Chapter 5: The Money in Her Name
Daniel didn't touch the photograph for several seconds.
He simply stared at the woman standing beside Claire, studying her face as if recognition might appear if he looked hard enough.
“Who is she?”” he asked.
Marcus shook his head.
“I only saw her twice. Claire said she was helping with some paperwork.””
“What kind of paperwork?””
“I don't know.””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“You keep saying you don't know. You knew about the affair. You knew about the fake pregnancy.
You helped her maintain the lie. What exactly did you know?””
Marcus lowered his head.
“Not enough. And I didn't ask enough questions.””
Daniel pushed the photograph across the island.
“Then start asking yourself some now.””
I watched Marcus sit down.
He looked exhausted, but exhaustion wasn't the same as remorse. A man could look miserable and still be more concerned about his own consequences than the pain he'd caused.
Daniel seemed to understand that.
He opened his laptop and logged into the household banking account.
“Claire handles most of our monthly bills,” he said.
“I review the major expenses, but we have a joint account for everything else.””
He scrolled through the transactions.
Mortgage payment.
Electricity.
Groceries.
Insurance.
Then his finger stopped.
“What's this?””
I leaned over his shoulder.
A transfer of $8,500 had been made four months earlier to a company called Carter Family Consulting.
Daniel frowned.
“We don't own a consulting company.””
He opened the transaction details.
The transfer had been authorized through his household account.
A second payment had followed three weeks later.
$12,000.
Then another.
$7,500.
Daniel sat back.
“That's twenty-eight thousand dollars.””
Marcus looked at the screen.
“I've never seen that company before.””
Daniel turned toward him.
“Did Claire ever ask you for money?””
“No.””
“Did she tell you she was investing in something?””
Marcus hesitated.
“She mentioned an opportunity once. She said she was helping someone set up a small business.””
“Who?””
“I don't know.””
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Of course you don't.””
He opened the next transaction.
A payment of $4,200 had gone to a medical supply store.
The description included the words maternity products.
He clicked into the details.
The purchase included maternity clothing, a pregnancy support pillow, and several items listed as postpartum supplies.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“She didn't just buy the fake stomach.””
“No,” I said quietly.
“She bought everything needed to make the pregnancy look real.””
He nodded.
A new thought seemed to occur to him.
“What about the appointments?””
He opened Claire's shared calendar.
There were dozens of entries marked Prenatal Consultation, Ultrasound, and Blood Work.
Each appointment had been scheduled during normal business hours.
Daniel looked at the dates.
“I remember these. I offered to take time off for the ultrasound. She told me the clinic only allowed one person in the room.””
I stared at him.
“Did you ever call the clinic?””
“No. Why would I? I trusted her.””
He clicked one of the appointments.
A location appeared beneath the entry.
A medical building in north Dallas.
Daniel copied the address into a search window, then stared at the results.
The building contained several independent medical offices.
None of them appeared to be an obstetrics practice.
“That's strange,” he murmured.
He clicked another appointment.
The same address.
Another.
Again, the same building.
“Why would a pregnant woman keep scheduling appointments at a building with no obstetrician?””
Marcus shifted uncomfortably.
“Maybe she was meeting the woman in the photograph.””
Daniel turned.
“Which woman?””
“The one outside the medical office. I think her name was Vanessa.””
“You think?””
“Claire called her Vanessa once.””
Daniel searched the name alongside the address.
Several results appeared.
One belonged to a bookkeeping service.
Another was a small financial advisory firm.
The third was a business registration for Carter Family Consulting.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“Vanessa owns the company.””
He clicked the registration.
The business had been established six months earlier.
Its registered agent was Vanessa Price.
Its listed address matched the medical building.
And the company had been formed shortly before Claire began telling people she was pregnant.
I felt a knot tighten in my stomach.
“Why would a bookkeeping company need maternity products?””
Daniel didn't answer.
He opened the bank statement again and clicked the largest transfer.
The $12,000 payment had been deposited into the company's account, then withdrawn in several smaller transactions.
One payment had gone to a furniture store.
Another to a travel agency.
A third had been transferred to an account whose name was partially hidden.
Daniel leaned closer to the screen.
“Wait.””
He opened the transaction details.
The account belonged to a woman named Vanessa Price.
But the transfer memo contained two words.
Trust distribution.
Daniel sat motionless.
Then he whispered, “My father's trust.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
“Dad left me money. Not a huge amount, but enough to help us buy this house. The trust was supposed to cover certain family expenses, and I transferred a portion into our joint account after we got married.””
He opened another document.
It was a trust statement.
The balance had decreased significantly over the previous year.
Daniel scrolled through the transactions.
His face grew paler.
“She didn't just take money from our joint account.””
He turned the screen toward me.
“She accessed the trust.””
I stared at the figures.
The withdrawals totaled nearly $140,000.
