Chapter 5: The Other Side of the Phone Call
The name Claire said was Martin Greer.
Vance wrote it down, but her hand had already known what it was writing before the pen touched the paper.
"You know him," Claire said.
It wasn't a question.
"I know of him." Vance pulled the chair from the corner of the room and sat down without being invited.
"Martin Greer is a financial advisor.
He operates out of an office on Caldwell Street.
We've had his name come up twice in the last three years — once in a fraud investigation, once in a missing persons case that was eventually closed."
"Closed how?" Ethan asked.
Vance looked at him.
He was twelve and he was looking at her like he had every right to be in this conversation.
She decided he did.
"The missing person came back," she said.
"The family said it was a misunderstanding.
They declined to pursue it."
"Did Richard know Martin Greer before he married my mom?"
Vance looked at Claire.
Claire's mouth was a thin line.
"They've known each other for eleven years.
Martin introduced himself to me at a charity dinner six months after Richard and I started dating.
He was charming.
He seemed like a good friend of Richard's." She paused.
"It took me four years to understand that Richard was the instrument and Martin was the one holding it."
"What do you mean?"
"Martin finds the money," Claire said.
"Richard finds the women."
The room went quiet.
Vance's pen moved steadily.
"How many?"
"I found evidence of two others before me.
I don't know if there are more.
I took photographs of the documents and gave them to my attorney in March.
His name is Gerald Foss.
He has everything."
Vance stood up.
"I need to make a call."
She stepped into the corridor.
Through the gap in the door, Ethan could hear her voice — clipped, quick, certain — and then another voice on the other end, and then Vance saying Gerald Foss's name and spelling it without being asked.
Ethan turned back to his mother.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
Not with anger.
Just the real question.
Claire looked at him for a long moment.
"Because I wasn't sure.
And because I was scared that if I said it out loud and I was wrong, I would have destroyed everything for nothing.
And because—" Her voice caught.
"Because you're twelve, and you shouldn't have to carry this."
"I carried a hammer through a funeral."
Something crossed her face — pain and pride so tangled together they looked the same.
"Yes," she said quietly.
"You did."
Vance came back in.
She had a different quality to her movement now — not faster, but more deliberate, the way a person moves when the next hour has just become very important.
"Mrs.
Parker, I've spoken with my lieutenant.
We're issuing a hold on Martin Greer's accounts and we have someone heading to Gerald Foss's office now.
I need to ask you a few more questions, and I need you to be as specific as you can."
"Ask."
"The recording Danny Marsh made — you said Richard changed the policy beneficiary.
Do you know when exactly the recording was made?
Was Richard on the phone with Greer last night?"
"I don't know what's on the recording.
I was already—" She stopped.
Her hand tightened on Ethan's.
"I was already inside by then."
Vance nodded slowly.
Her expression did not change, but something behind her eyes did.
"One more question," Vance said.
"Richard's attorney — do you know who he uses?"
Claire said the name.
Vance wrote it down.
Looked at it.
Looked up.
"That's Martin Greer's attorney too," she said.
Claire didn't look surprised.
"I know."
"How long have you known?"
"Long enough." Claire looked at Ethan.
"Long enough that I made sure my attorney had instructions.
If I ever went missing, if I ever died suddenly, if anyone ever told Ethan I was gone — Gerald Foss had a sealed envelope with everything.
Every document.
Every photograph.
Every name." She paused.
"I just didn't expect it to happen this fast."
Ethan thought about the letter he'd found on the kitchen table three weeks ago.
The one Richard had told him was a medical bill.
The one Richard had taken from him before he could read it.
He thought about it and he didn't say anything yet.
May you like
But he filed it away.
Because he was beginning to understand that this story had more layers than even his mother knew about.
