Chapter 7 - What Claire Knew Before She Died
Ethan had not opened Claire’s old laptop in two years.
It still carried a small scratch near the trackpad from the night Sophie knocked over a glass of juice.
Claire had laughed.
Ethan remembered being irritated.
He would have given anything to hear that laugh again.
Laura sat beside him at the dining table while the computer updated.
“Search Greybridge,” she said.
Nothing.
“Mercer.”
Nothing.
Then Ethan searched Vanessa.
One archived email appeared.
Sent six weeks before Claire’s death.
FROM: Claire Bennett
SUBJECT: You are done with my family
Ethan opened it.
The message was short.
I know what your people have been recording. I know who authorized it. If anyone enters my home again without my consent, I go public.
Laura whispered, “Who authorized it?”
Ethan already knew who he had to ask.
Margaret did not deny it.
She sat in her kitchen, hands wrapped around untouched tea.
“I hired them before Claire died.”
Ethan stared.
“You told me it was after.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew how it would sound.”
“How does it sound now?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“Your marriage was collapsing.”
“It wasn’t.”
“You and Claire fought.”
“We were married. We fought.”
“You threatened to leave the company. She threatened to move closer to her mother. I was terrified Sophie would be pulled between two families.”
“So you hired strangers to watch us.”
“I hired people to help.”
“No. You hired people to collect information.”
Margaret looked away.
Claire had found out.
She had confronted Greybridge.
Three weeks later, she died when another driver crossed the center line on Pacific Coast Highway.
The other driver died too.
Police called it a tragic accident.
Ethan had believed them.
Until Laura found a toll-camera archive from a private traffic database.
A black Mercedes passed the final checkpoint before the crash.
Registered to Vanessa Mercer.
Twenty-three minutes later, Claire died on the same road.
Ethan stared at the image.
Margaret whispered, “Oh, God.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Vanessa’s voice came through.
“You found the car.”
Ethan stood.
“Where are you?”
“That’s not the question you should ask.”
“You were there when Claire died.”
“Yes.”
His vision narrowed.
“Did you kill my wife?”
Vanessa was silent for three seconds.
Then she said, “No. Claire asked me to meet her because she thought I was going to help her destroy Greybridge.”
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