Chapter 2 - The Dress Was Never the Real Problem
Claire took Sophie upstairs and locked the bedroom door.
For several minutes, Sophie could barely speak.
Claire sat beside her on the bed and checked her arms and shoulders.
No bruises.
No injuries.
Just shaking hands and a child trying not to cry loudly.
“What happened?”
Sophie wiped her face.
“I came home early.”
Derek had arranged for the school bus to drop Sophie at home instead of Claire’s office because, according to him, he would be working there that afternoon.
Sophie had entered through the mudroom.
Vanessa was already inside.
The silver dress hung over a chair near Derek’s home office.
Sophie said she accidentally caught one sleeve on the corner of a cardboard box while reaching for her backpack.
The fabric tore.
Vanessa exploded.
Claire believed that part.
But then Sophie said something stranger.
“She kept asking for my phone.”
Claire looked at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Sophie had dropped it beneath the office desk when Vanessa started yelling.
She picked it up later and hid it inside her backpack.
Claire unlocked the phone.
There were several ordinary photographs from school.
A drawing.
A picture of somebody’s lunch tray.
Then one accidental video.
Thirty-eight seconds long.
Probably started when Sophie dropped the phone.
The camera mostly showed carpet.
But the audio was clear.
Vanessa’s voice:
“If Peterson sees the revised numbers before Friday, he’ll pull the credit line.”
Derek replied:
“He won’t. Claire still has signing authority. We use hers.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“She doesn’t even know the account exists.”
Claire replayed the clip.
Her marriage had been broken for months.
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Apparently Derek’s company had been broken too.
And somehow he intended to use Claire’s name to keep it alive.
