Claire Realized Noah Had Taken the Wrong Suitcase — Then Airport Security Asked Who Told Him to Pick It Up
Chapter 7 — Samuel Reed’s Box
Police stopped the SUV less than an hour later.
Eric Mason was driving.
The second man from the baggage footage sat beside him.
Noah’s suitcase was in the back.
But it had already been opened.
Clothes were scattered across the cargo area.
The wooden box was missing.
Claire’s stomach dropped when Ramirez told her.
“Where is it?”
Eric refused to answer.
The second man eventually did.
He said Victor had been waiting at a private office near the airport.
They delivered the box to him before leaving.
Police obtained a warrant.
By evening, Victor Lang was being questioned.
The wooden box was recovered.
Still closed.
Or so Victor claimed.
Claire opened it in front of investigators.
The photographs were there.
Several old letters.
A key.
And the envelope marked:
FOR CLAIRE ONLY.
She opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter from her father.
Samuel had written it less than two months before he died.
The first paragraph explained everything.
Victor has been taking money from the company for years.
Claire stopped reading.
Ramirez looked toward her.
She continued.
Samuel described false invoices.
Property purchases.
Shell companies.
And bank transfers he had recently discovered.
Then came another sentence.
I kept copies somewhere Victor cannot erase them.
Claire looked toward the small key inside the box.
