The investigator did not let us leave the house alone.
Two officers arrived before noon, and one remained outside while the other checked the street, the driveway, and the neighboring properties. They did not find the black sedan.
That almost made things worse.
A car could be explained.
A missing car could not.
Lily sat at the kitchen table with Rachel, drawing quietly while the adults spoke in low voices. She had asked twice whether Marcus knew where she lived. Nobody had answered directly.
The investigator finally crouched beside her.
“We're going to make sure you're safe.”
Lily nodded.
“Does that mean I can't go to school?”
“You can.”
“Will someone come with me?”
“Yes.”
She thought for a moment.
“Can Rachel?”
The investigator looked at Rachel.
“That can be arranged.”
Lily smiled faintly.
It was the first expression of relief I had seen from her all day.
Claire stood near the window.
She hadn't spoken much since the phone call.
I watched her looking at Lily.
There was guilt in her face, but something else had appeared beneath it.
Recognition.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“Claire.”
She hesitated.
“The voice.”
“The caller?”
“Yes.”
“You recognized him?”
She looked toward the officers.
“I think so.”
“Who?”
She lowered her voice.
“Tom.”
Lily's father.
The name seemed to change the temperature in the room.
Rachel looked up.
“You're sure?”
“No.”
“But you think it was him?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The investigator joined us.
“Tell me exactly what you mean.”
Claire explained that Tom had a distinctive habit when he was angry. He spoke quietly rather than shouting, and he dragged out certain words.
“That voice sounded like him.”
I looked at Rachel.
“Could he be involved?”
Rachel frowned.
“I don't believe so.”
“Why?”
“Because Tom has spent the last year trying to stay away from Claire.”
Claire gave a bitter laugh.
“He hates me.”
Rachel corrected her.
“He hates what happened between you.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Rachel's answer was firm.
“He still asks about Lily.”
Claire looked down.
The investigator asked whether Tom had access to any of Lily's information.
Claire admitted he had.
“He's her father.”
“Does he know about the accounts?”
“I don't know.”
“Does he know about Marcus?”
“I don't think so.”
The investigator wrote everything down.
Then he asked Claire to unlock her old email account.
She hesitated.
“I don't remember the password.”
Rachel looked at her.
“You used the same one everywhere.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The investigator recovered several deleted messages.
Most were from Marcus.
A few were from unfamiliar numbers.
One message was dated six months earlier.
It said:
You cannot keep moving the money without triggering another review.
Claire stared at it.
“I don't remember this.”
Another message followed the same day.
Then another.
The language was strange.
No names.
No details.
Only instructions.
The investigator asked whether Claire had ever met the sender.
She shook her head.
“No.”
I pointed to one line.
“They knew about the account before it was opened.”
The investigator nodded.
“That suggests Marcus wasn't working alone.”
Rachel leaned closer.
“Then who was?”
Nobody answered.
The investigator kept scrolling.
Suddenly he stopped.
He opened an attachment.
It was a photograph of Lily.
Taken outside school.
The same day Marcus had approached her.
But the photograph was different from the one we had received that morning.
This one had been taken from much farther away.
Lily was not the focus.
The focus was Claire.
She was standing beside her car.
A man was speaking to her.
I looked at the photograph.
“Who's that?”
Claire stared.
“I don't know.”
Rachel leaned forward.
Then her face changed.
“I do.”
She pointed.
“That isn't a stranger.”
The man was Tom.
Claire's former husband.
The investigator enlarged the image.
Tom was holding an envelope.
Claire was holding a folder.
The photograph had been taken almost a year earlier.
I turned toward Claire.
“You said you hadn't spoken to Tom.”
“I said I didn't know if he was involved.”
“You knew him.”
“I spoke to him once.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“What did he give you?”
Claire stared at the photograph.
“I don't remember.”
Rachel's voice hardened.
“Claire.”
“I don't.”
The investigator asked her to think carefully.
Claire finally said, “He said he wanted Lily's school records.”
“Why?”
“He said he was trying to update his custody file.”
“Did you give them to him?”
Claire nodded.
“Copies.”
I felt something click.
Marcus had obtained Lily's information through Claire.
Tom had also requested records.
The question wasn't whether both men were involved.
The question was whether they had ever been involved together.
That afternoon, the investigator located Tom.
He agreed to meet us at a police office.
He arrived alone.
I had never met him before.
He looked ordinary.
Dark jacket.
Work boots.
Tired eyes.
He saw Claire and stopped.
Then he looked at Lily.
His expression softened immediately.
“Hey, kid.”
Lily didn't move.
Tom looked hurt.
“I understand.”
The investigator showed him the photograph.
Tom studied it.
“Yes.”
“You met Claire that day?”
“Yes.”
“What did you give her?”
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
“Copies of records.”
“Why?”
Tom looked at Claire.
“She asked me for them.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Tom frowned.
“You said you needed proof of Lily's identity.”
“I don't remember saying that.”
“You absolutely did.”
The investigator asked, “Did you know Marcus Hale?”
Tom's expression changed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Through Claire.”
Claire looked stunned.
“Tom.”
He ignored her.
“Marcus handled part of our divorce paperwork.”
“Did you work with him after the divorce?”
“No.”
“Did you ever give him Lily's records?”
Tom hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said Claire had authorized it.”
Claire covered her mouth.
The investigator leaned forward.
“When?”
“About eleven months ago.”
That date matched the earliest school assistance form.
The pattern was finally taking shape.
But then Tom said something none of us expected.
“I started getting strange notices after that.”
“What kind?”
“Accounts I didn't recognize.”
“Did you report them?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“Marcus.”
I looked at the investigator.
“That's not a report.”
Tom shook his head.
“I didn't know what was happening.”
“Why didn't you contact Claire?”
“Because she told me to stay away.”
Claire looked at him.
“I never said that.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You said Lily was better off without me.”
Lily looked at her mother.
Claire closed her eyes.
“I said that because I was angry.”
Tom stared at the floor.
“I believed you.”
The room went quiet.
I suddenly understood why Lily had believed so many things adults told her.
Everyone had been speaking out of fear.
Everyone had been withholding information.
And Marcus had found the gaps.
The investigator asked Tom whether he knew about the seven-dollar transactions.
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Did you ever receive a seven-dollar payment?”
Tom thought.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“From whom?”
“I don't know.”
The investigator looked at me.
The same amount again.
Seven dollars.
A tiny transaction connecting people who claimed not to know one another.
Then Tom remembered something.
“It wasn't a payment.”
“What was it?”
“A refund.”
“For what?”
“A background check.”
The investigator sat back.
“Who ordered it?”
Tom looked at Claire.
“She did.”
Claire whispered, “I don't remember.”
Tom's voice became sharper.
“You told me you were afraid someone was investigating you.”
Claire stared at him.
“I was.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Tom shook his head.
“That's what Marcus told me too.”
The investigator stood.
“Everyone stop.”
We did.
He looked at each of us.
“Marcus may have been telling different people different stories.”
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked directly at me.
“The black sedan has been found.”
“Where?”
“Outside Marcus Hale's former office.”
The investigator ended the call.
“He wasn't alone.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 10: Marcus Had Left Behind Enough Evidence to Prove the Scheme Was Larger, but One Missing File Could Explain Why Lily Was Targeted
The Extra Burger I Thought Would Be Harmless Became the First Sign That Something Was Seriously Wrong
Part 9 of 20
