Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WEARING CLAIRE’S NECKLACE
Claire asked security to let Vanessa upstairs.
Richard was denied entry.
Vanessa arrived alone.
Her face was pale.
The necklace was gone.
Claire noticed immediately.
“Where is it?”
Vanessa blinked.
“Where is what?”
“My necklace.”
Vanessa looked toward Eleanor.
Then toward Naomi.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Claire almost admired the lie.
“You were wearing my grandmother’s necklace downstairs.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“It was a gift.”
“From Richard?”
Silence.
Claire’s stomach turned.
“Say it.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“Claire.”
“How long have you been sleeping with my husband?”
Eleanor quietly moved toward the window.
She gave Claire the dignity of not watching her face.
Vanessa whispered.
“Eleven months.”
Claire felt something inside her go strangely calm.
Eleven months.
That included Christmas.
Their anniversary.
The week Claire learned she was pregnant.
The night Richard cried when they first heard their daughter’s heartbeat.
“Did he tell you he was leaving me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“Did he tell you I knew?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“No.”
Claire laughed once.
It sounded empty.
“Of course not.”
Vanessa wiped at her eyes.
“I didn’t come here to hurt you.”
“You came wearing my necklace.”
“I didn’t know it was yours.”
“Why are you here?”
Vanessa looked toward the closed door.
“Because Richard is scared.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“Of what?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know everything.”
“Then tell us what you do know.”
Vanessa twisted her hands together.
“Three weeks ago, he became obsessed with Claire’s bracelet.”
“He started searching old Crawford records.”
“He asked me to find articles about the missing Crawford child.”
Claire stared at her.
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Then two weeks ago he started moving money.”
Naomi’s eyes sharpened.
“What money?”
“Company money.”
“Personal money.”
“Anything he could move without triggering review.”
Claire felt sick.
Richard worked as chief financial officer of Sterling Maritime, a company founded by his father.
Vanessa continued.
“He said something big was about to happen.”
“He kept saying we needed to be positioned before Claire understood who she was.”
The room froze.
Claire whispered.
“He knew.”
Vanessa nodded reluctantly.
“I think he suspected.”
“How?”
“I heard him talking to his mother.”
Claire looked up.
“Diana?”
“Yes.”
“He showed her the bracelet photo.”
“What did she say?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with fear.
“She told him to get it away from you.”
No one spoke.
Claire remembered Diana Sterling.
Elegant.
Cold.
Always judging.
The woman who had never liked Claire because she had “no family background.”
The woman who had once said bloodlines mattered.
Now that sentence felt different.
Claire leaned forward.
“Why would Diana recognize the bracelet?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa reached into her handbag.
“I brought something.”
She placed a flash drive on the table.
“Richard had me copy documents from an old storage account.”
“I made a second copy.”
Naomi did not touch it.
“What documents?”
“Emails.”
“Scans.”
“Old correspondence.”
“Some are from Richard’s mother.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“What kind of correspondence?”
Vanessa looked directly at her.
“One message mentions St. Agnes.”
Claire stopped breathing.
St. Agnes.
The orphanage where Claire had been found.
Eleanor turned away from the window.
Her face had gone white.
Vanessa continued.
“The message is dated 1999.”
Claire had been six years old then.
“Who was it sent to?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Malcolm Crawford.”
Eleanor’s brother.
Claire looked at her mother.
Eleanor did not move.
“Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“What did the message say?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I only saw the subject line.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“What subject?”
Vanessa whispered the words.
THE GIRL IS STILL THERE.
For the second time in two days, Claire felt the ground disappear beneath her.
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Because someone in Richard’s family had apparently known where Claire was when she was a child.
And they had told Eleanor Crawford’s own brother.
