The Account Across the Border
Chapter 07 - The Account Across the Border
Grant did not disappear.
Not yet.
But the audit found the account.
Three million four hundred thousand dollars had been transferred through a consulting company registered in Delaware.
From there, the money moved north.
The account holder was not Grant.
It was Vanessa.
Claire stared at the report.
Vanessa had lied.
She called her immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
By evening, Claire was furious.
Not heartbroken.
Not frightened.
Furious.
She had defended Vanessa in her own mind because the younger woman had handed her the Denton agreement.
Now it appeared Vanessa had been part of everything.
Claire found her the next morning at the airport.
Vanessa was sitting alone near Gate 22.
When she saw Claire, she stood.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“You have three million dollars of company money in an account with your name on it.”
Vanessa’s face drained of color.
“I don’t.”
Claire handed her the audit page.
Vanessa read it twice.
Then she sat down.
“Oh my God.”
“Stop acting.”
“I’m not.”
“The account is yours.”
“I’ve never seen this.”
Claire almost walked away.
Then Vanessa said something strange.
“Check the date it was opened.”
Claire looked.
Four years earlier.
Vanessa had only been Grant’s mistress for eleven months.
“It was opened before we were together,” Vanessa said.
“That proves nothing.”
“No. But ask yourself why Grant would put stolen money in my name.”
Claire looked at her.
And understood.
Because if the money was discovered, Vanessa would take the fall.
The mistress.
The ambitious young executive.
The perfect villain.
Vanessa began laughing softly.
Not because anything was funny.
“Of course.”
She wiped at her eyes.
“I thought he trusted me.”
Claire sat across from her.
“So did I.”
For one strange moment, the wife and the mistress looked at each other and saw the same man.
Not the charming executive.
Not the romantic partner.
A man who selected people according to how useful they might become.
Vanessa opened her bag.
“I have something else.”
Claire almost refused.
Then Vanessa handed her a small black notebook.
Grant’s handwriting filled the pages.
Dates.
Account numbers.
Names.
Initials.
On the final page, Claire saw one name written three times.
SOPHIE.
Her daughter.
Beside it was an account number.
Claire stood so quickly her chair nearly fell.
“What did he do?”
Vanessa shook her head.
May you like
“I don’t know.”
But Claire already knew where she was going next.
