by Robin Mahle
So when Huffman suggested he wasn’t being objective, it sent him on a bit of a tailspin. He knew damn well Winters had something to do with the evidence showing Claire as having approved the withdrawal of misappropriated funds.
“Agent Sanchez, come in, please.” Colin stepped aside. “Claire’s in the living room.”
She had remained huddled on the sofa, barely managing to pull on some clothes before the arrival of her guest. This had all taken its toll.
“How you doing, Claire?” Sanchez asked, taking a seat in the chair next to her.
“I’m fine, Agent Sanchez.”
“Please, after everything we’ve been through, call me Gordon.”
Claire took a sip from the steaming hot teacup she held in her hands. “I feel as though you’re about to drop the other shoe, Gordon; at least, from your words, last we spoke.”
Colin emerged from the kitchen. “Can I get you anything Agent Sanchez? Tea, coffee?”
“Coffee, please. Thank you, and it’s Gordon.”
Colin replied with a nod and left the two of them alone again.
“Claire, we’ve been digging through the company’s servers all night and Agent Huffman is still overseeing the task now. It has come to our attention that your name appears on many of the transactions and documents. Account reconciliations, invoices, expenses. Things of that nature. Your name is also on several deposits and withdrawals to and from inactive accounts that were never reported. We’ve discovered what has amounted to about $300,000 in concealed transactions made under your authorization.”
Colin returned with Gordon’s coffee. “I hope you take it black.”
“This is fine, thank you.” Gordon set the coffee down, waiting for Claire’s response.
“Is everything okay?” Colin asked, sitting down on the couch next to her.
“I thought this was over.” She began. “Now you’re telling me that I’m the guilty one?” Claire began to see that Evan had already taken the precautions he’d promised, making it appear as though she was in on the plan as well.
“I believe that Evan Winters is somehow responsible for this. Either he or Lucas Abbott, but most certainly under Winters’ direction.”
“What are we supposed to do now?” Colin’s face had grown pale at this latest development. “She didn’t do anything and you know it. Is she going to prison?”
“Just hold on, Colin. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“What are you saying then, Gordon? How do you prove it was him and not me? Is he still in jail?” Claire asked.
“He’s in a holding cell, but by the end of today, if we still don’t have anything, he’ll be released. I can’t keep him in there without bringing up charges.”
Colin launched off of the couch. “Are you kidding me? What about Claire? What the hell are you going to do for us now, Gordon?”
“Colin, please. He’s here to help.” Claire gently took hold of his hand, tugging on him to sit back down. “Getting angry won’t help the situation.”
“She’s right. I am sorry, but it appears there’s still a good deal of work to be done. I’m not giving up, Claire, and neither should you. We’ve got enough to know that WFC wasn’t in compliance with the SEC. We just need to prove embezzlement and, with the transactions we’ve discovered authorized by Charlie Monroe, it’s only a matter of time before we can prove Winters orchestrated it all.”
“You’ve got that very same proof of my involvement, too,” Claire said.
“There’s still a chance Detective Vance will get what he needs. The missing surveillance video, the fact that those three men were the last to see Charlie Monroe. All of it suggests impropriety.” Sanchez seemed to gloss over her statement, not wanting to admit she was right.
“But what about Claire’s safety? What are you going to do to protect her? To protect my children? You know that son of a bitch either killed Charlie or had him killed. Screw all this about stolen money and false reports. The man’s a goddam murderer!” Anger had already risen to the surface and Colin’s face flushed at the thought that Evan Winters would be set free in a matter of hours.
“I’ll ask Detective Vance to have a patrol set up.”
“And then what? How long will it take you people to arrest this man? Our kids won’t be able to go to school; their lives have been turned upside down. Jesus! You dragged Claire into this mess and now look what’s happened. She’s the guilty one?”
“Please, Colin. You’re not making this any easier. If this is what needs to be done, then this is what we have to do. I’ll do what I can to see that egomaniac goes to prison for as long as possible.” Her eyes pleaded now. “Gordon, I didn’t do anything wrong, you have to know that.”
“We’ll find the connection to Winters, Claire. I promise you. Phone records, emails, security tapes; we’ve got it all now. It’ll just take some time to sort through it and get the evidence we need. I know you had nothing to do with this. We all do.” He thought about Huffman for a fleeting moment. “Right now, we just need to ensure that you and your family stay safe.”
Claire hadn’t mentioned anything about the blackmail. Was it time to finally confess to the reason why Charlie had thought to reconcile with her? That he didn’t want to destroy Claire’s marriage and was maybe even looking for a way out from under Winters? She looked at Colin for a moment. He appeared to be at the end of his rope. She’d already put him through so much.
Blackmail of a supposed affair with Winters, authorizations made in her name regarding the withdrawal of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was looking more and more like Claire was the guilty one, as if she’d had more than enough reason to make Charlie disappear. Evan Winters might go down for fraud, but he was making sure that Claire would go down for murder.
