Forty years of life ended in betrayal, the detective said, his voice heavy with disappointment.
No more provisional sentences, he added, lowering his gaze. Only a real term. And the fines theyll be substantial, in pounds.
Very well, Claire Addison replied, nodding and offering a thin smile. I understand.
Mrs. Addison?
Just Claire, please, she snapped. No formalities. I have nothing to do with that man anymore.
The procedure, Im afraid, the detective shrugged.
Your procedures should at least allow a change of identity while someones behind bars! Claires tone crackled with irritation. I dont know how long Ill be inside, but the moment I walk out Ill alter everything.
So you came forward not as a dutiful citizen but for personal reasons? You hold a grudge against the suspects?
An adult, a detective, asking such naïve questions, Claire smirked. In your moral code no one would sit in a cell just to punish someone else! Thats nonsense.
In the best case Id have sent an anonymous tip. I walked in myself, to make sure they couldnt escape justice. If you like, consider it revenge.
But even as an accessory youll receive a real term, the detective reminded her.
That suits me as well, Claire said, her smile tight.
A strained silence hung between them. He could have sent her to a cell and begun filing papers, but he lingered. There was something about heran attraction not of a man to a woman, but of one person to another.
When Detective Graham Hinton looked at Claire, a pang of pity flickered in his chest, like the feeling you get seeing a stray kitten shivering on a rainy London street. You want to feed it, warm it, protect it.
Graham never felt pity for people; he reserved it for animals. That clinical detachment made him a good detective, never allowing personal feelings to cloud his work.
Now the system was breaking. A citizen reported a crime, confessed to being an accomplice, and the prosecutor said there were no indulgences. Papers would go to court and the case would proceed.
And yet there stood this stern, composed, strict woman, and instinctively Graham wanted to spare her as he would a kitten.
Can you open the window? Claire asked suddenly. There are no windows in a cell, you know, but I could use some fresh air.
There are bars, he replied.
You think Im planning an escape? she laughed. Please.
Graham opened the small barred window, letting in a gust of damp November wind that made his coat flutter.
Lovely, Claire breathed deeply.
Its cold, he said.
May I step closer? she nodded toward the opening.
He moved aside, giving her space by the window.
Dont you want to tell me how you ended up like this? he asked, the joke hanging awkwardly. Not for the record.
Do I need to? she retorted.
Maybe you do, Graham shrugged. Just to get it off your chest.
***
Claires earliest memories were of waiting for her parents in constantly shifting places: a nursery, her grandmothers house, a neighbours flat, a playground, the walls of her own bedroom. Her parents ran a businessback then they called it a cooperativebut it was essentially a family firm. From a young age she heard them say:
Parents must work hard so the family never lacks anything.
Only when she started school did she spend any time with her mother, and that was because her mother had given birth to two little brothers. The first arrived, and three years later the second followed.
Claire longed for more of her mothers attention, but even as a child she understood that the toddlers needed far more of her mothers care. When the younger brother finally started nursery, the burden of looking after them fell on Claire.
Remembering the times her mother was absent, Claire did everything she could to fill that gap for her brothers. Money was never an issue, and she was taught early how to manage it. The mystery of why her parents never hired a housekeeper lingered, prompting Claire to learn housekeeping herself.
When it came to choosing a profession, her father was decisive.
Accountant! he declared. Thats what our firm needs. An inhouse accountant is already half the battle.
Claire completed her first year with ease. After mastering the basics, her father placed her in the familys accounts department and gave her his motto:
Apply it in practice! One day youll have to take it all on.
It made sense; her brothers were still too young for serious responsibilities. When Claire qualified, her father turned his eye to marriage.
He introduced her to several young mensons of his business partnersletting her choose. Claire never imagined such a process, but she was drawn to Edward Blythe. He was a few years older, handsome, tall, and carried himself with a modest grace that set him apart from the other suitors.
Her parents approved, and before the wedding Claire moved into Edwards house. Their union soon birthed contracts, joint ventures, and collaborative projects, with the marriage serving as a seal of trust.
Claire kept working in her fathers firm, and Edward proposed a merger of sorts:
Our families businesses are intertwined now. My fathers chair will be held by my older brother, and I want to start something of my own.
Wonderful! Claire beamed.
But I need an accountant I can trust. Who else could I rely on but my wife?
Naturally, Claire agreed. She could not refuse her husband, nor betray her father. She balanced both sidesfamily was family.
When she became pregnant, it turned out the accounting work could be done remotely; couriers handled the paperwork. She could tend to the childrenshe gave birth to a son and a daughterwhile still keeping the ledgers.
When maternity leave ended, she saw no need to return to an office. She continued the accounts from home, while her fathers chair passed to her brothers, who were now being groomed for leadership.
Tragedy struck without warning. Claires mother died suddenly of an aneurysm, and her father suffered a stroke under the strain. The brothers visited, pleading:
We cant place him in a toptier care home, nor hire enough nurses. You run the accounts, Claire. If he opens his mouth, one careless word could cost us everything.
Reluctantly, Claire agreed to move her father into the house she shared with Edward. Their children were already studying abroad.
Her fathers revelations were never meant for outsiders. Moving the family to accommodate him meant shifting the servers and financial records of both firms into the same homea logistical nightmare that only Claire could navigate, given her training in concealment and financial gymnastics.
In the end, she owned a third of the combined enterprise by right of blood and marriage, even if she never wore the title of director. Edward worked alongside her, and together they managed what they had built, each protecting their own interests.
For five years Claire cared for her father, adding nursing and rehabilitation to her skill set. Age and his condition took their toll, and then the nightmare began.
The reading of her fathers will revealed that Claire was an adopted child, taken from a childrens home. By his decree, she was excluded from any inheritance. Her brothers, greedy as ever, seized what remained.
When Edward learned that Claire would inherit nothing, he filed for divorce immediately. Claire demanded a division of assets, but Edward produced a prenuptial agreement she had signed without reading. Under its terms, she had no claim whatsoevershe was to leave, emptyhanded.
Their children, hearing of the split and their mothers destitution, chose to forget her, clinging only to their father as if she had never existed. Both firms dismissed Claire in one breath.
She found herself with nothing: a solitary handbag containing her documents, the clothes on her back, and five thousand pounds in small change. The only thing she retained was a password to a cloud archive where she had monthly uploaded encrypted backups of both companies booksa safeguard that only she could unlock.
That information could fetch a fortune from her brothers or exhusband, but Claire was driven by revenge. She walked into the police station and confessed to years of complicity in fraudulent schemes, offering to expose every conspirator, asking for no leniency.
Lets record this, the detective suggested. Or you can tell it all in court. Theyre people too; perhaps theyll show some mercy.
Claire stared into his sympathetic eyes before saying:
At seven I had a brother, and ever since Ive been a squirrel on a wheelschool, caring for my siblings, training, work, marriage, another job, children, then caring for a paralysed father, and still another job. I just want a break. Give me whats owed, and Ill gladly serve my time.
Eight years later, she emerged from the registry office as Verity Hart, facing a world she would have to learn anew.
Good morning, Im Verity, she said, forcing a smile. Pleasure to meet you.
She knew the next five years would be a grind, but Verity had no knowledge of the people who had once surrounded herjust strangers, shadows in a strange, endless dream.
