Chapter 7 - The Accusation
Claire arrived at the Hayes mansion forty minutes later.
She didn't look like a criminal.
Maya wasn't sure why she'd expected one to.
Claire Whitmore wore a camel coat, low heels and the expression of a woman annoyed about being summoned away from a board meeting.
Daniel waited in the study with Marcus.
Margaret sat by the window.
Maya had tried to stay out.
Daniel asked her to remain because the threat targeted her.
Claire entered.
Her gaze landed on Maya immediately.
Recognition.
Not surprise.
Maya noticed.
"So," Claire said. "You're the woman from the news."
"Maya Carter."
"Of course."
Daniel closed the door.
"Claire, where were you at ten forty this morning?"
Claire frowned.
"Headquarters."
"Can anyone verify that?"
"Approximately four hundred employees."
"More specifically."
"I chaired the Pierce review from ten until eleven thirty."
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Marcus nodded slightly.
Claire noticed.
"What is this?"
Daniel placed the security report on the desk.
"Your administrator credentials disabled six cameras at my house."
Claire stared.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
She picked up the report.
"I wasn't here."
"You can access the network remotely."
"So can Marcus."
Marcus remained expressionless.
Claire looked at Maya.
"And I assume this has something to do with her."
Maya crossed her arms.
"Apparently everything does this week."
Daniel slid the threatening message across the desk.
Claire read it.
Her face changed.
Not guilt.
Fear.
"You need to call the police."
"We have."
Claire looked at Daniel.
"Then why am I here?"
"Because whoever sent that photographed Maya from outside my kitchen."
Claire's eyes moved toward the window.
"And you think I did it?"
"I think your credentials disabled the cameras."
Claire dropped the report.
"Daniel, I have worked for you for eleven years."
"I know."
"I worked for Elena."
Margaret spoke.
"Yes."
Claire turned.
"And you know exactly how much I loved her."
Margaret's face gave nothing away.
Daniel opened Elena's folder.
Claire froze.
That reaction was different.
"You recognize this?"
Daniel asked.
Claire's lips parted.
"Where did you get it?"
Margaret said, "Elena gave it to me."
Claire sat.
"You've had that all this time?"
"Yes."
Claire looked furious.
"She told me she destroyed it."
The room went silent.
Daniel leaned forward.
"You knew about the missing money."
Claire realized her mistake.
"Daniel—"
"How?"
Claire exhaled.
"Because I helped her find it."
Maya looked at Margaret.
Margaret appeared equally shocked.
Daniel stared.
"Explain."
Claire rubbed her forehead.
"About four months before the accident, Elena asked me for access to vendor records."
"Why you?"
"Because you were never available."
Pain crossed Daniel's face.
Claire continued.
"She suspected the foundation was paying companies that didn't exist. I helped her pull invoices."
"Did you know about Victor?"
"I knew she suspected someone in finance."
"Did she name him?"
"No."
"Why didn't you tell me after she died?"
Claire laughed bitterly.
"Because your wife had just died, your son stopped speaking, and you spent six months barely functioning. What exactly was I supposed to say? By the way, Elena thought someone inside your company was stealing?"
"Yes."
"To whom?"
"Me!"
"You weren't listening to anyone."
Daniel stepped back.
The accusation landed because it was true.
Claire softened slightly.
"I tried once."
"When?"
"At her memorial."
Daniel searched his memory.
Claire shook her head.
"You don't remember."
He didn't.
Maya watched the room fill with old guilt.
Everyone had secrets.
Not necessarily because they were guilty.
Because grief created unopened drawers.
Marcus asked, "Did you disable the cameras today?"
"No."
"Who could use your credentials?"
"IT administrators."
"Names?"
"Three."
She listed them.
Marcus wrote them down.
Then Claire looked at Maya again.
"Why is she here?"
Daniel's posture stiffened.
"Because she received threats."
"Why?"
"We don't know."
Claire studied Maya.
"Someone wants her gone."
Maya said, "That's the general impression."
Claire ignored the sarcasm.
"Then send her away."
Noah's voice came from the doorway.
"No."
Everyone turned.
Nobody had heard him enter.
Daniel sighed.
"Buddy, you should be upstairs."
Noah stepped beside Maya.
Claire stared at him.
Her eyes filled.
"Noah."
He looked at her but didn't respond.
Claire covered her mouth.
"You spoke."
Noah nodded.
"Yesterday?"
Another nod.
Claire looked at Maya with something new.