There had to be a solution that didn’t involve shining a spotlight on the fact that Claire had motive for killing Charlie. She couldn’t prove Winters had drugged her. She couldn’t prove anything, since he’d tossed her phone overboard. Claire thought back for a moment to the San Francisco trip and the first time she’d met Paul Higgins. The conversation on the boat yesterday about him investing in the company. “Paul Higgins.”
“I’m sorry. Who?” Gordon asked.
“He’s the head of Envirotech and he’s working with Evan.”
“How do you know this? Why haven’t you said anything before now?”
“Yesterday, Evan started talking about how he and Paul Higgins were working together to inflate the stock value of WFC. It was the entire reason behind the embezzlement. The clients were being billed for contract amounts that were doctored. Apparently, they hadn’t noticed, until Sea-Tech caught wind of it. Of course, none of us had any idea what was going on after we’d approved our client hours every month. Some of the additional revenue was syphoned off to Abbott, Winslow, and the others, since they were the ones taking the risks, but most of it appeared as legitimate income that would increase the value of the company.”
“That’s why the SEC got curious,” Sanchez said.
“I don’t know anything about how that works, but according to Winters, the reason was that in another year’s time, with the help of Higgins and Envirotech’s money, they would sell WFC and both stood to make a great deal of money.”
“So we’re looking at conspiracy to defraud investors. We need to talk to this Paul Higgins. If we can get him to turn on Winters, we’ve got something.” Sanchez pulled out his cell phone and made a call. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m with the McKenna’s right now.” Sanchez stood up and walked into the foyer as he spoke to Huffman. “We need to get Seattle PD out here and keep an eye on the family. We also need to put in a request to FinCEN for any and all information on a Paul Higgins. He’s the head of Envirotech.” Sanchez was quiet for a moment, then continued. “I’m going to head back to the lab now. In the meantime, let’s get working on that request.” Sanchez hung up the phone and returned to the living room.
“What’s your plan, Gordon?” Claire as
ked as she clutched Colin’s hand.
“We’re going to see what we can find on Higgins before we talk to him. I need to understand what, if anything, he was involved in that might make him cooperate more willingly as it relates to Winters.”
“Won’t that take a lot of time?” Claire asked.
“I’ll pull half my team to work on this with me. I understand time is of the essence here and this is the most promising lead we have at the moment, thanks to you. I’ve also asked Huffman to put in a call in to Detective Vance. He’ll get someone from the PD down here right away. This will end soon, Claire. Please believe me, it will end soon.”
“What about the evidence suggesting Claire had a part in this? What are you going to do about that?” Colin asked as he walked towards the foyer to meet Sanchez.
“I really don’t know yet. But I can tell you that if enough people come out against Winters, people like Liz Sherman and Frank Winslow and, hopefully, Paul Higgins, who are looking to save their own asses, I think it’ll prove she had nothing to do with any of it and that Winters was trying to frame her, same as he did Beth Graves.” Sanchez opened the door to leave. “Call me if you need anything. I expect Vance to have someone over here within an hour or two at the latest. You and your family will be safe. I’ll be in touch when I know more.”
Colin closed the door behind him and stood quietly. A momentary glance into the living room found Claire hunched over on the couch, head in hands.
This was on her now. She couldn’t rely on Sanchez to get what he needed to ensure her innocence. The idea that had taken shape while she was sitting in Winters’ office yesterday would have to be executed after all. It was only a backup plan after she discovered Lucas’ ring. Not any more. There wasn’t much time to do what needed to be done before the police showed up at the door and she’d be sequestered in her own home. Colin wouldn’t understand and there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d allow it, which was why she was about to do this on her own.
“I’m going to go take a shower.” Claire started towards the stairs. She would have only one chance.
Anna stepped out of her room when Claire approached the landing. “Mom, is that FBI man gone now?”
“Yes, sweetheart. I was just on my way to get cleaned up. They’re sending a policeman over soon just to keep an eye on the house for us.” She moved towards Anna and pulled her close, stroking her long, dark hair. How she regretted what this must be doing to her children, especially Anna, being the youngest.
“Why do we have to have a policeman here? Are there bad people coming?”
Claire’s eyes began to feel the sting of tears, but she held them back for the sake of her daughter. “No, baby. I promise, there are no bad people coming. Everyone just wants to be sure we’re safe for a few days until all of this is over. That’s all it is, okay?”
She and Colin had tried to explain the situation as best they could last night. The raid on WFC was all over the news. The kids had to know why Claire wouldn’t be going back and why the FBI wanted to talk to her.
“Okay.” Anna squeezed her arms around Claire tightly. “I’m going to go check on Daddy.”
Anna was always the one looking out for others. She would be the first one to jump to her brother’s defense, even if he was wrong, and the first one to ensure others had what they needed, always ahead of her own needs. She came by it honestly and was just like Claire.
Claire continued towards Robbie’s room, placing an ear on his door. Only faint noise came from the other side, so she assumed it was safe to enter. Robbie sat on his bed, phone in hand.
“Hey, Mom. I heard you talking to Anna. The cops are coming?”
