Chapter 5 - THE BLUE CHRISTMAS BOX
Brooke was missing for nine hours.
Those nine hours changed everything.
Grant told police his daughter was “dramatic.”
Diane claimed Brooke frequently disappeared when stressed.
Ryan insisted he had not spoken to her.
Phone records proved he had called her six times.
At 3:11 a.m., police found Brooke sitting inside a twenty-four-hour church on Colfax Avenue.
She was alive.
She was terrified.
And she refused to go home.
Morales called me shortly after sunrise.
“She’s cooperating.”
“Did Grant hurt her?”
“She says no.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe she’s scared of him.”
Brooke turned over three audio recordings.
The police did not share all of them with me immediately.
They did tell me one fact.
My life insurance had been discussed.
That was enough.
Rebecca drove me to the courthouse that morning.
The judge approved a temporary protection order against Grant and Ryan.
Diane was not included yet.
By noon, the penthouse locks had been changed.
Ryan was formally ordered to stay away.
The irony was almost unbearable.
Twenty-four hours earlier, Grant had ordered me out of “his” house.
Now his son could not legally enter mine.
But the money remained the larger problem.
Rebecca’s forensic accountant, Neil Chen, joined us by video call.
“I’ve identified at least $1.37 million in unauthorized transfers and payments over eighteen months.”
My stomach tightened.
“At least?”
“That is the number we can currently document.”
“What was purchased?”
Neil shared a spreadsheet.
Aspen mortgage payments.
Luxury vehicle leases.
Private-club dues.
Credit-card bills.
Consulting payments to Grant.
A $72,000 transfer to Diane.
Forty-eight thousand dollars toward Brooke’s condo.
Brooke had been telling the truth.
She had benefited.
But nowhere near as much as Grant.
Then Neil reached the strangest entry.
“Three payments went to Summit Peak Reproductive Services.”
I stared at him.
“What is that?”
Rebecca answered.
“A fertility clinic.”
I looked from Rebecca to Neil.
“I have never been treated there.”
“We know.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-one thousand dollars.”
My hand moved to my belly.
Ryan and I had struggled to conceive for almost a year before this pregnancy.
He had blamed me.
He had suggested supplements.
He had made jokes about my age even though I was thirty-one.
Then suddenly I became pregnant naturally.
At least, that was what I believed.
“Who received treatment?”
“We’re subpoenaing records.”
My mouth went dry.
Rebecca touched my arm.
“Claire, don’t jump ahead of the evidence.”
Too late.
I was already thinking about every late meeting Ryan had attended.
Every unexplained appointment.
Every message he turned his phone away to answer.
Then I remembered Brooke’s instruction.
The blue Christmas box.
“Rebecca.”
“Yes?”
“We need to find Diane’s storage unit.”
Property records led us to a facility in Aurora.
Police obtained access after Brooke confirmed the unit number.
I was not allowed inside during the search.
I waited in the car with Rebecca.
Forty minutes later, Morales emerged carrying two evidence bags.
One contained a blue cardboard box decorated with faded silver snowflakes.
The other contained folders.
“What was inside?” I asked.
Morales looked grim.
“Copies of insurance paperwork.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“What else?”
“A ledger.”
“Of the transfers?”
“Possibly.”
Then he held up a smaller clear evidence pouch.
Inside was a USB drive.
Written across it in black marker were two words.
CLAIRE EXIT.
I stared at them.
“What does that mean?”
Morales shook his head.
“We’re going to find out.”
That afternoon, they opened the drive.
The first file was a spreadsheet.
The second was a draft divorce agreement.
The third was a calendar.
My name appeared on January 17.
May you like
Next to it were four words.
Claire signs or disappears.
