Chapter 8 - The Dinner Guests
They weren't guests at all
I ran.
Through the kitchen.
Out the back door.
Across the yard.
I could hear shouting behind me.
Laura screamed something.
Then a man's voice.
“WHERE IS THE TAPE?”
I kept running.
I didn't stop until I reached my car.
My hands shook so badly that I dropped the keys twice.
I drove straight to Denise's apartment.
She opened the door wearing pajamas.
One look at my face and she stepped aside.
“What happened?”
I handed her the cassette.
“Listen.”
We played it three times.
By the third, Denise was crying.
Not because of the words.
Because she recognized them.
“He said this twenty-three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Before your wedding?”
“Yes.”
Denise shook her head.
“Clare, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The dinner.”
I stared.
“What about it?”
“The twelve guests.”
I frowned.
She grabbed her laptop.
“Give me the names.”
“I don't know all of them.”
“Patricia posted the dinner invitation publicly.”
She showed me the page.
There they were.
Twelve names.
I recognized three.
A property attorney.
An accountant.
A local banker.
Two members of a real estate investment group.
A notary.
And Charles Voss.
My stomach dropped.
“That was the dinner.”
Denise nodded.
“Not a family dinner.”
“No.”
“A transaction.”
“What transaction?”
She opened another document.
“Your four properties were being reviewed for sale.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“To Voss?”
“Yes.”
I remembered Patricia's grocery list.
Pot roast.
Carrots.
Dinner rolls.
Cheesecake.
All while twelve strangers planned to carve up the buildings where hundreds of women had rebuilt their lives.
I suddenly understood the gown.
The dinner wasn't about feeding people.
They needed me home.
They needed me compliant.
They needed me to sign something.
“What were they going to have me sign?”
Denise looked at the documents.
“Maybe a consent agreement.”
“Maybe?”
“Your husband filed something with the county yesterday.”
“What?”
I leaned closer.
She opened the public record.
A corporate restructuring.
Second Chapter House's property holdings were being transferred into a new entity.
Name:
Second Chapter Asset Management LLC.
Registered manager:
Mark Bennett.
I stared.
“That would strip the nonprofit of ownership.”
“Yes.”
“Can he do that?”
“Apparently he thinks he can.”
“And the board?”
“Five members already approved it.”
I felt sick.
“But the vote wasn't legitimate.”
“Then we prove it.”
She looked up.
“We need a lawyer.”
“I know someone.”
“Who?”
“Evelyn.”
We called her.
She answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“With Denise.”
“Good.”
“Laura was attacked.”
A pause.
“Is she alive?”
“I don't know.”
Evelyn exhaled slowly.
“Listen to me.”
Her voice had changed.
“Do not go home.”
“Why?”
“Because Voss knows about the tape.”
I looked at Denise.
“How?”
“Mark contacted him twenty-three minutes ago.”
“How do you know?”
“I have a source inside his company.”
I stared at the phone.
“Who?”
“I'll tell you when we're together.”
Evelyn arrived twenty minutes later.
She entered carrying a leather briefcase.
She looked at the cassette.
“Where's Laura?”
“Her house was attacked.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I was afraid of that.”
“What aren't you telling me?”
“Enough that you should stop asking for partial answers.”
She opened the briefcase.
Inside was a stack of documents.
And one passport.
I looked at it.
“Whose?”
“Maya's.”
I stared.
“Why do you have her passport?”
“Because I helped her leave the state.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“You'll know when she wants you to.”
I was angry.
“She is a seventeen-year-old girl.”
“She is also the only person who saw the original ledger.”
“What did she see?”
Evelyn pulled out another sheet.
A payment.
$250,000.
Recipient:
Lorraine Bennett.
But the payment wasn't made by Mark.
It came from Patricia.
Date:
Three days before my wedding.
I stared.
“Patricia paid Lorraine before I married Mark.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make her disappear.”
“Why?”
Evelyn placed another page in front of me.
It was a letter.
From Lorraine to Patricia.
If you make me disappear, I will make sure Clare knows what your son did.
I whispered:
“What did Mark do?”
Evelyn didn't answer.
Instead, she slid one final photograph toward me.
It showed Mark standing in front of a hospital.
Beside him was a young woman.
Pregnant.
I knew the woman.
Patricia had a photograph of her once.
She told me she was a distant relative.
I was wrong.
“She was pregnant with Maya.”
“Yes.”
“And Mark knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he tell me Maya was nobody?”
“Because he doesn't consider her family.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“What does he consider her?”
“A witness.”
My phone rang.
Mark.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Because I know about Laura.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did you do to her?”
“I didn't touch her.”
“Then what happened?”
“I want the tape.”
“No.”
“Clare.”
His voice became colder.
“Bring it home.”
“Why?”
“Because there's one thing you don't know.”
“What?”
“Your award.”
I froze.
“What about it?”
“The foundation that gave it to you was supposed to present something else tonight.”
“What?”
Silence.
Then:
“An investigation.”
My blood ran cold.
“Into me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Mark laughed quietly.
“Into Second Chapter House.”
I stared at Evelyn.
She looked horrified.
Mark continued.
“And tomorrow morning, every newspaper in Ohio will say the same thing.”
“What?”
His voice became almost gentle.
“They'll say my wife stole millions from vulnerable women.”
Then he hung up.
I looked at Denise.
“That's impossible.”
Evelyn was already reaching for her phone.
“No.”
She stared at me.
“It isn't.”
“What?”
“Because that was always the plan.”
I felt the room disappear around me.
“What plan?”
Evelyn looked at the cassette.
“To destroy your reputation.”
Then she added:
“To make everyone believe you were the criminal.”
“And Mark?”
She met my eyes.
“He would become the hero who stepped in to save the organization.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Because I suddenly remembered Mark's words.
You need some time away from Second Chapter House.
May you like
He hadn't been asking me to rest.
He had been preparing my replacement.
