Chapter 4 - WHAT CLAIRE HAD BEEN TRYING TO ESCAPE
Claire woke shortly after midnight.
This time, Detective Ortiz was waiting.
Ethan remained beside his mother because Claire refused to speak unless he stayed.
Ortiz pulled a chair closer.
“Claire, I need to know what happened before you were placed in that coffin.”
Claire stared at the ceiling.
“For months, Richard told me I was sick.”
“What kind of sick?”
“He said I was forgetting things.”
Her voice trembled.
“He said I was confused.”
Ethan remembered.
Richard constantly corrected Claire.
You already told me that.
You forgot again.
We discussed this yesterday.
Claire continued.
“He convinced me to see Dr. Vale.”
Ortiz wrote the name down even though she already knew it.
“What did Dr. Vale diagnose?”
“Anxiety at first.”
Claire swallowed.
“Then depression.”
“And medication?”
“Yes.”
“Did it help?”
“No.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“It made me tired.”
Ethan remembered finding his mother asleep on the couch in the middle of the afternoon.
Richard had laughed.
Your mom needs more rest these days.
Claire closed her eyes.
“Three months ago, I checked one of Richard’s business accounts because a property tax payment was missing.”
“That’s when you found the transfers?”
“Yes.”
“I confronted him.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me I was imagining it.”
Ortiz leaned closer.
“And then?”
“The medication got stronger.”
Claire’s hand tightened around the blanket.
“I started pretending to swallow the pills.”
That was when her mind cleared.
And when Claire began discovering what Richard had done.
He had forged her signature.
Opened companies using information from Daniel Parker’s estate.
Borrowed against property Claire had never approved.
Changed insurance documents.
And repeatedly contacted Dr. Vale.
Claire began quietly collecting evidence.
She copied bank statements.
Recorded conversations.
Contacted an attorney.
Then Richard discovered one of the copies.
“He knew I was preparing to leave.”
Ortiz’s voice softened.
“What happened the day everyone was told you died?”
Claire’s breathing changed.
“I was packing.”
“For where?”
“My sister’s house.”
Megan covered her mouth.
Claire looked at her.
“I was coming to you.”
“What stopped you?”
“Richard came home early.”
Claire remembered a glass of water.
A bitter taste.
Her legs becoming heavy.
Richard catching her as she fell.
Then Dr. Vale entering through the kitchen door.
She remembered hearing them argue.
“She’s not out enough,” Richard had said.
Vale replied, “Another dose could stop her breathing.”
Then darkness.
When Claire woke again, she could not move her arms properly.
She smelled flowers.
She felt satin beneath her cheek.
There was no light.
“I thought I had gone blind.”
Her voice broke.
“Then I realized where I was.”
Inside the coffin.
She screamed.
But the tape over her mouth swallowed the sound.
Her wrists were not tied.
They did not need to be.
She was too drugged to lift the lid.
So Claire tapped.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Until her hand became too weak.
Ortiz looked down at her notes.
“How did you know Ethan would hear?”
Claire turned toward her son.
“I didn’t.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was just trying to tell him I loved him one last time.”
Ethan lowered his head against her arm.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Claire remembered something else.
“Richard had a passport.”
Ortiz looked up.
“His?”
“No.”
May you like
Claire’s face tightened.
“Mine.”
