Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Had Been Covering for Derek
Sabrina was forty-five and had worked for Derek for eleven years.
Claire knew her as efficient.
Quiet.
Almost invisible.
She handled payroll.
Property closings.
Vendor payments.
Travel.
Christmas gifts for clients.
Derek once joked that Sabrina knew more about his life than he did.
Apparently that included Claire.
When Dana contacted Sabrina’s attorney, Sabrina refused to speak.
That was not an admission.
Claire understood.
Two weeks later, Sabrina changed her position.
She was willing to provide documents related to CWD.
Why?
Derek had fired her.
The day after Claire left the house.
He accused Sabrina of mishandling company records.
Sabrina believed he was preparing to blame her for financial irregularities.
Self-preservation opened the door.
Her account was disturbing.
Derek had repeatedly asked her to imitate Claire’s handwriting for harmless purposes.
Christmas cards.
Thank-you notes.
Employee gifts.
At first Claire had known.
Later, apparently, she had not.
The letter to Thomas?
Sabrina admitted writing it.
Claire stared at Dana.
“Why?”
Because Sabrina sent it without Derek’s permission.
That was the first major reversal.
Sabrina had known the abuse was worsening.
Not everything.
Enough.
She heard Derek call Claire pathetic on speakerphone.
Saw bruises Derek explained away.
Watched him cancel Claire’s therapy appointments.
Then, two weeks earlier, Derek ordered Sabrina to prepare documents moving CWD’s most valuable property into a new company without Claire as an owner.
Sabrina realized Claire was about to be left with debt while Derek removed the asset.
She panicked.
She did not know how to contact Claire safely.
So she contacted Thomas.
Indirectly.
Sabrina had found his address in old wire-transfer records.
She imitated Claire’s handwriting because she believed Thomas would ignore a letter from a stranger.
She chose Wednesday because Derek was supposed to attend a commercial-development dinner from seven until ten.
Claire should have been alone.
“He wasn’t supposed to be home,” Sabrina said through counsel.
Claire went cold.
The knocks had not interrupted Derek by luck.
They interrupted him because his own schedule changed.
He skipped the dinner.
Sabrina didn’t know.
Thomas arrived at the time she expected the house to be safe.
Claire struggled with her feelings.
Sabrina had helped Derek for years.
Processed money.
Sent misleading communications.
Ignored warning signs.
Then she acted.
Late.
Secretly.
Imperfectly.
But she acted.
“Did she know about the basement?”
Dana asked.
Sabrina said no.
That answer might be true.
It did not erase everything else.
Claire chose not to make Sabrina a hero.
Nor an enemy.
She became what real people often were.
Complicit in some things.
Brave in one critical moment.
Then Sabrina produced the documents Derek wanted transferred.
They revealed why he had become more violent in recent weeks.
A CWD property had increased dramatically in value.
Derek wanted to refinance it.
But Claire’s signature would be required again.
This time, Sabrina believed Claire was beginning to ask too many questions.
Derek needed her frightened.
Dependent.
May you like
And convinced nobody else would believe her.
The violence was escalating at the same time the financial stakes were rising.
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