Chapter 6 - THE DEBT BEFORE THE AFFAIR
Claire agreed to meet Rebecca and me Saturday morning.
Not at the house.
Not alone.
Rebecca arranged a conference room at her office and told Claire she could bring counsel.
Claire brought Marcus.
Not a lawyer.
Marcus.
He wore a charcoal sweater instead of a suit and carried himself like we were entering a business negotiation.
Rebecca stopped in the doorway.
“Mr. Vale, are you representing Mrs. Mercer?”
“No.”
“Then you won’t be participating in privileged discussions.”
Claire looked at him.
Marcus said, “I’ll wait outside.”
I watched him leave.
Claire sat across from me.
For twelve years I had known almost every version of her face.
The face she made when Lily was born.
The face she made when my father died.
The face she made when we signed the mortgage on our first townhouse and discovered the upstairs shower leaked through the kitchen ceiling.
The woman sitting across from me looked familiar only in pieces.
“You took my folder.”
“My mother took it.”
“You knew.”
“Afterward.”
“You tried to move money from my inheritance.”
“I was trying to fix something.”
“With four hundred thousand dollars that isn’t yours?”
“I didn’t try to take four hundred.”
“Only eighty-seven thousand from the house and whatever you could get from the brokerage?”
She looked at Rebecca.
“Is he going to talk to me like this the whole time?”
Rebecca said, “You’re free to leave.”
Claire’s eyes returned to mine.
“Is Lily okay?”
I almost laughed.
“Now you ask?”
“Daniel.”
“She has muscle strain.”
Claire swallowed.
“And Noah?”
“He’s fine.”
“I didn’t know Mom left them alone.”
“You came home at six.”
“I thought she was coming right back.”
“Lily told you her back hurt.”
“She complains about carrying her backpack.”
“She was holding a twenty-pound baby.”
“She likes helping with him.”
“No.”
My voice stayed quiet.
“You like calling it helping.”
Claire pushed her chair back slightly.
“That’s not fair.”
“What did Redwood owe Marcus’s company?”
Her face went blank.
There it was.
Not surprise.
Preparation.
Rebecca placed a copy of the court filing on the table.
“One hundred sixty-four thousand dollars,” she said. “Why?”
Claire stared at the first page.
“You pulled court records.”
“They’re public.”
“Of course you did.”
I leaned forward.
“Did you steal from Vale Advisory?”
“No.”
“Then why did you sign an agreement saying unauthorized vendor payments were made using your credentials?”
Claire’s hands tightened together.
“Because if I didn’t, Marcus was going to the police.”
“For something you didn’t do?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
She looked toward the closed door.
Marcus waited on the other side.
Rebecca noticed.
“Mrs. Mercer, do you want Mr. Vale here?”
Claire didn’t answer.
That answer was louder than yes.
“Why was your mother using your work laptop while you were pregnant?” I asked.
Claire’s head snapped toward me.
“What?”
“I saw her with it.”
“When?”
“More than once.”
Claire’s lips parted.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Your message told me to ask what she was doing in our house.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
She reached for her purse.
“I’m leaving.”
Rebecca said, “Claire, your children are involved now. Whatever financial dispute exists, it won’t erase what happened Thursday.”
Claire stood.
“I left them with my mother.”
“And when you learned Lily had been carrying Noah for hours?”
“I didn’t know it had been hours.”
“You told her not to call me.”
“I was angry.”
“At a seven-year-old?”
“At you.”
That stopped me.
“What did I do?”
Claire laughed once.
Small.
Bitter.
“You were always gone.”
“Two nights a month.”
“Sometimes more.”
“For work.”
“Everything was for work.”
“I came home.”
“You came home and checked locks. Checked bills. Checked whether the insurance renewed. Checked Lily’s homework portal. Checked if the car needed oil.”
“What are you saying?”
“You managed us.”
Her eyes were wet now.
“You didn’t see us.”
For the first time, I had no immediate answer.
She wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand.
“That doesn’t excuse Thursday.”
“No.”
“I know.”
It was the first thing she had said that sounded like an admission.
Rebecca remained silent.
Claire sat again.
“After I got pregnant, I was sick all the time. Mom handled things.”
“What things?”
“School pickups. Groceries. Some work stuff.”
“Your employer lets your mother handle work?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Claire looked at the table.
“I was behind.”
“On what?”
“Everything.”
She rubbed her wedding ring.
“I had made some mistakes at work.”
“What mistakes?”
“I approved vendor changes without checking them closely.”
“How much?”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“Claire.”
“About a hundred and forty thousand.”
“And Marcus agreed not to report it.”
“He said if the money was repaid, he’d treat it as an internal loss.”
“That sounds extremely generous.”
Her mouth tightened.
“It wasn’t.”
I glanced toward the door.
“When did the affair start?”
Claire froze.
Rebecca said quietly, “You don’t have to answer questions outside the purpose of this meeting.”
Claire looked at me anyway.
“Before Noah was born.”
“How long before?”
“Daniel.”
“How long?”
“Six months.”
I nodded.
That put it before the repayment agreement.
Before the judgment.
Before Marcus had supposedly gained leverage over her.
“So he wasn’t blackmailing you into sleeping with him.”
She looked away.
“No.”
The word landed differently than shouting would have.
Claire reached for her purse again.
Then her phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
The color left her face.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Claire.”
She stood.
Marcus opened the door before she reached it.
Too fast.
As if he had been listening from the hallway.
He put a hand on her elbow.
“You done?”
She pulled her arm away.
“I said don’t touch me.”
Marcus’s expression flickered.
Rebecca stepped between them.
“Mr. Vale, leave.”
He smiled.
“Relax.”
“Now.”
He walked toward the elevator.
Claire remained beside the table.
Her phone vibrated again.
This time she put it down.
The screen stayed lit.
A message from Marcus.
If Daniel has the old files, remind him who the hospital will believe about Lily’s bruises.
I read it upside down.
So did Rebecca.
Claire locked the phone.
Too late.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She said nothing.
Rebecca’s voice hardened.
“Claire.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Marcus thinks if this gets ugly, we can say Daniel grabbed Lily.”
My chair scraped backward.
Rebecca held up one hand toward me.
Claire kept talking.
“I never agreed to that.”
“He thinks?”
“He said bruises are bruises and Daniel’s the one who brought her to the hospital.”
“You discussed blaming me.”
“No.”
“You just said we.”
“I meant—”
“You discussed it.”
Claire’s phone vibrated for a third time.
A new message.
Not from Marcus.
From Diane.
Do not tell Daniel about the vendor logins.
Claire stared at it.
Then at me.
May you like
I said, “Why does your mother know about vendor logins?”
Claire whispered, “She shouldn’t.”
