Chapter 8 - CLAIRE’S VERSION OF THE TRUTH
Claire Holloway entered the interview room wearing the same navy sweater she had worn when she left the airport, but the polished confidence Elena remembered from charity galas and dinner parties was gone.
Her hair was tied back unevenly, there were dark circles beneath her eyes, and she kept rubbing the skin beneath her left thumb as though trying to erase something only she could see.
Detective Ramirez sat across from her.
Claire’s attorney sat beside her.
A camera recorded everything.
“I did edit the recordings,” Claire said.
Ramirez did not react.
“I sent them to Grant Mercer.”
“Why?”
“Because Pamela told me to.”
“Pamela Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she care whether Grant believed his wife was still in love with Dr. Adrian Cole?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Because Grant was going to sue me.”
“That explains your motive, not hers.”
Claire looked toward her attorney.
He nodded.
“She was stealing from Horizon.”
Ramirez leaned back.
“How much?”
“I don’t know the total. Millions, maybe.”
“And you helped.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“At first I didn’t know.”
Ramirez’s silence was skeptical enough to function as a question.
Claire continued.
“She hired my company for events. Then consulting. Then she asked me to create vendors for projects that didn’t exist yet. She said it was accounting timing.”
“You created shell companies?”
“One. Then two.”
“And kept money.”
Claire looked down.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“About six hundred thousand.”
“Grant’s nine hundred thousand?”
“That was separate.”
“Explain.”
Claire took a breath.
“Pamela knew Grant needed a private investment vehicle for one of his development entities. She told me to pitch the hospitality project because we could move his money through the same vendors and cover gaps in Horizon accounts.”
“So the project was fake.”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly is not a legal category.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“There was a concept. No property. No lease. No financing.”
Ramirez nodded.
“When did Grant realize?”
“About six weeks ago.”
“And you distracted him with Elena.”
Claire’s face collapsed.
“I was supposed to make him suspicious. That was all.”
“Why Adrian?”
“Because Pamela asked me whether Elena had any former relationships that Grant might feel threatened by. I mentioned Adrian.”
“You contacted Adrian six months ago.”
Claire’s breathing changed.
“That was for Pamela too.”
“Why?”
“To confirm where he worked.”
“Six months before Grant threatened you.”
Claire said nothing.
Ramirez leaned forward.
“This plan did not begin six weeks ago.”
Claire looked at the table.
“No.”
“When did it begin?”
A tear slid down her face.
“When Elena got pregnant.”
The room went quiet.
Ramirez’s voice sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because Pamela had used Elena’s patient account to hide something.”
“What?”
Claire looked directly into the camera.
“A billing transfer.”
Ramirez waited.
“It wasn’t just billing,” Claire whispered. “It involved medication inventory.”
At St. Catherine’s, Elena held Rose for the first time while Maya stood beside her pretending not to stare at the phone vibrating in her pocket.
Ramirez had asked her not to contact Claire.
Maya obeyed, but every unanswered question sat between her and her sister.
Rose stretched one tiny foot against Elena’s gown.
“She has your toes,” Maya said.
Elena laughed quietly.
“That is a terrible thing to wish on a child.”
For a few seconds they were only sisters beside a newborn.
Then a NICU nurse approached.
“Mrs. Mercer, Samuel’s blood gases are improving.”
Elena’s eyes filled immediately.
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re not ready to extubate, but this is the first sustained improvement.”
Elena pressed her lips to Rose’s cap.
“Did you hear that? Your brother is showing off.”
Maya smiled, but the expression faded when Ramirez appeared at the unit entrance.
The detective asked to speak privately.
They moved to the family room.
Ramirez closed the door.
“Claire is cooperating.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“That word seems generous.”
“She admitted editing the audio.”
Maya exhaled sharply.
“Why?”
“To manipulate Grant and prevent him from exposing financial fraud.”
“That we guessed.”
“There is more.”
Ramirez explained Pamela’s alleged scheme and the use of Elena’s patient account.
Elena frowned.
“What kind of medication inventory?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Fertility drugs?”
“Possibly.”
Maya looked at her sister.
“Could that have hurt the babies?”
Ramirez immediately shook her head.
“We have no evidence of that. Do not make that leap.”
Elena appreciated the firmness.
Fear had already distorted enough truth in their family.
“What does Claire want immunity from?” she asked.
“Fraud, unauthorized access, and potentially obstruction.”
“Will she get it?”
“That is for prosecutors.”
Elena looked toward the hallway.
“I want to see her.”
Maya said, “No.”
Ramirez said, “Not now.”
Elena’s voice remained calm.
“She used my dead children against my husband.”
Both women went silent.
Elena continued.
“She took messages I sent after miscarriages, didn’t she?”
Ramirez’s face answered before her mouth did.
“Yes.”
Elena looked down at her hands.
“She knew what those months did to me. She sat on my bathroom floor while I cried. She brought food when I couldn’t get out of bed. Then she took my words from that grief and used them to convince Grant I loved someone else.”
Maya sat beside her.
“Elena—”
“I need to look at her eventually.”
Ramirez nodded.
“Eventually may be possible.”
Across town, Claire’s interview continued.
Ramirez’s partner, Detective Lewis, asked the question Claire had been avoiding.
“What did Pamela mean when she told you to prepare for Elena’s death?”
Claire’s eyes widened.
“She didn’t say that.”
“We recovered a draft message: If Elena dies, everything changes.”
Claire stared at him.
“That wasn’t about killing her.”
“Then what was it about?”
Claire leaned back, suddenly shaking.
“It was about the embryos.”
Lewis frowned.
“What embryos?”
Claire looked toward her attorney.
He closed his eyes as if he already knew the answer would make everything worse.
Claire whispered, “The embryos Horizon said were destroyed after Elena and Grant closed their storage account.”
The detective’s expression changed.
“They weren’t destroyed?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Pamela.”
“And what changes if Elena dies?”
May you like
Claire’s voice dropped almost to nothing.
“Who controls them.”
