Chapter 11 - THE INTERVIEW
Claire’s hands shook so badly she couldn’t fasten her coat.
Gabriel stepped forward, then waited.
She nodded.
He helped with the buttons.
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“I know.”
“They have my name on the account.”
“Then we show them how it got there.”
Daniel drove.
At the station, a detective named Ruiz led them into an interview room.
Gabriel stayed outside while Daniel sat beside Claire.
The waiting hurt more than being questioned would have.
He watched a clock move from 10:14 to 10:37.
Then 11:02.
His mother called twice.
He let it ring.
Inside, Claire explained that staff used a shared accounting portal. Her login had access to enter invoices, but she couldn’t release payments alone.
Ruiz placed a transfer authorization in front of her.
“Is that your signature?”
“No.”
“Have you seen it before?”
“No.”
Daniel slid the forged paternity statement across the table.
“We’d like both documents examined.”
Ruiz looked from one signature to the other.
Then he asked for Claire’s original employment records.
By noon, Mara had identified something else.
Several disputed transfers had been approved while Claire was logged into a hospital visitor network during Léa’s pneumonia admission.
The payment confirmations came from a device registered to Harbor House’s finance director.
Ruiz read the records without speaking.
Finally, he closed the folder.
“We’ll need to verify this independently.”
Claire nodded.
“Please do.”
When she came out, Gabriel stood.
“What happened?”
“They’re still investigating.”
“Are you under arrest?”
“No.”
She pressed her palms against her eyes.
“I thought I was ready. Then they put that paper in front of me, and I could hear your mother saying nobody would believe me.”
He wanted to promise her the worst was over.
He had learned enough not to.
“I believe you.”
She lowered her hands.
“That helps,” she said. “It doesn’t fix everything.”
“I know.”
Outside, his phone filled with notifications.
A business news site had published a story.
VALMONT HEIR ABANDONS MAJOR DEAL AMID PATERNITY DISPUTE.
There was a picture of Claire leaving the hospital.
Another of Léa.
Gabriel stopped walking.
The caption beneath his daughter’s face read:
THE CHILD AT THE CENTER OF THE SCANDAL.
Claire saw it.
May you like
Her face went white.
“They put her name in it.”
