Chapter 6: The Brother Breaks
Scott Vance was brought in for questioning at 4:00 p.m.
the following day.
Clara wasn't there.
She was at a friend's apartment across the city with Lily, two officers posted outside the door, her phone in her hand, waiting.
Reyes called at 6:22 p.m.
"He talked," she said.
Clara stood up from the couch.
"Everything?"
"Enough.
He lawyered up after forty minutes, but by then we had what we needed." A pause.
"Clara, Ethan is alive."
The room went sideways for a moment.
Clara put her hand on the wall.
"Where?"
"A motel outside the city.
He's been there for three days.
He went voluntarily — Mack's people told him to disappear or they'd go after you and Lily.
He believed them.
He panicked and ran."
"He ran," Clara said.
The words came out flat.
"He didn't know about the bag.
He didn't know about the shirt or the spreadsheet.
Scott arranged all of that — to frame you, to create a reason for the investigation to focus on you instead of the company finances.
Ethan running actually helped Scott's plan.
A missing husband, a suspicious wife, a bag of evidence planted in the apartment."
"And Beatrice," Clara said.
"She knew Ethan had run.
She knew he was alive."
"Scott told her.
She agreed to help.
She placed the device so she could monitor what you knew and report back to Scott."
Clara was quiet for a long moment.
Outside the window of her friend's apartment, the city moved normally — cars, lights, a woman walking a dog.
Everything ordinary and completely unaware.
"Is Ethan coming back?" she asked.
"Officers are with him now.
He'll be brought in tonight." Another pause.
"He's asking for you."
Clara looked at Lily, asleep on the couch with the green backpack tucked against her chest like a stuffed animal.
"Tell him," Clara said slowly, "that I'm glad he's alive.
And that we have a great deal to talk about."
Reyes let that sit.
"Understood."
"What about Mack?"
"Warrant is being prepared.
We have Scott's testimony, the loan records, the burner phone purchase, and the text.
Gerald Mack is not going to be difficult to charge."
"And Scott?"
"Fraud.
Conspiracy.
Witness tampering.
Possibly more once we finish the financial audit." Reyes's voice was steady, professional.
But Clara heard something underneath it — the particular quiet of someone delivering news they know will cost the person on the other end something real.
"His lawyer will negotiate.
But the shell company records are airtight.
He's not walking away from this."
Clara sat back down on the couch.
She reached over and rested her hand on Lily's backpack without waking her.
"Reyes," she said.
"The spreadsheet.
With my name and Lily's name.
The death benefits."
"Yes."
"Scott made that."
"We believe so."
"He sat down and typed our names into a document and put dollar amounts next to them."
Reyes said nothing.
"I just needed to say that out loud," Clara said.
"So it's real."
"I know," Reyes said quietly.
"I'll call you when Ethan arrives."
The line went quiet.
May you like
Lily shifted in her sleep and pulled the backpack closer.
Clara didn't move her hand.
