Chapter 1 - MY HUSBAND IS DEAD
The back door exploded inward at 11:17 p.m.
Claire Hale was already awake.
Three weeks had passed since her husband Daniel died, and sleep still came in pieces.
She heard wood split.
Then boots.
Two men rushed into the dark living room.
One wore a dark suit.
The other a gray jacket.
The first kicked a chair aside.
“WHERE IS SHE?!”
The second yanked open the hallway door.
No Claire.
Then Claire moved.
She came from behind the living-room arch, grabbed the first man’s wrist, twisted, and drove him face-down onto the rug.
The second charged.
Claire released the first, ducked, caught the second man’s arm, and used his momentum to throw him hard beside his partner.
“DON’T MOVE!”
The first man tried to rise.
Claire forced him down and seized his collar.
“WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?!”
His eyes went toward the second man.
The second began crawling toward the broken door.
Claire caught the back of his jacket and dragged him away from it.
“WHO SENT YOU?!”
The first man shouted:
“DON’T TELL HER!”
The second man panicked.
“YOUR HUSBAND HIRED US!”
Claire stopped.
For one second everything inside her went silent.
“My husband?”
The man swallowed.
“Yes.”
Claire stepped closer.
“MY HUSBAND IS DEAD!”
Both men went pale.
Then the one in the gray jacket said something stranger.
“That’s why we’re here.”
Police arrived eleven minutes later.
The men identified themselves as David Cole and Arthur Cole.
Brothers.
Owners of Cole Asset Recovery.
Licensed for commercial property retrieval.
Not licensed to break into occupied homes.
David insisted:
“We had written authorization.”
Claire laughed once.
“From a dead man?”
Arthur looked at the officers.
“Not exactly.”
Then David kicked him under the table.
Too late.
Claire saw it.
Fear.
May you like
Not fear of prison.
Fear of whatever they had been sent to find.
