Chapter 16 - WHAT CLAIRE REFUSED TO LOSEPolice arrived in six minutes.
The intruder was gone.
Hannah was alive.
A broken kitchen window.
A destroyed laptop.
Nothing stolen.
Except project records.
Claire sat beside Hannah while paramedics checked a cut on her arm.
“I’m shutting Tacoma down,” Claire said.
Hannah looked at her.
“No.”
“This isn’t negotiable.”
“It’s my company too.”
“You have a child.”
“So do half the people this project is supposed to help.”
Claire stared.
Hannah squeezed her hand.
“Fear is exactly what whoever did this wants.”
Across the room, Ethan spoke quietly with Ortiz.
Claire watched him.
He looked furious.
Controlled.
But furious.
Later, in the car:
“You want me to stop.”
Ethan gripped the steering wheel.
“Yes.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
Then he added:
“And I know I don’t get to decide.”
She looked at him.
“That was painful to say.”
“Extremely.”
Claire almost smiled.
Ethan continued.
“I want to put you on a plane.”
“No.”
“Hire twenty guards.”
“No.”
“Lock you somewhere.”
“Ethan.”
“I’m describing impulses, not plans.”
Claire laughed despite herself.
“That is growth.”
“Therapy is exhausting.”
He reached for her hand.
“But I need you alive more than I need to feel useful.”
Claire squeezed his fingers.
They compromised.
Security.
No traveling alone.
Police coordination.
But Claire stayed.
Two days later, investigators discovered the break they needed.
The forged insurance authorization had been created from Marcus’s computer.
But Marcus had not been using it.
Security footage showed someone entering his office after midnight.
A cleaning contractor.
Name:
Thomas Vale.
Claire recognized it.
“Why?”
Ethan frowned.
“You know him?”
“No.”
Claire searched her email.
Then found it.
Thomas Vale had applied for one of Tacoma’s affordable commercial units.
His application had been denied because his company did not qualify.
Except Thomas Vale was not his real name.
His fingerprints identified him as Thomas Cole.
Adrian Cole’s younger brother.
Police arrested him that evening.
Claire expected relief.
Instead, Thomas laughed during interrogation.
“I didn’t start the fire.”
Ortiz stared.
“Your fingerprints were found near the accelerant container.”
“I planted the documents.”
“Why?”
“To expose Bennett.”
“And the explosion?”
Thomas leaned back.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Claire went cold.
“Explain.”
Thomas looked toward Ethan.
“I broke into the site to leave evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Your father’s financial records.”
Ethan stared.
Thomas smiled without humor.
“Someone was already there.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“What happened?”
“I heard them arguing with one of the workers.”
Then Thomas said:
“One of them was a woman.”
Claire froze.
May you like
There had been only one woman with unrestricted after-hours access to the construction site.
Hannah.
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