Chapter 3 - The First Number That Didn't Belong
Claire called Susan herself.
Vivian stood across the room while the phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Susan answered on the fourth ring.
“Claire?”
The surprise in her voice was unmistakable.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“My God. How are you?”
Claire watched Vivian.
“I need to ask you something about Hayes House.”
Another pause.
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
Susan lowered her voice anyway.
“Is Vivian there?”
Claire’s pulse changed.
“Yes.”
Vivian turned toward the windows.
Claire opened the ledger again.
“I found transfers from Hayes House into VHC Design Holdings. September through January. One hundred eighteen thousand seven hundred dollars.”
Susan said nothing.
“Susan?”
“I think we should meet.”
Vivian crossed the room.
“That’s enough.”
Claire wheeled away before Vivian could reach for the phone.
Susan heard her.
“Claire, listen to me. Don’t destroy anything. Don’t remove anything from the house if it isn’t yours. Photograph what you’re seeing, and I’ll meet you tomorrow.”
Vivian stopped.
“Why would she need photographs?” Claire asked.
“Because the records I received after your husband died did not include a reconciliation binder.”
Claire looked at Vivian.
“What did they include?”
“General ledger exports. Bank statements. The working papers I requested were unavailable.”
“Unavailable according to whom?”
Susan took a breath.
“Vivian.”
Vivian’s voice sharpened.
“Give me the phone.”
Claire ignored her.
“Susan, did my husband steal from Hayes House?”
“No.”
The word came so quickly that Claire almost missed it.
She sat very still.
Vivian closed her eyes.
Susan continued more carefully.
“I never concluded that.”
“You told my mother—”
“I told Vivian there were unexplained withdrawals and deposits. I asked for the supporting records. I was told your husband had maintained them personally.”
Claire looked down at the binder.
“He did.”
Vivian reached for it.
Claire pulled it onto her lap.
“Stop.”
Ellie looked up from the sunroom.
Claire forced her voice lower.
Susan asked, “Do you see deposit destination numbers?”
“Yes.”
“Take pictures.”
Vivian laughed once without humor.
“This is absurd. Susan, you know what the company looked like in December.”
Claire turned on speaker.
Susan’s voice filled the room.
“I know there was a liquidity problem.”
“Because of him.”
“I did not say that.”
“He moved money.”
“So did VHC.”
Vivian’s face flushed.
Claire photographed each page.
There were twenty-three transfers.
Some went out of Hayes House and into Vivian’s company.
Others came back.
The pattern made no immediate sense.
Money left on Fridays.
Partial amounts returned before payroll.
Then larger amounts disappeared again.
One entry near Thanksgiving stopped Claire.
$18,000 — PERSONAL RESTORATION — D.
She knew that number.
It was exactly the amount her husband had moved from their savings.
Her anger tilted.
“He put our money back into Hayes House.”
Vivian said, “Because he created the problem.”
“Then why does his ledger say V beside every outgoing transfer?”
“It could mean anything.”
Claire looked at her.
“You just told me I didn’t understand the records. Now you’re telling me neither of us does?”
Vivian’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Susan spoke from the phone.
“Claire, I want you to know something before tomorrow.”
Claire waited.
“Your husband called me three days before he died.”
The room seemed to narrow.
“What did he say?”
“He asked what would happen if an officer of the company had moved funds without the majority owner’s knowledge.”
Claire looked at Vivian.
Susan continued.
“I told him it depended on authorization, intent, repayment, and the company agreement.”
“Did he name the officer?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Susan paused.
“He said, ‘I need to give someone one last chance to fix it first.’”
Vivian turned away.
Claire remembered the final week of her husband’s life.
His distracted dinners.
The canceled movie with Ellie.
The eighteen-thousand-dollar transfer.
The night he had sat on the edge of their bed and said, “I should have told you sooner.”
Claire had assumed he meant the money.
Now she wasn’t sure.
She ended the call only after arranging to meet Susan at ten the next morning.
Then she looked at her mother.
“You told me he died owing the company money.”
“He did.”
“He put eighteen thousand of our savings into it.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“No.”
Claire rested both hands on the binder.
“But it proves you left something out.”
Vivian glanced toward Ellie.
For a moment, the hardness in her face gave way to something tired.
“You want to know what your husband was protecting?”
“Yes.”
Vivian met her eyes.
“You.”
Claire waited.
Vivian nodded toward the binder.
“And if you keep digging, you’re going to learn that he lied to you too.”
May you like
That hurt more than Claire expected.
Because this time, she believed her.
