My phone rang at 2:27 a.m. and it was my dad, his voice cracking so bad I could barely understand him, whispering from the back of a small-town police station that my sister-in-law had beaten him with a baseball bat then told the responding officers he was the violent, mentally ill attacker.

I drove like a maniac.

Seventeen minutes from downtown to my father's house.

When I pulled up, the scene was chaos.

Vanessa was screaming at the two patrol officers, her face contorted with rage.

Richard Hale stood beside her, talking into a phone, looking like he owned the place.

Three large men I didn't recognize were trying to push past the officers toward the front door.

"Let us in!" Vanessa shrieked. "That's my family in there! My husband! You have no right to keep us out!"

"Ma'am, please step back," one of the officers said, his hand on his taser. "The homeowner has requested that you leave the property."

"The homeowner is mentally incompetent!" Hale called out, lowering his phone. "I have documents here granting Ms. Carter and her husband full authority over his affairs. If you don't let us in, I'll have your badges for this!"

I got out of my car.

"Richard Hale," I said, my voice carrying across the lawn. "I should have known you'd show up."

Everyone turned.

Hale's eyes narrowed when he saw me.

"Agent Brooks. This is a private family matter. Your federal jurisdiction doesn't apply here."

"On the contrary," I said, walking toward them. "It applies quite nicely. You see, I just came from First National Bank. With a federal warrant. And I found everything in Vanessa's safety deposit box. The forged documents. The embezzlement records. The letters she was planning to use to blackmail my father. All of it."

Hale's face went pale.

Vanessa stopped screaming.

For the first time, I saw real fear in her eyes.

"You had no right—" she started.

"I had a warrant," I interrupted. "Signed by a federal judge. And everything in that box is now evidence in a federal criminal case against you, Hale, and anyone else who participated in your little scheme."

I looked at the three large men.

"You boys want to tell me what you're doing here? Because if you're here to intimidate a witness or obstruct justice, that's ten years in federal prison. Minimum."

They looked at each other, then at Hale.

Then they slowly backed away.

Smart men.

Hale recovered quickly, though his hands were shaking.

"This is harassment," he said. "I'll have your job for this, Agent Brooks. I'll file complaints with every agency in Washington. You think you can just—"

"Richard," I said, pulling out my phone. "I also have your criminal history. Disbarred twice. Convicted of forgery, embezzlement, witness tampering. You're currently out on bail awaiting trial on state fraud charges. How do you think your judge will feel when he finds out you're here, intimidating witnesses and conspiring to destroy evidence?"

Hale's mouth opened and closed.

He had no answer.

Because he knew I was right.

"Vanessa," I said, turning to her. "You have two choices. You can turn around and get in your car and drive away. And tomorrow, you can turn yourself in and cooperate. Or you can stay here and make this worse. Either way, you're going to prison. The only question is for how long."

She stared at me, hatred burning in her eyes.

Then she did something I didn't expect.

She laughed.

"You think you've won, Emma?" she said, pulling something from her pocket.

It was a phone.

She held it up.

"I've been recording this entire conversation. And I just sent it to Mark. Do you know what he's doing right now? He's at the company office. He's deleting everything. All the records. All the evidence. By the time you get there, there will be nothing left. And without those records, your case is nothing but hearsay."

My blood ran cold.

Mark.

I'd thought he was on our side.

I'd thought he'd chosen to do the right thing.

And he'd played me.

He'd told me about the safety deposit box to make me trust him.

To distract me.

While he destroyed the real evidence.

I pulled out my phone and called the company office.

No answer.

I called Mark's cell.

Straight to voicemail.

"You bitch," I whispered.

Vanessa smiled, triumphant.

"I told you, Emma. You have no idea who you're dealing with. Mark is my husband. He loves me. He'll always choose me over you. Over his father. Over everything."

I looked at Hale.

He was smiling now too.

They thought they'd won.

They thought they'd outsmarted me.

And they almost had.

Almost.

I pulled out my phone and made another call.

"Sarah," I said when she answered. "I need you to do something for me. Right now. Remember those financial records you found? The ones from Brooks Construction? The fake invoices and the money trails?"

"Yeah, I have them all saved."

"Good," I said. "Because I need you to send copies to the IRS. To the state attorney general. To the FBI's white-collar crime division. And then I need you to get down to the Brooks Construction office. Mark is there. He's trying to destroy evidence. Stop him. And if he resists, arrest him."

"On it," Sarah said. "And Emma? I already sent backup to the office. Just in case."

I smiled.

Vanessa's smile faded.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I did what any good agent does," I told her. "I prepared for every contingency. I knew Mark might betray me again. I knew you'd have a backup plan. So I made one of my own. Sarah has had copies of everything since last night. You didn't just fail to destroy the evidence. You just gave us proof of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. On top of everything else."

Hale's face went from pale to gray.

Vanessa looked like she might actually explode.

"You..." she sputtered. "You set us up!"

"No," I said. "You set yourselves up. You just didn't know I was watching."

At that moment, three unmarked cars pulled into the driveway.

Sarah got out, flanked by four other federal agents.

She looked at Vanessa and Hale, then at me.

"Everything taken care of?" she asked.

"Everything," I said.

Sarah nodded.

"Vanessa Carter, Richard Hale," she said, pulling out handcuffs. "You're under arrest on charges of conspiracy, fraud, embezzlement, forgery, and obstruction of justice. You have the right to remain silent..."

As Sarah read them their rights, I walked past them and into the house.

My father was standing in the living room, listening to everything through the window.

He looked at me, tears streaming down his face.