Chapter 5
I listened to Daniel’s recording six times.
Each time, the words cut deeper.
Don’t trust your father.
The man who had created a trust to protect Caitlyn.
The man who had warned me about Melissa.
The man who might have suspected his own murder.
“What did Daniel mean?” I asked.
David kept both hands on the steering wheel.
“I don’t know.”
“You worked for Dad. You know more than you’re telling me.”
“I met Daniel twice.”
“When?”
“The month before his death.”
My head snapped toward him.
“You never told me that.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Attorney-client privilege.”
“Daniel was your client?”
“For a short time.”
My anger rose.
“He recorded a warning for me, and you kept it secret for five years?”
“I had never heard that recording.”
“But you knew he was investigating something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
David pulled into an empty church parking lot.
Rain tapped against the windshield.
He turned off the engine.
“Daniel believed Ward Development was laundering money through abandoned properties.”
“Raymond and Melissa?”
“He suspected both of them.”
“And my father?”
“Daniel believed Thomas discovered the fraud years earlier and covered it up.”
The betrayal hit differently this time.
Dad had admitted covering Melissa’s mistakes.
But I had imagined excuses.
Small lies.
Family shame.
Not criminal silence.
“Why would he cover for them?”
“To protect the company. To protect the family name. Perhaps to protect you.”
“Protecting me would have meant telling me.”
“I agree.”
“Did Daniel confront him?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Thomas promised to turn over the records. The next day, Daniel died.”
Rain blurred the parking lot.
I saw my husband leaving our home on that final night.
He kissed Caitlyn’s forehead.
He told me he would be back in twenty minutes.
I remembered the blue jacket he wore.
The medicine never found in his car.
The police said he must have changed his mind and driven toward the highway.
I never understood why.
“Was Daniel murdered?”
David looked down.
“I believe his death deserves to be reinvestigated.”
That careful answer made me furious.
“You’ve believed this for five years?”
“I had suspicions, not evidence.”
“You had a responsibility to tell me.”
“I had a responsibility to protect the information Daniel entrusted to me.”
“How did that protect anyone?”
His face tightened.
“It may have kept you alive.”
I opened the car door.
He stopped me with one sentence.
“Daniel left a storage key.”
I froze.
“Where?”
“In my office.”
“You said Dad’s flash drive was the evidence.”
“It contains his evidence. Daniel had his own.”
“Take me there.”
David hesitated.
“Rachel, whoever entered Caitlyn’s hospital room knows you are searching.”
“Take me there.”
His office occupied the third floor of an old brick building downtown.
We entered through the parking garage.
A security guard recognized David and waved us through.
The elevator doors opened onto a dark hallway.
David stopped.
“My receptionist should be here.”
It was barely noon.
He called her name.
No answer.
His office door stood open.
The lock had been broken.
We stepped inside.
File cabinets had been emptied.
Paper covered the floor.
A computer monitor lay shattered beside the desk.
David went directly to a framed photograph on the wall.
He removed it.
Behind it was a small safe.
The safe door hung open.
“The key is gone,” he whispered.
A noise came from the conference room.
David pushed me behind him.
The door opened.
Leonard Shaw staggered out.
His shirt was stained with blood.
One side of his face was swollen.
“Lock the door,” he gasped.
David helped him into a chair.
I called 911.
Leonard grabbed my arm.
“Raymond knows about Daniel’s locker.”
“What locker?”
“The key David had.”
“Who attacked you?”
He looked toward the shattered office door.
“Raymond’s security chief. Owen Pike.”
I knew Owen.
He had worked for Ward Development for twelve years.
He drove Raymond to Dad’s funeral.
“Why were you in the SUV with Raymond?”
“He forced me into it. I escaped when they stopped for gas.”
“Why did you send me the address?”
“Because that is where Daniel hid the original account records.”
“The abandoned office?”
Leonard nodded.
“He discovered invoices for buildings that were never repaired. Millions disappeared.”
“Did Melissa kill him?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
He closed his eyes.
“Daniel called me the night he died. He said he had arranged to meet Thomas at the abandoned office.”
“My father was there?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Dad tell police he was at home?”
“Because he was protecting someone.”
A siren sounded outside.
Leonard gripped my wrist harder.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Daniel did not die where they found his car.”
A chill passed through me.
“What does that mean?”
“The crash scene was staged.”
David stared at him.
“How do you know?”
“I changed the police report.”
The room went silent.
Leonard began crying.
“Raymond threatened my family. He said he would frame my son for embezzlement. I changed the property location listed in the report and buried a witness statement.”
“What witness?”
“A night janitor saw Daniel at the abandoned office. He saw an argument.”
“Who was Daniel arguing with?”
“Thomas.”
My father.
I pulled away from Leonard.
“You let me believe a drunk driver killed my husband.”
“There was another vehicle involved.”
“Whose?”
“I never knew. Raymond made the repair records disappear.”
Paramedics entered.
Officer Grant arrived behind them.
Leonard repeated his confession.
Grant called the district attorney and requested emergency warrants for the abandoned office, Raymond’s home, and Ward Development headquarters.
I wanted to go with them.
He refused.
“You need to return to your daughter.”
He was right.
Caitlyn needed me.
But when I called Mrs. Alvarez, she did not answer.
Neither did the private guard.
I called the hospital.
The nurse said Caitlyn had been discharged forty minutes earlier.
My hand went numb.
“Discharged to whom?”
“Her grandmother.”
“My mother is dead.”
The nurse became silent.
Then she asked me to hold.
I was already running for the elevator.
Hospital security footage showed a well-dressed woman presenting temporary guardianship papers.
The documents carried my signature.
The woman wore a blond wig and large sunglasses.
But when she turned toward the camera, I recognized her.
Melissa’s attorney.
Her name was Patricia Kane.
The private guard was found unconscious in a stairwell.
Mrs. Alvarez had vanished.
My daughter was gone.
Officer Grant issued an Amber Alert.
Police surrounded Patricia’s home and law office.
Both were empty.
I stood in Caitlyn’s abandoned hospital room holding the blanket she had used.
Her stuffed rabbit lay beneath the bed.
She never went anywhere without it.
A sound escaped me.
Not a scream.
Something lower.
Broken.
David picked up the rabbit.
“They cannot take her far.”
“They already took her from a guarded hospital.”
“They need Caitlyn alive.”
I turned on him.
“How is that supposed to comfort me?”
“Because the trust cannot be transferred if she dies under suspicious circumstances. The assets would go to a children’s charity.”
That was Dad’s protection.
Caitlyn was worth nothing to them dead.
But they could still terrify her.
They could force me to sign something.
My phone rang.
A video call.
The screen showed Caitlyn sitting in the back seat of a moving vehicle.
A strip of gray tape covered her mouth.
Mrs. Alvarez sat beside her.
Her eyes were closed.
Blood marked her temple.
Patricia held the phone.
“Listen carefully,” she said. “You will go to your father’s house alone.”
“Let them go.”
“Bring the original property document.”
“The police have it.”
“Then bring David Cole’s trust file.”
I looked at David.
He shook his head.
Patricia smiled.
“You have one hour.”
The camera moved closer to Caitlyn.
My daughter’s frightened eyes filled the screen.
“If you involve the police,” Patricia said, “Caitlyn goes back into the room.”
The call ended.
May you like
A message arrived with a photograph of the bedroom door.
A new steel lock had been installed on the outside.
