Chapter 4 - The Guest in My Bed
Watching your home of eight years being invaded via a high-definition security camera feed is a surreal experience.
I sat in Evelyn’s carriage house, zoomed in on the living room feed, and watched Eleanor, Sarah, Richard, Eric, and the unknown woman in the trench coat uncorking champagne bottles in my living room.
Through the camera's audio feed, their conversation washed over me.
“It feels so much bigger without her clutter,” Eleanor said, running a hand over my grandmother’s antique mahogany sideboard. “We’ll need to redecorate this whole floor before the listing photos.”
“Don't worry about listing photos, Mom,” Eric said, wrapping his arm around the waist of the young woman. “Chloe and I are keeping the house once the equity transfer clears. We’ll just pay off Richard’s loan with the secondary trust liquidation.”
Chloe.
I tapped rapidly on my keyboard, running a background check through my corporate risk database using her name and photo. Within four minutes, her profile appeared.
Chloe Bennett, twenty-six. A junior analyst at Vance & Associates Wealth Management—Julian Vance’s firm.
The circle was complete.
Eric wasn't just cheating on me. He was sleeping with the junior analyst who had been physically executing the fraudulent wire transfers out of my secondary trust account for the past eighteen months.
I picked up the phone and dialed Arthur Vance.
“Arthur,” I said, my voice dead calm. “I have identified the fourth conspirator. Chloe Bennett. She’s an analyst at Julian’s firm, and she’s currently drinking my champagne in my living room.”
Arthur chuckled quietly. “They are remarkably efficient at building an ironclad prosecution case against themselves. Did she bring any work documents with her?”
I zoomed the camera in on the entryway table. Chloe had set a heavy leather tote bag down next to my grandmother’s crystal vase. Sticking out of the top pocket was a manila folder marked Clara Sterling Trust - Tax Exemption Statements.
“She brought my personal trust files into my home,” I told Arthur.
“Keep recording every frame of that video feed, Clara,” Arthur instructed. “On Monday morning at 9:00 a.m., Miller is scheduled to present the forged loan guarantee to First Connecticut Private Lending. At 9:30 a.m., Julian Vance is scheduled to approve the final transfer of the remaining $120,000 from your secondary trust.”
May you like
“And what happens at 10:00 a.m.?” I asked.
“At 10:00 a.m.,” Arthur said, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp tone, “we execute an emergency ex parte freezing order on every single one of their personal and corporate accounts simultaneously. And then, my dear Clara, you step out of the shadows.”
