Chapter 10 - The Road Behind Her
The recording began with the scrape of a chair.
Then Claire’s voice.
“You put his name on a loan.”
Richard answered.
“Lower your voice.”
“You forged his name.”
Vanessa spoke next.
“We moved money between accounts. That’s all.”
“Then explain the supplier that doesn’t exist.”
Nathan sat in an interview room with his hands flat on his knees.
Shaw had asked whether he wanted to hear it.
He had said yes.
Now his wife was alive in a speaker on the table, furious and breathing too fast.
Richard told her the company would collapse if she reported them.
Claire said the company was already in danger.
Then Vanessa said something that made Shaw glance at Nathan.
“You don’t get to walk away and leave us holding this.”
Claire answered without hesitation.
“Watch me.”
The recording ended.
Nathan stared at the silent device.
“Is it enough?”
“It supports the financial investigation,” Shaw said. “And it gives us a motive to examine. We still need evidence about the crash.”
He nodded, hating the distance between those things.
Shaw opened a folder.
“We’ve contacted the original collision investigator. We also located a more complete witness statement.”
“The woman Martha saw?”
“Yes. And a driver who reported another vehicle behind Claire’s car.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“A black SUV?”
Shaw nodded.
“The driver couldn’t identify the person behind the wheel. At the time, the report described it as a possible unrelated vehicle.”
“Was it my father’s?”
“It matched the type of vehicle owned by Vanessa’s shell company.”
Nathan looked away.
“What are you telling me?”
“I’m telling you we’re checking records.”
Two days later, she called him back.
The SUV had been repaired shortly after Claire’s death.
An insurance claim covered damage to its front end.
The claim said it had struck a parking barrier.
The repair shop still had photographs in its old customer system.
Shaw wouldn’t discuss everything over the phone.
She asked him to come in.
When he arrived, a collision specialist sat beside her.
The man explained that a fresh review of the old photographs and physical reports raised serious questions.
Claire’s car showed damage inconsistent with striking only the roadside barrier.
There was evidence of contact before it left the road.
Nathan heard the words through a roaring in his ears.
“Someone hit her?”
“We believe another vehicle made contact,” Shaw said.
He thought of Claire driving alone.
Looking in her mirror.
Trying to get home.
His throat closed.
“Was she still alive afterward?”
Shaw didn’t rush to answer.
“We’re reviewing the emergency timeline.”
“Was she?”
The specialist lowered his eyes.
Shaw folded her hands.
“There was a call from Claire’s phone before the crash was reported.”
“To 911?”
“No.”
Nathan already knew.
May you like
He had known since his father’s first silence.
“She called Richard.”
