Chapter 7 - The Dress
The bridesmaid dress hung in my guest bedroom closet.
Clara had left it after our final fitting.
Dusty rose.
Silk.
Perfectly altered.
I had stood beside her in that room while she admired herself in the mirror.
She had hugged me.
“You’re really getting married.”
I remembered laughing.
“You sound surprised.”
Maybe she had been.
Nolan and Marcus watched while I examined the dress.
Nothing in the pockets.
Nothing sewn into the hem.
Then I noticed one section of lining near the waist had been hand-stitched.
Marcus cut it open.
A tiny memory card fell onto the bed.
Nolan stared at it.
“Smart.”
“Or paranoid.”
“Those are cousins.”
We opened the card on an isolated computer.
Three folders.
DEREK.
RICHARD.
EMILY.
I clicked my name first.
Photographs of me.
Hundreds.
Leaving work.
Meeting friends.
Jogging.
Visiting Mom.
Entering my therapist’s office after Dad’s death anniversary.
I stopped.
“These are surveillance photos.”
Nolan’s face hardened.
Some dated back three years.
Before Derek proposed.
Before Clara became close enough to call me her best friend.
The RICHARD folder contained emails.
Payment instructions.
Messages to Clara.
KEEP HER CLOSE.
REPORT MOOD CHANGES.
ENCOURAGE DEPENDENCE ON DEREK.
SAVE ANY MESSAGES THAT COULD SUGGEST INSTABILITY.
My stomach twisted.
Nolan whispered a curse.
I opened the DEREK folder.
Different messages.
More personal.
Derek to Clara.
I can’t do this forever.
Clara:
Then tell your father.
Derek:
You know what happens if I do.
Clara:
Emily deserves the truth.
Derek:
Don’t pretend you care about her now.
Clara:
I do.
Derek:
That makes you dangerous.
I stared at the screen.
Nolan leaned closer.
“Keep going.”
Another message.
Derek:
After Cabo, we finish this.
Clara:
Meaning?
Derek:
I’m getting us out.
Clara:
Us?
Derek:
You and me.
There it was.
The affair.
Real.
But apparently entangled with something larger.
Then one message from two weeks earlier.
Clara:
Richard knows you’re planning to keep Emily out of it.
Derek:
Good.
Clara:
No, Derek.
He knows.
Derek:
Then I’ll handle him.
Clara:
You sound just like him.
I sat back.
“What does that mean?”
Nolan didn’t answer.
The next file was audio.
Clara’s voice.
Recorded secretly.
Richard Hale was speaking.
The wedding happens.
Derek replied.
I said it will.
Richard:
And after?
Derek:
We execute the transfer.
Richard:
All of it.
Derek:
That wasn’t the agreement.
Richard:
The agreement is whatever keeps you out of prison.
Silence.
Then Derek.
Leave Emily out of this.
Richard laughed.
You’re sleeping with her maid of honor while preparing to steal her inheritance and suddenly you’ve developed a conscience?
My chest hurt.
Derek answered.
I said I’ll get the shares.
No guardianship.
No medical strategy.
No ruining her life.
Richard:
You don’t get to choose.
The recording ended.
I stared at the screen.
Nolan crossed his arms.
“Derek may have been trying to limit the plan.”
“Please don’t make him sound noble.”
“I’m not.”
“He planned to steal from me.”
“Yes.”
“He slept with Clara.”
“Yes.”
“He lied every day.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
“No but.”
Nolan’s voice softened.
“Understanding degrees of guilt isn’t forgiveness.”
I looked back at the files.
“Clara was collecting evidence.”
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Or remorse.”
“Possibly.”
I opened the final document.
A video.
Clara appeared alone in a hotel room.
She looked exhausted.
“If you’re watching this, I either finally told you the truth, or I failed.”
My breath caught.
She looked directly at the camera.
“Emily, I was sent into your life.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Richard hired me three years ago.”
I gripped the table.
“He paid me to become your friend.”
Nolan remained silent.
“I told myself it was harmless.”
Clara continued.
“Lunches.”
“Shopping.”
“Learning your routines.”
“Then Derek got involved.”
Her voice broke.
“I fell in love with him.”
I looked away.
“He says he loves me too.”
She wiped her face.
“But sometimes I think neither of us knows what love means anymore.”
Then she said something that made me look back.
“Derek did not choose you.”
“His father did.”
I already knew that.
But then Clara added.
“And Richard Hale did not choose you because of your trust.”
“He chose you because of what your father hid inside it.”
Nolan paused the video.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“What could Dad have hidden?”
“I don’t know.”
We resumed.
Clara leaned toward the camera.
“There is an account called Northstar.”
“Richard has been looking for it for nine years.”
“He believes Emily controls the access key.”
“I don’t know what Northstar is.”
“Neither does Derek.”
“But Richard believes it contains enough evidence to destroy half the people who helped him build Meridian.”
The video ended.
Nolan stood abruptly.
“Northstar.”
“You know it?”
“I’ve heard the word.”
“Where?”
He looked toward Dad’s office.
May you like
“In the last voicemail Dad ever left me.”
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