“Can she do that?”” I asked.
“She shouldn't be able to. The trust has restrictions. The money can be used for approved expenses, but not transferred to a business without documentation.””
He opened the most recent statement.
A signature appeared at the bottom of the authorization form.
Daniel zoomed in.
The signature looked like his.
But something about it was wrong.
The letters were too evenly spaced. The final stroke of his name ended abruptly.
He looked at the form again.
“I didn't sign this.””
Marcus leaned forward.
“Are you sure?””
Daniel turned toward him with an expression that could have cut glass.
“I know my own signature.””
He printed the document.
Then he opened the folder containing Claire's financial records.
A second authorization form appeared.
This one had been used to transfer $35,000.
The signature was nearly identical.
Daniel's breathing became shallow.
“She forged my signature.””
I reached for the back of his chair.
“Daniel, don't touch anything else. You need to preserve these records and speak to a lawyer.””
He nodded, but he looked as though he hadn't heard me.
He was staring at the name on the transfer form.
Vanessa Price.
“Who is she?”” he asked again.
Marcus rubbed his hands together.
“I don't know everything, but I remember Claire mentioning that Vanessa was helping her arrange something before the baby arrived.””
“What?””
“She said she needed to protect the baby's future.””
Daniel's expression changed.
“Protect it from what?””
Marcus shook his head.
“I didn't ask.””
Daniel pushed away from the island and began pacing.
“Every time I ask one question, another lie appears.””
He stopped in front of the refrigerator.
A photograph of him and Claire was held to the door by a blue magnet. They were standing on a beach, laughing into the wind, their arms wrapped around each other.
It had been taken two years earlier.
Before the affair.
Before the fake pregnancy.
Before the money disappeared.
Daniel pulled the photograph off the refrigerator.
He looked at it for a long moment.
Then he placed it facedown on the counter.
“I'm calling a lawyer tomorrow morning.””
“Tonight,” I said.
He turned.
“It's nearly nine.””
“Then call the emergency line for the firm if they have one. You don't need to solve everything tonight, but you should stop giving Claire time to move money or destroy records.””
He nodded.
Marcus stood.
“I can help.””
Daniel looked at him.
“You've helped enough.””
Marcus flinched.
“I deserve that, too.””
“No. You don't get to decide what you deserve. You get to decide whether you'll finally tell the truth.””
Marcus looked down at the printed statements.
“There is one more thing.””
Daniel's face tightened.
“What now?””
“Claire asked me to help her set up a separate bank account. She said she wanted money for the baby that you wouldn't be able to access.””
Daniel stared at him.
“When?””
“About two months ago.””
“Did you help her?””
Marcus nodded reluctantly.
“I gave her the name of a bank manager I knew. I didn't open the account myself, but I introduced them.””
“Do you know how much money is in it?””
“No.””
“Do you know where the money came from?””
Marcus hesitated.
“Some of it came from the transfers. But I think she had another source.””
Daniel went very still.
“What source?””
Marcus looked toward the window.
“She said her mother had left her something.””
Daniel shook his head.
“Claire's mother is alive.””
“I know.””
“Then what inheritance is she talking about?””
Marcus's face changed.
“I asked her the same question.””
“And?””
“She said it wasn't an inheritance from her mother. It was money that belonged to someone else, and she was just keeping it safe.””
I felt a chill.
Daniel walked back to the laptop and searched Vanessa Price's name again.
This time, he opened the company's public filings.
A document appeared listing the business's original members.
Vanessa Price.
And Claire Carter.
The company had been formed using a mailing address Daniel recognized.
His own home.
He stared at the screen.
“Claire used our address to register the company.””
He opened the formation date.
Six months earlier.
Then he noticed a second document attached to the filing.
A statement of initial capital.
The company had started with $75,000.
Daniel looked at the amount.
Then he opened the trust statement again.
The first unauthorized transfer had been $75,000.
The exact same amount.
He slowly turned toward Marcus.
“Did Claire tell you she was investing in a business?””
“Yes.””
“What did she say the business did?””
Marcus swallowed.
“She said it helped families plan for the future.””
Daniel stared at him.
Then he laughed.
It was a terrible sound.
“My wife built a company with money stolen from my father's trust and named it after our family.””
He closed the laptop.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then a car pulled into the driveway.
Headlights swept across the kitchen windows.
Daniel looked toward the front door.
A vehicle door slammed outside.
Footsteps approached the porch.
Then someone knocked.
Three sharp knocks.
Daniel walked toward the door and looked through the peephole.
His expression changed.
“Who is it?”” I whispered.
He turned toward me.
“Vanessa Price.””
The woman from the photograph was standing on his porch.
She held a thick envelope against her chest.
May you like
And when Daniel opened the door, she didn't ask for Claire.
She looked directly at him and said, “Mr. Carter, your wife told me you were never supposed to find out about the child.””
