Chapter 16 - THE FACE ON THE SCREEN
Tara didn’t deny the video.
She only said, “I didn’t know they kept it.”
Claire stared at her.
“That’s your defense?”
“No.”
“Good.”
David could not legally email the recording immediately, but after Claire submitted the fraud affidavit and identification documents, the lender provided still frames and a transcript.
They arrived the next morning.
Claire opened them at her kitchen table.
Josh sat beside her.
Emma was at school.
Neither spoke while the first image loaded.
Tara.
Hair tied back.
Gray hoodie.
No makeup.
December twenty-fourth.
The timestamp was 8:43 p.m.
Claire remembered exactly where everyone had been.
Emma decorating cookies.
Josh fighting with the old printer upstairs.
Claire washing roasting pans.
Marlene and Tara sitting at the dining table.
The transcript began with a representative confirming the business borrower.
Tara answered.
Then the guarantor.
A profile labeled CLAIRE E. BENNETT.
The representative asked whether the guarantor was present.
Tara said:
“She stepped away. I’m helping her finish.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Josh swore quietly.
The representative requested identification.
An image of Claire’s driver’s license had been uploaded.
Claire looked toward the fireproof box upstairs.
“Mom had a copy.”
Josh asked, “Why?”
“Emergency file after Dad died.”
The representative then asked for the secondary identifying number.
Tara read Emma’s Social Security number aloud.
Every digit.
Claire stopped the transcript.
“I need a minute.”
Josh stood but didn’t touch her.
After a while Claire pressed play again.
The representative asked for the guarantor’s address.
Tara hesitated.
Then a woman’s voice came faintly through the recording.
Marlene.
“Use Claire’s old address. She’ll never see the mail there.”
Claire froze.
Josh leaned toward the laptop.
The representative asked Tara to repeat herself.
Tara gave the old townhouse address Claire had left after the divorce.
The video ended three minutes later.
Claire sat without moving.
Josh finally said, “Both of them knew.”
“Yes.”
“This wasn’t a mistake.”
“No.”
“Are you going to the police?”
“I already made the report.”
He looked at her.
“When?”
“Last night.”
Josh nodded slowly.
Claire expected judgment.
Instead he said, “Good.”
She looked at him.
“You paid the loan.”
“I know.”
“You helped hide it.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to become the reasonable person now.”
“I’m not trying to.”
That answer disarmed her.
Josh looked at the screen.
“I should’ve told you in March.”
“Yes.”
“I thought keeping Emma out of the fight was protecting her.”
Claire closed the laptop.
“That’s what everybody keeps saying.”
At noon, Marlene came to Claire’s house.
Tara did not.
Claire showed her the still frame first.
Marlene sat down.
Then Claire played the audio.
When Marlene heard her own voice giving the old address, she covered her face.
“I remember.”
Claire said nothing.
“I wish I didn’t.”
“You knew they were using Emma’s number.”
Marlene nodded.
“Yes.”
The word was barely audible.
“Why?”
Marlene dropped her hands.
“Because mine wouldn’t qualify.”
“So you used hers.”
“Tara said the number was only for verification. She said a minor couldn’t legally be held responsible.”
Claire stared at her.
“And that made it okay?”
“No.”
“But you did it.”
“Yes.”
Claire pushed a copy of the fraud affidavit across the table.
“I named both of you.”
Marlene looked at it.
Her shoulders sank.
“What happens now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You could withdraw it.”
“I won’t.”
Marlene looked toward the staircase.
“Will Emma ever speak to me again?”
Claire’s voice softened but not enough to rescue her.
“That’s Emma’s decision.”
A car door slammed outside.
Tara came up the walkway.
She entered without knocking, her eyes red.
“I got an email from the lender.”
Marlene whispered, “So did I.”
Tara looked at Claire.
“I’m shutting Honeycomb down.”
Claire studied her.
“When?”
“Today.”
“Because of the investigation?”
“Because I can’t keep doing this.”
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
The color left her face.
“What?”
Tara handed Claire the phone.
An email.
Subject:
NOTICE OF DEMAND FOR RETURN OF CLIENT FUNDS.
A bride named Allison Pierce was demanding $14,800.
Claire looked at Tara.
“Do you have it?”
Tara didn’t answer.
“Where is her money?”
Tara sat down heavily.
May you like
“That’s the problem.”
Because some of the money Tara had hidden in Emma’s account had never belonged to Tara at all.
