naomi whispered.
“My God.”
Claire looked at her.
“Richard didn’t meet me by accident.”
The thought was horrifying.
Every dinner.
Every vacation.
Every promise.
Every kiss.
She had believed they were memories.
Now they looked like evidence.
Richard had approached her intentionally.
But why marry her?
Why keep her close?
Why get her pregnant?
Claire turned the letter over.
There was more writing on the back.
Different handwriting.
Diana’s.
RICHARD CAN HANDLE IT.
SHE TRUSTS HIM.
Claire stopped breathing.
May you like
Richard had not discovered Claire’s identity three weeks earlier.
His family had known who she was before he ever introduced himself.
