Chapter 7: What Claire Found Before Morning
I slept on the sofa that night with Olivia tucked against me, her bunny pressed between us.
She fell asleep within minutes.
I did not sleep at all.
My parents stayed.
My dad took the armchair.
My mom spread a blanket on the floor of Olivia's room and slept there with the crescent moon nightlight on, the way she used to sleep on my floor when I was sick as a child.
Madison stayed in the bedroom with the door closed.
At some point after midnight, I heard the door open.
Footsteps.
The kitchen light came on briefly.
Then off.
Then the bedroom door again.
I did not move.
At six in the morning, Claire knocked softly on the front door.
I had texted her at two a.m.
She had been awake already.
She came in and sat across from me at the kitchen table while Olivia still slept on the sofa.
She set her phone down between us.
"I spent the night looking," she said.
"And?"
"Daniel Forsythe.
He has a record.
Financial fraud.
Two civil cases, one dismissed, one settled out of court.
He ran a similar situation four years ago — a woman in Connecticut.
Widower.
Two kids.
Madison was connected to that case.
Not charged.
But connected."
I stared at the phone.
"She's done this before."
"It looks that way.
The Connecticut woman lost her savings.
He was the one who moved the money, but Madison was the one who got close to the family first." Claire paused.
"She is very good at it, Ethan."
"She was in that toy shop on purpose."
"I think so."
I looked at the sofa.
At Olivia's small face, slack and peaceful in sleep, the bunny tucked under her chin.
"I handed her my daughter," I said.
"You handed her what looked like a good person," Claire said.
"That is not the same thing."
"I need a lawyer."
"I already called one.
She can see you at nine."
I looked at my sister across the table.
She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was still pulled back from the night before and she had spent the entire night doing what I could not do because I was too shattered to think clearly.
"Claire—"
"Don't," she said.
"Just drink your coffee."
From the bedroom, a drawer opened and closed.
Then another.
Claire and I looked at each other.
"She's packing," Claire said.
"Let her."
May you like
"Ethan, if she leaves before you've spoken to the lawyer—"
I was already standing.
