Chapter 5 - THE ENVELOPE
The envelope accused Claire of stealing thirty-eight thousand dollars from a nonprofit called Harbor House.
Gabriel read it twice.
Claire looked too tired to be surprised.
“They said this might happen.”
“Who?”
“My supervisor. The board chair.”
“What money?”
“I found payments going to a company that didn’t seem to do anything. I asked questions.”
“Did you take records?”
“Copies of invoices. Payroll reports. Things I handled as part of my job.”
The man at the door cleared his throat.
“You should have your counsel contact the number provided.”
Gabriel looked up.
“She’s hospitalized. You can leave.”
“I’m merely—”
“You’ve delivered it.”
The man left.
Léa watched from the chair by the window.
“Is Mommy in trouble?”
Claire opened her arms.
“No, baby. Come here.”
Léa climbed carefully onto the bed.
Gabriel stepped into the hallway and called Daniel Price, an attorney he trusted because Daniel had once told him a deal was rotten to his face.
“I need you at St. Anne’s.”
“Corporate?”
“Personal.”
“That sounds worse.”
“It is.”
Daniel arrived carrying a leather briefcase and two coffees.
He listened without interrupting.
When Gabriel finished, Daniel looked through the papers.
“First, we verify everything. Second, no angry phone calls. Third, stop telling people where you are.”
“My mother already knows.”
“Then we start there.”
They arranged an independent paternity test with Claire’s consent. Gabriel hated how the paperwork made something enormous sound routine.
Name.
Date.
Signature.
This time, his own.
Later, while Claire slept, he sat beside Léa in the family lounge.
She was drawing a house with three crooked windows.
“Do you have kids?” she asked.
“No.”
She considered that.
“Do you know how to make pancakes?”
“Badly.”
“My mommy makes them shaped like animals.”
“What kind?”
“Mostly circles. But she says they’re bears.”
He laughed before he could stop himself.
Léa smiled, then grew serious.
“Are you mad at her?”
“No.”
“You looked mad.”
“I’m mad that people hurt her.”
The child pressed her crayon so hard it snapped.
“The man at our apartment made her cry.”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“What man?”
“He wore a blue jacket.”
His mind went straight to the airport coffee shop.
“What did he say?”
May you like
Léa lowered her voice.
“He said Mommy should have stayed gone.”
