Chapter 10 - THE DOLLHOUSE RECORDING
The old phone was wrapped inside a child's sock beneath the dollhouse staircase.
Claire had hidden it well.
Perhaps too well.
Ethan wondered whether she had intended Sophie to find it.
Marcus connected the device to an isolated computer.
There was one video.
Timestamped six days before Claire's death.
The camera angle showed Claire's bedroom.
Claire herself was not visible at first.
Celeste stood near the window.
Richard paced beside the bed.
Their voices were clear.
Richard said, “She knows about Luxembourg.”
Celeste replied, “Then move sooner.”
“What about Ethan?”
“He'll believe she's confused.”
“And Sophie?”
Celeste paused.
“Sophie is a child.”
Richard lowered his voice.
“Claire won't sign.”
“She doesn't need to.”
Then Claire entered the frame.
Ethan's heart stopped.
She looked weak but furious.
“I heard everything.”
Celeste turned.
Richard swore.
Claire held up her phone.
“I recorded enough.”
Celeste walked toward her.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“Get out of my house.”
Richard tried to calm them.
Claire pointed toward the door.
“You too.”
The recording shook slightly.
Claire must have placed a second phone somewhere in the room before entering.
Celeste's voice changed.
“You think you're protecting Sophie.”
“I am.”
“You're protecting Ethan's empire.”
“No.”
Claire stepped closer.
“I'm protecting my daughter from you.”
The next words were almost a whisper.
Celeste said, “Margaret died with nothing because of your father.”
Claire answered immediately.
“And I tried to fix that.”
“You hid the money.”
“I protected it.”
“From me?”
“From what you've become.”
Celeste stared at Claire for several seconds.
Then she said something Ethan would hear in his dreams for years.
“You may not be here long enough to decide what happens to it.”
The video ended twenty seconds later when Richard noticed something near the camera.
The screen went black.
Nobody in the room moved.
Detective Briggs replayed the final exchange.
Then she looked at Ethan.
“That's motive.”
Ethan nodded numbly.
Sophie stood in the doorway with Rosa.
She had apparently heard only the last few seconds.
“Was Mommy scared?”
Ethan turned toward her.
He could have lied.
Instead he opened his arms.
“Yes.”
Sophie walked to him.
“But she was brave too.”
Ethan held her.
“Yes.”
That night, investigators obtained a warrant for Celeste's Connecticut apartment.
They found no laboratory materials.
But they did find something else.
A hidden folder containing copies of Claire's medical test results.
One report had handwritten notes.
Most belonged to Richard.
One line belonged to someone else.
Detective Briggs called Ethan after midnight.
“We matched the handwriting.”
“To whom?”
“Your former family physician.”
Ethan's chest tightened.
Dr. Samuel Voss.
The doctor who had first diagnosed Claire.
May you like
The doctor who assured Ethan there was nothing unusual about her rapid decline.
The investigation had just gained a third suspect.