The way he said it, so casually, Claire knew he was afraid, though. Robbie had a way of appearing unaffected when he was scared, not wanting anyone to see through him. Maybe it was a teenage boy thing or maybe it was just his personality. Either way, it was Claire’s responsibility to put him at ease.
“Yes, they’re sending someone over. I don’t know how long they’ll be here, but just know that we’ll all be safe.”
“I know. That’s what you and Dad said last night. But, you don’t really think so, do you, Mom?”
“Of course I do. Why would you say that?”
Robbie’s eyes examined hers with a penetrating stare. He was reading her and, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t conceal her true motives.
“I’m going to take care of things, Robbie.”
He turned his attention back to whatever game he was playing. “Okay, Mom.”
Claire leaned in and kissed Robbie’s cheek. How he knew what was going on in her head was beyond her. But the boy was turning into a man right before her eyes.
***
The hour had approached two p.m. when she stepped into the shower. The warm water took the chill away, washing over her, trying to soothe her anxious nerves. Claire replayed the moments over and over in her head: Lucas’ ring under the chair, the moment she realized that Evan was a dangerous man, and the steps she’d put into place to ensure her family’s well-being. Evan Winters had no idea what awaited him, but it wouldn’t be long before her actions would be discovered. They might have already been, were it not for the fact that he was still sitting in a holding cell right now. However, getting out of the house would prove to be her biggest hurdle at the moment.
She turned off the shower and pulled a towel around her slender frame. The moment the air grazed her skin as she stepped out, she recalled standing on that boat, cold and afraid. It would be the last time Evan Winters would have the advantage over her.
Claire pulled on the clothes she’d laid out across the bed. Black casual pants and a long-sleeved grey tunic sweater. Her hair easily fell into place with a tousle from her fingertips. This was it. The time had come. 2:30. The plan was to be out as quickly as possible, unless things went south.
The French doors led outside to a deck off of their bedroom. The sky was cloaked in shades of grey and prevailing winds rippled the water in the lake. It was dry for the moment, but that was likely to change by the looks of the darker clouds already dropping rain in the distance.
She stepped outside and inhaled the fresh, damp air. On her left was a wrought-iron spiral staircase that led to the patio below. The thin stair rail steadied her as she descended the steps carefully and quietly. The patio was just outside the kitchen. She peered into the window of the Dutch door leading back inside. No sign of Colin. She’d left him in the living room, which was probably where he remained. A few feet to the right was the door leading to the garage. Her keys and purse had been on the sideboard table in the foyer and she’d swiped them before going upstairs to have her shower.
The sound of the hinges screeching when she opened the door sent a chill through her. She’d asked Colin countless times to get some oil on them, but obviously, that hadn’t been done. Never mind; she didn’t think anyone in the house had heard the noise.
Inside their enormous four-car garage, the cars were parked side by side in the left double bay. Her unassuming blue four-door Acura smiled at her with its curiously shaped front grill. Starting the engine, Claire pressed the garage door opener button on her rear view mirror. He’s going to hear me. I just need to get out before he does.
Claire pulled the gear shift into reverse and slowly backed out. If Colin was still in the living room, he would see her. Their driveway was in clear sight of the living room window. As she came into view of the front window, she spotted him swing around at the sound of her car. Shit.
He pulled back the sheer curtain to see that Claire was leaving. “Where the hell are you going?” he yelled through the window.
But all Claire could see were his lips moving and the panicked look suddenly freezing on his face.
The curtains dropped back and he disappeared. Seconds later, the front door opened and she was almost out on the street. Claire rolled down her window. “I’m sorry. I have to do this. I’ll be back soon and everything will be fine. I lov
e you, Colin.”
She sped down the street and, in her rear view, saw Colin standing at the end of the driveway yelling, “Claire, wait!” She pressed harder on the gas.
CHAPTER 23
THE RELENTLESS VIBRATING cell phone only filled her with more anxiety. Claire knew it was Colin and that if she answered, she would end up turning back. He could be very convincing and she was already on the fence about the direction this had taken.
Claire soon arrived at Evan’s high-rise condominium in the center of downtown.
Sheri had given her the spare key she kept in her desk yesterday. After Evan left for his meeting and Claire had found the ring, that was when she knew what must have happened to Charlie.
Claire believed she could trust Sheri, had seen it in her eyes, and had typed it all up that morning, saved it on a flash drive she’d borrowed from Sheri, and handed it back to her. No emails, no texts. Claire had to assume the greatest precautions. She’d explained to Sheri that Evan was responsible for the disappearance of Charlie and that he was stealing money from clients. But what solidified Sheri’s cooperation was that Claire told her what she believed happened to her in Portland.
After that, Sheri had given her everything she’d needed, including access to Evan’s files via her own login. The thing that Evan hadn’t known, that no security cameras or phone tapping could tell him, was that Sheri had already suspected his dealings with Higgins and others wasn’t above board, but never confronted him. Instead, she kept her nose down and her ears open. That southern woman was no shrinking violet and Claire was grateful to have Sheri on her side. It was the only way she could have pulled off what she did.
