Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE
“Tell me it's fake,” Claire said.
Daniel didn't.
The room seemed to lose its air.
“Martin brought me a completed investigation,” he said. “Bank records. Access logs. A statement saying you'd refused to answer questions.”
“I waited outside your office for three hours.”
He stared at her.
“Your assistant said you were busy. Then security took me downstairs.”
“I didn't know.”
“You didn't ask.”
That landed harder.
Daniel looked down at the paper. He remembered signing it between meetings, hurt and angry because Vanessa had told him Claire had ended their relationship and wanted money to stay quiet.
He had believed the story that let him feel betrayed instead of abandoned.
“You're right,” he said.
Claire's anger faltered, then came back stronger.
“Don't agree with me like that fixes it.”
“It doesn't.”
“I cleaned offices at night. I counted groceries in the checkout line. Once Lucy needed medicine, and I stood outside a pharmacy trying to decide which bill could wait.”
Daniel didn't move.
“You signed a page,” she said. “I lived inside it.”
Ruth gave them silence before speaking.
“We need copies of everything before this becomes a board fight.”
Daniel handed over the authorization.
“Including that.”
Back at the hotel, Lucy slept curled against Anna. Claire sat on the edge of the bed and watched her breathe.
Daniel stayed in the doorway.
“I'll arrange whatever you need.”
“You can start by asking.”
He nodded. “What do you need tonight?”
“No reporters. No announcement about Lucy. No one contacting her school without me.”
“Done.”
“And don't promise her anything you haven't cleared with me.”
He accepted every condition.
When he left, Anna touched Claire's shoulder.
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe he's sorry.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Claire looked at the tin on the nightstand.
“I know.”
At dawn, Ruth called. She had reached Elaine Porter, Robert's former notary and the E.P. named in the folder.
“She retained duplicates,” Ruth said. “She'll meet us at nine.”
Claire closed her eyes in relief.
Then Ruth added, “There's something else. Vanessa called her twenty minutes after the incident at the gala.”
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“What did she want?”
“To know whether Robert had left a recording.”
