Chapter 5 - Unit N-17
Marissa said no.
Lucas said absolutely not.
Claire said the same thing with more colorful language.
Ethan listened to all three of them and still stared at the photograph of storage unit N-17 as if he could see through the metal door.
"If the case Ryan carried in is inside that unit, we need it."
Marissa's voice came through the speakerphone on the kitchen table.
"We need it legally."
"If we wait, he'll move it."
"Then we get law enforcement involved."
"Based on an anonymous page and a family video?"
"Based on suspected theft, unauthorized computer access, and attempted movement of company funds."
Marissa sounded more patient than Claire would have been.
"You are not breaking into a storage facility."
Ethan paced once across the kitchen.
"I'm not suggesting breaking in."
Lucas looked at Claire.
Claire looked back.
Neither believed him.
Marissa continued.
"I've already contacted a former federal prosecutor who handles internal fraud cases."
"Good."
"And I told him my client is cooperative and sensible."
Ethan stopped pacing.
"That was ambitious."
"Don't make me a liar."
The call ended fifteen minutes later with a plan.
Marissa would contact the police detective assigned to Claire's assault report and provide the financial information.
The company would preserve server logs.
The bank would freeze suspicious transfers.
No one would touch N-17 without legal authority.
It was the correct plan.
Claire knew that.
Correct plans were still hard to sit with when someone else was actively destroying evidence.
At two in the afternoon, Dana arrived at Claire and Ethan's house with two overnight bags and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Lily.
Her younger son was staying with Dana's sister out of town.
Dana looked ten years older than she had the previous evening.
No makeup.
Hair pulled into a rushed knot.
Dark circles under her eyes.
Claire met her in the entry hall.
For a second, both women simply looked at each other.
Then Dana hugged her carefully.
"I'm so sorry."
Claire held her.
"You didn't push me."
"I stayed married to him."
"That's not the same thing."
Dana stepped back.
"It feels close today."
Ethan came from the kitchen.
Dana stiffened slightly.
"I know you have questions."
"A lot."
"I'll answer what I can."
Lily looked between the adults.
"Can I go upstairs?"
Claire nodded.
"Guest room on the left."
"Thanks."
When Lily was gone, Dana sat at the kitchen table.
Lucas remained near the back door, giving them privacy without actually leaving.
Dana placed a small spiral notebook on the table.
"Ryan keeps passwords in his head."
Ethan looked at the notebook.
"Then what is this?"
"The passwords he thinks I don't know."
Claire raised an eyebrow.
Dana gave a tired smile.
"Marriage teaches you things."
She opened the notebook.
Pages were filled with dates, license plate numbers, account fragments, and names Claire did not recognize.
"I started writing down anything that felt wrong about a month ago."
"Why not use your phone?"
Claire asked.
"Because Ryan checks it."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"He checks your phone?"
"He calls it transparency."
Dana looked at Claire.
"It's control."
Claire nodded.
Dana turned a page.
"This is the second phone number."
Ethan leaned forward.
A ten-digit number was written beside the initials RB2.
"How did you get it?"
"He left the phone charging in the garage once."
"Did you ever look through it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Dana laughed softly.
"Because I was afraid of what I'd find."
Nobody judged her for that.
She continued.
"He used the phone for calls with your father, Uncle Peter, and someone saved as C.R."
Claire looked at Ethan.
"Cedar Ridge?"
"Maybe."
Ethan took a picture of the page.
"What else?"
Dana pointed to a date three weeks earlier.
"Ryan drove to North Vale Storage Park at eleven at night."
"You followed him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know?"
"His truck has a family tracking app."
For the first time all day, Ethan smiled.
"Transparency?"
Dana almost smiled back.
"Exactly."
She turned another page.
"He was there for twenty-eight minutes."
"Unit N-17?"
Dana looked up sharply.
"How do you know that number?"
Claire slid the anonymous page across the table.
Dana read it.
Her face changed.
"Where did this come from?"
"Courier."
"Today?"
"Yes."
Dana stared at the list of transfers.
"This isn't everything."
Claire felt the room get colder.
"How do you know?"
Dana pointed to three dates.
"Those are North Vale transfers."
Then she pointed to another page in her notebook.
"But there were cash withdrawals too."
Ethan leaned in.
"From company accounts?"
"I don't know."
"How much?"
"Ryan once came home with sixty thousand dollars in a bank envelope."
Ethan stared at her.
"What did he say?"
"That it was for a subcontractor who only took cash."
Lucas spoke from the doorway.
"That's a lot of cash for a subcontractor."
Dana nodded.
"I know that now."
Claire looked at the notebook.
"What does C.R. stand for?"
Dana shook her head.
"I never found out."
Her phone buzzed.
She flinched so hard that Claire noticed.
Dana looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
A text message.
YOU TOOK SOMETHING THAT ISN'T YOURS.
Dana went pale.
"What did you take?"
Ethan asked.
"Nothing."
"Think."
"I took clothes, documents, Lily's medication, the notebook."
"Anything from Ryan's office?"
"No."
Lily appeared at the kitchen entrance.
"Mom."
Dana turned.
"What?"
"I took something."
The adults stared at her.
