Chapter 3 - A Perfect Accident.
Claire stared at her empty palm until the room seemed to tilt again.
She remembered the ambulance.
She remembered Daniel checking her pulse.
She remembered Adrian reaching toward the blanket.
She did not remember anyone taking the card.
Evelyn watched her understand.
"Looking for something?"
Claire forced herself to remain still.
"Get out."
Evelyn stood and smoothed the front of her cream dress.
"By morning, every news station in Bellhaven will report that you fell during an emotional breakdown."
"Lena Ortiz knows I was pushed."
"Detectives know only what evidence allows them to prove."
Claire swallowed against the pain in her throat.
"There were cameras in the courtyard."
Evelyn smiled again.
"There were."
The door opened.
A nurse entered carrying medication, and Evelyn instantly became the worried mother-in-law.
"Please take good care of her," she said warmly.
Then she walked out.
Detective Ortiz arrived twenty minutes later.
She closed the door behind her and lowered her voice.
"The mansion security system recorded nothing between two-fifteen and three-ten."
Claire almost laughed.
"How convenient."
"The system was manually disabled."
Ortiz pulled a chair closer.
"Your husband says you had been drinking, arguing, and threatening to leave him."
"I had half a glass of wine at lunch."
"He also gave us text messages where you supposedly wrote that you wanted everything to end."
Claire stared at her.
"I never sent that."
"I suspected that."
Ortiz placed a clear evidence bag on the bedside table.
Inside was Claire's shattered phone.
"Forensics may recover something from it, but somebody removed the memory card."
Claire closed her eyes.
"I had it in my hand when the paramedics arrived."
Ortiz leaned forward.
"Who knew it existed?"
"Adrian and Evelyn."
Claire hesitated.
"And whoever called you."
Ortiz's expression changed.
"You called me."
"This morning, yes."
"I came because of a second call."
Claire opened her eyes.
Ortiz took out a small notebook.
"At three-oh-seven, someone called from a prepaid phone and said, 'If you want Claire Bennett Vale alive, go to the south courtyard now.'"
Claire felt cold despite the blankets.
"Male or female?"
"Male voice, electronically distorted."
The detective paused.
"He knew your maiden name."
Claire thought of every employee in the mansion, every executive in Adrian's company, every person who had watched her smile beside him at public events.
One name rose immediately.
Mason Crowe.
Adrian's head of security had been stationed inside the house that afternoon.
He controlled the cameras.
He had also worked for Adrian's late father for seventeen years.
"Find Mason," Claire whispered.
Ortiz nodded.
"We tried."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
"His car was found abandoned near the river an hour ago."
Ortiz opened her phone and showed Claire a photograph.
The driver's door stood open.
There was blood on the seat.
Claire's pulse began climbing again.
Then Ortiz zoomed in on the dashboard.
A small piece of blue plastic rested beside the steering wheel.
It matched the shattered case from Claire's phone.
"Either Mason stole your memory card," Ortiz said, "or somebody wants us to believe he did."
A loud crash sounded in the hallway.
Ortiz turned toward the door.
May you like
The lights went out.
And in the darkness, Claire heard the lock click from the outside.