Awe.
And then, unexpectedly, resentment.
Maya saw it immediately.
Claire said, "Daniel, this isn't healthy."
"What isn't?"
"Attaching Noah's recovery to a stranger."
Maya's spine stiffened.
Daniel said, "Nobody is doing that."
"You've moved her into the house."
"I'm not living here," Maya said.
Claire looked at her.
"You're here."
"Because somebody photographed me."
"Then perhaps you should ask why."
Maya stepped forward.
"Are you suggesting I sent the messages to myself?"
"I'm suggesting we know nothing about you."
"Claire."
Daniel's warning was sharp.
But she continued.
"She appears out of nowhere the exact day Noah disappears. Within twenty-four hours she knows about Elena's foundation."
"Because somebody texted me."
"Convenient."
Maya's face burned.
Marcus said, "Security footage confirms Maya approached Noah after he was already alone."
Claire looked at him.
"Security footage can confirm a meeting. It can't confirm motive."
Noah grabbed Maya's hand.
Daniel stood between Claire and Maya.
"Enough."
Claire's face fell.
"I'm trying to protect you."
"By accusing the woman who fed my son?"
"By asking questions you should be asking."
Maya picked up her backpack.
Daniel turned.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"No."
She laughed once.
"Interesting word in this house."
"Maya, someone is threatening you."
"And somebody inside your company is probably helping them."
She looked at Claire.
"I'm not staying in the middle of this."
Claire crossed her arms as if proven correct.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"Don't let her push you out."
"This isn't about her."
Maya looked toward Noah.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of."
Daniel understood.
Becoming emotional medicine.
Becoming essential to a child she'd known days.
Becoming a target because of a family she didn't belong to.
Noah whispered, "Don't."
Maya crouched.
"I need to figure out my own life."
"Here."
"No."
"Why?"
Because she was afraid.
But she wouldn't tell an eight-year-old that.
"Because people need their own places."
"You don't have one."
The innocent truth humiliated her more than Claire's accusation.
Maya stood.
Daniel looked at Noah.
"Buddy."
Noah pulled his hand away.
Maya walked toward the door.
Then Margaret spoke.
"Maya."
She stopped.
Margaret held out an envelope.
"What is that?"
"Nothing from Daniel."
Maya didn't take it.
Margaret continued.
"It's an address."
Maya opened it.
A women's transitional residence.
"You would apply like everyone else," Margaret said. "No special placement. They have two open beds tonight. I called only to ask."
Maya stared at her.
Margaret's expression softened.
"You were right yesterday."
"About?"
"Accepting help shouldn't make you indebted to us."
Maya swallowed.
"Thank you."
Daniel looked at his mother with quiet surprise.
Maya turned to Noah.
"I'll visit."
"When?"
"Tomorrow."
"Promise?"
She hesitated.
Promises mattered to him.
"Yes."
Noah released her.
Daniel drove her to the residence.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Finally Daniel said, "I'm sorry."
"For Claire?"
"For putting you in a position where she could say that."
"You didn't say it."
"I brought you into my home without thinking about what that would do to your privacy."
Maya looked out the window.
"You were scared."
"That's not an excuse."
"No."
She glanced at him.
"But it's an explanation."
They arrived.
The residence was a converted apartment building.
Warm light glowed through its windows.
Maya opened the door.
Daniel said, "Will you come tomorrow?"
"I promised Noah."
"That's not what I asked."
She turned.
Daniel's eyes held hers.
Maya felt something shift between them.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Recognition.
Two people who had lost control of their lives in very different ways.
"I'll come," she said.
Then she stepped out.
At 2:00 the next afternoon, Maya returned to the Hayes estate.
Noah was waiting by the window.
He ran toward her.
But before he reached her, Marcus intercepted Daniel in the hallway.
His face was grave.
"We found the person who used Claire's credentials."
Daniel looked toward Maya.
"Who?"
Marcus handed him a personnel file.
The photograph belonged to Harold Simmons's son.
The same Harold Simmons who had been Elena's foundation accountant.
And the man had been hired into Hayes Development IT only four months earlier.
Under a different last name.
Marcus said, "His real name is Eric Simmons."
Daniel stared.
"Where is he?"
"Gone."
"Gone where?"
"No one knows."
Then Marcus lowered his voice.
"But he left something on his desk."
A photograph of Elena Hayes.
On the back, handwritten in red ink, were four words.
May you like
Your husband never listened.
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