Chapter 4 - Claire's Voice
Grant almost dropped the phone.
Emma sat beside Lily on the carpet while Detective Ruiz listened.
Claire's voice was tense but clear.
"Renata has been giving Lily something at night. Lily wakes slow, confused, and frightened. I sent a sample to a private lab."
Grant closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
"I confronted her. She said I was imagining things. Then she mentioned a trust document she should not know exists."
Ruiz paused the file.
"What trust document?"
Grant stared at the phone.
"Lily inherited Callahan voting shares from my father. Claire was trustee until Lily turned twenty-five. After Claire died, control returned to me."
"And if you died?"
"A court-appointed guardian would control them for Lily."
Emma felt cold.
"So if someone controlled Lily..."
Grant finished it.
"They could control nearly forty percent of Callahan Biotech."
Ruiz resumed the recording.
Claire said, "Renata wants Grant to believe I'm unstable. She keeps asking about guardianship. She says she's worried about what would happen to Lily if something happened to us."
Grant stood abruptly.
"I remember that conversation."
Ruiz looked up.
"Tell me."
"Renata asked whether Claire had updated her will. I thought she was being thoughtful."
Emma said nothing.
Grant's face twisted with disgust at himself.
The second recording was worse.
Claire whispered, "Dr. Vale altered Lily's chart. I have the original lab result. If I disappear, look behind the blue painting in Grant's study."
Everyone looked at Grant.
His study had been remodeled after Claire died.
Renata had arranged it.
They rushed downstairs.
The blue painting was gone.
"Where is it?" Grant asked Maria.
She looked confused.
"Miss Renata sent it to storage last year."
The estate storage room sat behind the old garage.
Boxes filled the shelves.
At the back, wrapped in moving blankets, was the painting.
Grant tore away the paper.
The frame had a false backing.
Inside was a laboratory report.
Lily Callahan: sedative detected.
Collected eighteen months before Claire's death.
But someone had written across the top in red ink:
DESTROYED PER DR. VALE.
Beneath it was another note in Claire's handwriting.
May you like
HE ISN'T PROTECTING RENATA.
HE'S AFRAID OF HER.
