Chapter 3: What Claire Knew
I walked inside without looking back at Vanessa.
Sophie was still pressed against my chest, her wet hair cold against my neck.
I set her on the kitchen counter, grabbed a dish towel, and wrapped it around her shoulders.
She didn't let go of my shirt.
"Claire," I said into the phone.
"Talk to me."
"Is Sophie safe?" Her voice was tight.
Not panicked.
Controlled in the way people get when they have been afraid for a long time and have learned to manage it.
"She's with me.
She's okay."
A long breath on the other end.
"And the key.
You have it?"
I looked down at my fist.
My fingers were still closed around it.
"Yes."
"Don't give it to Vanessa.
Whatever she says, whatever she offers you — don't give it to her."
"Claire." I kept my voice low.
Sophie was watching my face.
"What does it open?"
A pause.
Not hesitation.
More like she was deciding where to begin.
"A safe deposit box," she said.
"At Hargrove Bank on Clement Street.
Box number 114.
Diane opened it eight months before she d*ed."
Diane.
My wife.
Sophie's mother.
"She never told me about any safe deposit box."
"She didn't tell you because she was protecting you.
She was protecting Sophie." Claire stopped.
"She was protecting you from knowing what Vanessa really is."
I heard the back door open behind me.
Vanessa's heels on the kitchen tile.
"We need to talk," Vanessa said.
"Right now."
I turned to face her.
She had changed out of her wet clothes.
Her hair was dry.
She had taken the time to fix herself before coming in.
That told me something.
"I'm on the phone," I said.
"I can see that." She looked at the phone in my hand the way she had looked at the key.
"Who is it?"
I didn't answer.
"Is that Claire?" Her voice dropped half a register.
"Daniel.
Hang up."
"Why?"
"Because Claire has been trying to destroy this family since the day Diane passed.
She hates me.
She has always hated me.
Whatever she is telling you is a lie."
I put the phone back to my ear.
"Claire.
I'll call you back in ten minutes."
"Don't let her take the key," Claire said.
"And Daniel — check Sophie's room tonight.
Check under the window seat.
Diane left something else there too.
She told me where to find it in case something ever happened."
The call ended.
Vanessa was watching me with that same cold expression from the pool.
Not angry.
Not afraid.
Calculating.
"She's poisoning you against me," she said.
"She asked if Sophie was safe." I set the phone on the counter.
"You didn't."
Something shifted behind her eyes.
Just for a second.
"Of course Sophie is safe.
It was an accident.
She slipped."
"Sophie said you dragged her."
"Sophie is six.
She's upset.
Children say things."
"She said you cut the bear open before.
That she saw you."
Vanessa set her hand flat on the counter.
Her rings caught the light.
"I want that key, Daniel."
"I know you do."
"It belongs to me.
Whatever Diane told Claire, whatever story she built around that box — it is not what you think.
I can explain everything if you just give me the key and let me explain."
Sophie slid off the counter and wrapped both arms around my leg.
She didn't say a word.
She just held on.
I looked down at her.
Then back at Vanessa.
"You're going to want to call a lawyer," I said.
Vanessa's hand lifted off the counter.
"Excuse me?"
"Before we have any more conversations.
You're going to want a lawyer present."
The color left her face for the second time that afternoon.
But this time she didn't look frightened.
She looked like someone who had just realized the game had changed and was already thinking three moves ahead.
"You have no idea what you're getting into," she said quietly.
Sophie's arms tightened around my leg.
And I realized she was right.
May you like
I didn't know yet.
But I was about to find out.
