Chapter 4 - The Woman Wearing Claire's Face
Dominic Vale had spent most of his adult life recognizing lies.
He could detect hesitation in a business negotiation, fear in a man's breathing, and betrayal in the smallest change of routine.
But nothing prepared him for seeing Claire Bennett standing beside him while security footage placed her at a murder scene across the city.
Miles enlarged the photograph.
The woman wore Claire's blue dress.
Her hair was arranged the same way.
Even her posture seemed familiar.
Claire stared.
"That's not possible."
Dominic studied the image.
"Look at her left hand."
Miles zoomed in.
A silver ring gleamed on the woman's index finger.
Claire lifted her own hands.
No ring.
"I don't wear jewelry at work," she whispered.
Dominic remembered.
Four years.
No rings.
No bracelets.
Only a thin gold necklace that had belonged to her mother.
"Someone dressed like her," Dominic said.
Miles frowned.
"Why?"
"To put her at the scene."
Claire sat heavily on the couch.
"Someone planned this."
Dominic looked at her.
"Yes."
"Before Grant ever approached me?"
"Probably."
She swallowed.
"Then the blind date, the bathroom, my father—"
"All connected."
A knock sounded at the apartment door.
Miles checked the camera.
"Evelyn."
Dominic nodded.
Evelyn Price entered carrying a leather briefcase and wearing the exhausted expression of a woman who had spent twenty years cleaning up powerful men's mistakes.
She was forty-eight, sharp-eyed, and entirely unimpressed by Dominic's reputation.
"Before anyone speaks," she said, "I need to know whether there is anything illegal in this apartment."
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
"Good evening to you too."
"I'm serious."
"No."
"Fine."
She placed her briefcase on the table.
"Police found Thomas Reed dead inside the Vale Maritime records room. The first responding officers are treating it as a homicide."
Claire closed her eyes.
Evelyn noticed the bruise on her wrist.
"What happened to you?"
Dominic answered.
"She was attacked at the Neon Harbor."
Evelyn's expression sharpened.
"By whom?"
"Grant Keller."
"Good. I want the complete timeline, the original phone records, and every photograph you have. Nobody deletes anything."
Miles handed her the security image.
Evelyn studied it.
Then she looked at Claire.
"Where were you at 12:17?"
"With Dominic."
"Can anyone confirm that?"
"Me," Dominic said.
"And me," Miles added.
Evelyn nodded.
"Then we have an alibi. We still need to preserve independent evidence."
She began making calls.
Dominic moved toward the window.
Claire followed.
"You're angry."
"Yes."
"At me?"
He turned.
"No."
"Then why won't you look at me?"
His answer came slowly.
"Because somebody hurt you to get to me."
Claire's expression changed.
"Dominic, you don't know that."
"I know Harrow."
"Maybe this isn't about you."
He looked at her.
She hesitated.
Then she reached beneath her necklace and pulled out a tiny brass key.
"My mother gave me this before she died."
Dominic stared.
"What does it open?"
"I don't know."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know whether I could trust you."
The words landed between them.
Claire looked ashamed, but she didn't take them back.
Dominic nodded once.
"Fair."
That surprised her.
He continued.
"You came to work for me because of your father."
"Yes."
"And you stayed?"
Claire's eyes filled.
"Because the man I found wasn't the man I expected."
Neither moved.
Then Evelyn called from the table.
"Dominic. You need to see this."
She had opened an old corporate registry file.
"Northstar Freight was dissolved eleven years ago after the fire. Its final insurance settlement was paid through three holding companies."
Dominic approached.
"Who owned them?"
"One belonged to Richard Vale."
He wasn't surprised.
"Another belonged to Silas Harrow."
"Also unsurprising."
Evelyn looked up.
"The third company was registered under a trust."
"Whose?"
"Claire's."
Claire stepped closer.
"What?"
Evelyn turned the laptop.
The trust had been established when Claire was sixteen.
Its beneficiary was listed as Claire Elizabeth Bennett.
Its value was substantial.
Forty-two million dollars.
Claire stared at the screen.
"I don't have that kind of money."
Evelyn shook her head.
"Not anymore. The assets were transferred out six years ago."
Dominic felt something cold settle in his chest.
Six years.
The year his father died.
"Who authorized the transfer?"
Evelyn opened another document.
Then she stopped.
Her expression changed completely.
"Dominic."
"What?"
"The authorization bears your signature."
He stared at the screen.
His name appeared beneath a transfer order.
Dominic Alexander Vale.
The signature looked authentic.
The date was correct.
But Dominic had never seen the document.
Claire stepped backward.
"Did you take my father's money?"
"No."
"Then why is your name there?"
"I don't know."
Before he could say more, the apartment's security monitor flashed.
Someone was standing outside the building.
A woman in a blue dress.
Dark hair.
Claire's face.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she raised one hand.
May you like
On her index finger was a silver ring.
And in the other hand, she held a photograph of Dominic's dead mother.
