Chapter 13 - THE 2023 CLIP
Claire did not want to watch another old video.
She watched anyway.
June 11, 2023.
Seven months before Daniel and Claire bought the house from the trust.
Judith still lived there part-time while clearing Richard's belongings.
The living room looked almost the same.
Old sofa.
Same coffee table.
Same dining table.
The hidden camera faced the room.
Judith entered carrying a banker box.
She set it on the table.
Henry Walsh arrived ten minutes later.
They discussed estate documents.
Nothing surprising.
Then Judith left to take a phone call.
A woman entered.
Only her back at first.
Gray sweater.
Dark hair.
Middle-aged.
Not Allison.
Claire leaned closer.
“Who is that?”
Daniel shook his head.
The woman opened Richard's banker box.
Removed a blue folder.
Henry returned.
He saw her.
Did not appear surprised.
Audio:
Henry:
“You shouldn't be here.”
Woman:
“Neither should that.”
She tapped the blue folder.
Henry:
“Richard said Daniel gets it.”
Woman:
“Richard said a lot of things when he knew he was running out of time.”
Daniel stopped playback.
“Henry knows her.”
He called.
Henry answered after two attempts.
Daniel described the woman.
Silence.
“Who?”
Henry said:
“I need to see the clip.”
They sent a still through counsel.
Henry called back fifteen minutes later.
“Elizabeth Crane.”
Daniel had heard the name.
Barely.
Richard's longtime personal bookkeeper before Carter Ridge expanded.
Retired twelve years earlier.
Claire asked:
“Why was she in the house after Richard died?”
Henry answered:
“She helped him maintain private family records.”
“Did she work for the estate?”
“No.”
“Did Judith know?”
“I don't know.”
“What blue folder?”
Henry hesitated.
“Richard kept two accounting sets.”
Daniel stared.
“We just spent months dealing with one ledger.”
“Not a second secret estate.”
Henry said quickly.
“One formal household ledger. One private reconciliation file.”
“Mercer?”
“Partly.”
“Where is the blue folder?”
Henry answered:
“I thought Judith had it.”
Judith said she had never seen it.
Allison had not.
The 2023 clip showed Elizabeth removing it.
Then what?
She carried it toward the hall.
Footage ended.
No next camera.
Daniel asked Henry:
“Is Elizabeth alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Arizona, last I knew.”
Daniel's attorney contacted her.
No response.
Certified letter:
Delivered.
Email:
Opened.
No reply.
Then Claire noticed something the forensic analyst had not emphasized.
The recent JBENNETT_ADMIN sessions all accessed the June 11 clip.
Not the Mercer videos.
Not Daniel hugging Allison.
Just Elizabeth removing the blue folder.
Whoever was still using the old account appeared interested in Elizabeth Crane.
Daniel wanted to call her repeatedly.
Claire stopped him after the second attempt.
“We have her name.”
“Yes.”
“We have lawyers.”
“Yes.”
“We don't need to drive to Arizona.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I wasn't going to.”
She stared.
He smiled slightly.
“Growth.”
Claire almost smiled back.
Then Noah came home from school.
He dropped his backpack by the sofa.
Looked at the empty holes where the hidden cameras had been.
“Are all the spy things gone?”
Claire said:
“Yes.”
Daniel said at the same time:
“We think so.”
Claire looked at him.
He corrected.
“The ones in the house are gone.”
Noah nodded.
Good enough.
Then he asked:
May you like
“Can we put the TV back?”
For the first time in months, the answer was yes.
