Chapter 5 - Claire Was Being Paid Somewhere Else
The yellow house turned out to be twelve minutes from mine.
I did not follow Claire there.
I did not confront strangers.
I gave the information to the investigator handling the child-welfare report and separately documented what Valerie had told me.
Then Rachel recognized the address.
“Wait.”
She searched her phone.
A local neighborhood group had posted about a private elder-care service operating out of that house.
Not a licensed facility.
Just a family employing caregivers for an elderly man recovering from a stroke.
Claire had worked in home health before we met.
I called no one at the house myself.
The investigator eventually confirmed the connection through proper interviews.
Claire had been working informal shifts there while I was away.
Cash.
No payroll record.
No formal schedule.
She told the family she was available because “the kids were in day care.”
Mateo was six months old.
He had never been in day care.
Valerie’s summer program had ended two weeks earlier.
Claire had lied to both households.
That partially explained why she left.
It did not explain why she told someone on the phone she couldn’t “keep doing this for free.”
Then I checked my bank account.
Before leaving for Florida, I had transferred $2,400 into our shared household account.
Groceries.
Gas.
Anything the children needed.
Claire had spent almost none of it on the kids.
Instead, there were cash withdrawals.
$300.
$500.
$400.
Then a $700 electronic payment to someone named Michelle Grant.
I didn’t know Michelle.
Rachel did.
“She’s Claire’s old roommate.”
The name triggered something.
Months earlier, Claire had mentioned Michelle was struggling with rent.
I had forgotten.
Then a text arrived from Claire.
You’re making this look worse than it is. Michelle can explain everything.
I showed Rachel.
“She knows you checked the account.”
I nodded.
Claire’s financial problem was connected to Michelle.
The question was how.
Then another message came.
Please don’t contact the yellow house. I’ll pay you back.
May you like
Pay me back.
Until that moment, I hadn’t accused her of stealing anything.
