Chapter 9 - THE DISAPPEARING HUSBAND
Julian was not dead.
Claire knew it before the police finished asking their questions.
It was too convenient.
His car abandoned.
A small amount of blood on the driver’s seat.
His phone inside.
Wallet missing.
No body.
No witnesses.
And the competency hearing less than forty-eight hours away.
“He’s staging something,” Claire told Maya.
“Probably.”
“Why?”
“To buy time. To make you look responsible. Or both.”
By noon, the first news alert appeared.
PROMINENT CHICAGO INVESTOR MISSING AFTER WIFE’S BIRTHDAY DISPUTE.
Claire stared at her phone.
“They’re fast.”
“Because someone called reporters.”
“Dad?”
“Julian has PR people too.”
Then came another headline.
SOURCES: MERCER COUPLE EXPERIENCED RECENT MARITAL TENSION.
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Recent.”
Maya pointed to a quote.
An unnamed family member described Claire as “emotionally overwhelmed.”
Claire knew exactly who had said it.
Robert.
Her father.
By 2:00 p.m., police had security footage showing Claire leaving the hotel angry.
By 2:30, they had footage of her entering her parents’ home after midnight.
By 3:00, someone leaked the existence of the competency petition.
The story practically wrote itself.
Unstable wife discovers affair.
Husband disappears.
Claire’s phone exploded with calls.
She shut it off.
“We find Helen,” she said.
Maya drove.
The two-hour trip to Wisconsin felt endless.
Helen Price answered the door with a cane in one hand and a paperback in the other.
She was seventy-seven.
She looked at Claire for less than five seconds.
“You have Margaret’s eyes when you’re angry.”
Claire almost cried.
“Helen?”
“I wondered when you’d come.”
Inside, Helen made coffee as if Claire had simply stopped by for Sunday brunch.
Claire placed Margaret’s letter on the table.
Helen read nothing.
“I know what it says.”
“Where’s the original amendment?”
Helen looked at Maya.
“You her lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Helen walked to an old cabinet and removed a metal lockbox.
Inside was a sealed legal envelope.
Claire reached for it.
Helen covered it with her hand.
“Before I give you this, you need to hear something.”
Claire sat down.
Helen spoke slowly.
“Your grandmother didn’t just discover Julian and Brooke.”
“What else?”
“She discovered money missing.”
Claire exchanged a look with Maya.
“How much?”
“Back then? Eight hundred thousand.”
“From where?”
“Your grandfather’s charitable foundation.”
“Who took it?”
“Julian moved it.”
Claire clenched her jaw.
Helen continued.
“Robert covered it.”
“My father?”
“He said scandal would destroy the company.”
Claire felt sick.
“So this started twelve years ago.”
“No.”
Helen looked directly at her.
“It started before you married Julian.”
Claire went still.
Helen opened a second envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Julian.
Robert.
A younger man Claire recognized as one of her father’s former business partners.
They were meeting outside a bank.
Date stamp: sixteen years earlier.
Two years before Claire’s wedding.
Helen said, “Julian didn’t meet you by accident.”
Claire’s mouth went dry.
“What are you saying?”
“Your father introduced him to you on purpose.”
Claire remembered the charity gala.
Her father smiling.
Julian asking her to dance.
The story Claire had told for years.
We met by chance.
Helen pushed the envelope across the table.
“Your marriage started as a business arrangement.”
Claire looked down.
And for the second time in two days, fourteen years of memories began collapsing.
Then Helen handed her the sealed trust amendment.
“One more thing.”
Claire barely heard her.
“What?”
“Julian came here yesterday.”
Claire snapped her head up.
“He knows I have this.”
A car door slammed outside.
Helen looked toward the window.
May you like
Her face drained of color.
“He’s back.”