Lily came closer holding a small black charging cable.
"When Dad came home last night, I heard him downstairs."
Dana stood.
"You were awake?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were on the phone with Aunt Claire."
Lily looked at Ethan.
"Dad went into his office and took stuff out of the desk."
"What stuff?"
"Papers."
"Anything else?"
Lily nodded.
"A phone."
Ethan took one step closer.
"Black phone?"
"Yeah."
Claire's stomach tightened with adrenaline rather than a contraction.
"What happened to it?"
Lily looked uncomfortable.
"He plugged it in at the kitchen counter while he was in the garage."
"And?"
Dana asked.
Lily reached into the pocket of her hoodie.
She pulled out a black smartphone.
The room went silent.
"I took it."
Dana's eyes widened.
"Lily."
"I thought it was his work phone."
"Why would you take it?"
Lily looked at her mother.
"Because I heard him tell Grandpa he was going to make you look responsible for everything."
Dana's face crumpled for a second before she caught herself.
Lily placed the phone on the table.
"I thought maybe there was something on it that could prove he was lying."
Ethan did not touch the device.
"Is it locked?"
"Yes."
"Do you know the code?"
Lily nodded.
"Maybe."
She typed six numbers.
The phone opened.
Lucas muttered something under his breath.
Claire stared at the home screen.
There were almost no normal apps.
No social media.
No games.
No family photos.
Only encrypted messaging, email, a cloud storage app, notes, and a calculator.
Ethan stepped back.
"Nobody touch anything else."
Dana looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because this may be evidence."
He called Marissa.
When she answered, he explained exactly what had happened.
There was a long pause.
"Put the phone in airplane mode."
Marissa's voice was suddenly sharp.
"Do not open messages."
"Too late to unlock it."
"Unlocking is fine."
"Lily entered the code."
"Good."
"Good?"
"If Ryan hasn't remotely wiped it yet, good."
Ethan looked at the screen.
At that exact moment, a notification appeared.
REMOTE ERASE REQUEST RECEIVED.
"Marissa."
"What?"
"It's trying to wipe."
"Airplane mode now."
Lily reached for the settings screen.
Lucas moved faster.
He tapped airplane mode.
The Wi-Fi and cellular icons disappeared.
The erase notification remained frozen at the top.
Everyone in the kitchen stared at it.
Marissa exhaled.
"Do not reconnect that phone to anything."
"Understood."
"I'm sending a digital forensics consultant to your house."
Claire looked at the device.
The screen dimmed slightly.
Before it locked, one other notification appeared beneath the erase request.
A message preview.
FROM: WALTER
TEXT: DID YOU MOVE THE LEDGER FROM N-17?
Ethan read it aloud.
Dana covered her mouth.
Lucas looked toward the front windows.
Claire stared at the phone.
Walter was not asking whether there was a ledger.
He was asking where it had been moved.
Which meant Noah had heard correctly.
There was a ledger.
And whatever was inside unit N-17 mattered enough for Ryan to risk destroying evidence, framing his wife, and shoving Claire down a staircase.
After Marissa ended the call, Dana took Lily into the living room.
Claire could hear their voices without making out every word.
Then Lily began crying.
Not loudly.
The quiet kind of crying people do when they are trying not to make anyone else uncomfortable.
Claire looked at Ethan.
"Go help Lucas with the door cameras."
He understood immediately.
"You sure?"
"Yes."
Claire joined Dana and Lily.
Lily sat curled into the corner of the sofa.
Dana knelt in front of her.
"You are not responsible for what was on that phone."
Lily wiped her face.
"But I stole it."
"You took it because you were scared."
"That's still stealing."
Dana closed her eyes.
"You're right."
Lily looked surprised.
"I'm not going to tell you something becomes okay just because it helped us."
Dana took her daughter's hands.
"But I am going to tell you your father put you in a position no child should have been in."
Lily's lip trembled.
"Is he going to jail?"
Dana looked at Claire.
Claire stayed silent.
That answer belonged to Dana.
"I don't know."
Dana said it honestly.
"Is he coming home?"
"Not while I can prevent it."
"Are you divorcing him?"
Dana's face changed.
Claire looked away to give them privacy.
"I think so."
Lily started crying again.
Dana held her.
Claire felt her own eyes burn.
The destruction Ryan caused was not limited to bank accounts and forged documents.
It was sitting on a sofa asking whether home would still be home next week.
When Lily finally went upstairs, Dana stayed in the living room.
"I should have left years ago."
Claire sat beside her.
"Maybe."
Dana gave her a tired look.
"Now you're using the word."
"Apparently it's contagious."
Dana almost smiled.
Claire continued.
"You can judge the past later."
"That's convenient."
"It's practical."
Claire rested both hands over her stomach.
"Right now you need to protect what happens next."
Dana looked toward the stairs where Lily had disappeared.
"I don't even know where we live next."
"You don't need to know tonight."
"Ryan knows every account."
"Marissa will help."
"Walter knows every lawyer."
"Not every lawyer works for Walter."
Dana laughed softly.
"You really believe this can end."
Claire looked at her.
"I believe it can stop being normal."
May you like
That was different.
And for the moment, it was enough.
