Chapter 5: Rachel’s Phone
I carried the note into the living room.
Vanessa saw it and stopped breathing.
“What did you burn?””
She said nothing.
“Rachel’s phone is missing.””
“I don’t know anything about it.””
I held up the note.
“This is your handwriting.””
“No, it isn’t.””
Caleb stared at it.
“Mom, yes it is.””
“Enough!””
Vanessa grabbed her purse from the couch.
“I’m taking my children and leaving.””
Caleb stepped back.
“I’m not going.””
The words stunned everyone.
Vanessa turned slowly.
“What did you say?””
“I want to stay with Ava until Grandma gets here.””
“You don’t get to decide.””
Caleb lifted his chin.
“You made me lie.””
Vanessa went still.
“About what?”” I asked.
He immediately regretted speaking.
I crouched slightly so I wasn’t towering over him.
“Caleb, tell me.””
He looked at his mother.
“She made me tell you Emily broke your phone charger.””
I remembered.
Two months earlier, I found my charger cut nearly in half.
Vanessa said Emily had done it with scissors.
Emily cried and denied it.
I made her apologize anyway.
Shame hit me like a punch.
“What else?””
Caleb’s eyes filled.
“She broke the picture.””
My wedding photograph with Rachel.
I had found the frame shattered inside Emily’s room.
Vanessa convinced me Emily had become jealous because I kept photographs of her mother.
I had taken the surviving picture and locked it away.
I turned toward Emily.
She was standing near the stairs.
“Sweetheart.””
She knew what I was going to say.
“It’s okay, Daddy.””
No.
It wasn’t.
I crossed the room and knelt.
“I should have believed you.””
She touched my cheek.
“I know.””
Those two words nearly destroyed me.
Behind us, Vanessa said, “This is pathetic.””
I stood.
“You framed a six-year-old.””
“I was trying to make you see reality.””
“What reality?””
“That Rachel still controls this house!””
Rachel had been dead six years.
Yet Vanessa said her name like she was standing between us.
“You’re jealous of a dead woman.””
“I am sick of living in her shadow!””
“You knew her before she died.””
Vanessa grabbed her coat.
“I’m done.””
I stepped aside.
“Go.””
She looked surprised.
“Caleb and Ava stay until my mother arrives.””
“They’re my children.””
“And they’re frightened.””
“You cannot keep them.””
“I’m not trying to. I’m making sure they’re safe while you calm down.””
For several seconds, I thought she might explode.
Instead she smiled.
It was cold.
“You think Mark is going to save you?””
“No.””
“You think Rachel left some beautiful explanation where she’s the innocent victim?””
“I don’t know what she left.””
“I do.””
My skin prickled.
“What does that mean?””
Vanessa walked toward the door.
I caught the handle before she could open it.
“What happened between you and Rachel?””
“Ask Mark.””
“I’m asking you.””
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Rachel ruined my family before she ruined yours.””
Then she left.
The front door slammed.
Twenty minutes later, my mother arrived.
She took one look at Emily and began crying.
Emily ran into her arms.
“Grandma!””
Mom hugged her tightly.
Then she noticed Caleb and Ava.
“Who’s hungry?””
It was such a simple question.
All three children raised their hands.
Emily hesitated first.
Mom saw it.
Her face changed.
She looked at me.
I shook my head slightly.
Not now.
Mom went into the kitchen and started packing food.
She wrapped chicken for Caleb.
Biscuits for Ava.
Then she handed Emily an entire container.
Emily stared at it.
“This is all mine?””
Mom crouched.
“You never have to ask permission to eat at Grandma’s house.””
Emily hugged her.
I had to look away.
Before they left, Caleb pulled me aside.
“Daniel?””
“Yes?””
“Mom has another phone.””
“What?””
“A little silver one. She keeps it in her car.””
“Have you seen it?””
“She used it Tuesday night.””
“Doing what?””
“Talking to somebody.””
“Who?””
“I don’t know. But she said, ‘He can never hear Rachel’s message.’”
My pulse jumped.
“Are you sure?””
Caleb nodded.
“And then she said, ‘If Daniel finds out what Dad did, everything is over.’”
I thanked him.
Then Mom drove the children away.
I stood alone in the driveway.
Vanessa’s SUV was gone.
So was the silver phone, assuming Caleb was right.
I called Mark.
“I’m coming now.””
An hour later, I pulled into the parking lot of a storage facility outside Fort Worth.
Mark Hale was waiting beside unit 214.
He was in his sixties, gray-haired and tired-looking.
“You look like Thomas,” I said.
“I get that too often.””
He unlocked the unit.
Boxes covered nearly every inch.
“You found Rachel’s letter in here?””
“Not just the letter.””
He pulled out a banker’s box.
Inside were folders labeled with names.
Doctors.
Hospital employees.
Accountants.
Then Rachel Morgan.
Mark placed it on a folding table.
“Thomas kept records because he trusted no one.””
I opened Rachel’s folder.
There were photocopies of checks.
Emails.
Photographs.
And a handwritten note.
*RACHEL HAS ORIGINAL AUDIO. V KNOWS WHERE.*
“V?””
Mark nodded.
“I think it means Vanessa.””
My stomach tightened.
“What audio?””
“I hoped you could tell me.””
He handed me a flash drive.
“I copied everything digital I found.””
A laptop sat on the table.
We inserted the drive.
Several folders appeared.
One was labeled R.M.
Inside was an audio file.
Mark clicked it.
Static filled the storage unit.
Then Rachel’s voice came through the speakers.
My knees nearly buckled.
“Thomas, I’m recording this conversation.””
A man cursed.
“You stupid girl.””
“I know what you did.””
“You know nothing.””
“I have the records.””
“You stole confidential files.””
“I copied evidence.””
“Evidence of what?””
Rachel answered.
“Money you diverted from the hospital foundation.””
Mark stared at me.
The recording continued.
Thomas laughed.
“You think anyone will believe you?””
“I don’t need them to believe me. I have the transfers.””
“Then name your price.””
“I don’t want your money.””
“You already took twelve thousand.””
“To prove you’d pay.””
There was movement.
Then Thomas said something quieter.
“What does Daniel know?””
Rachel answered immediately.
“Nothing.””
“Keep it that way.””
The recording ended.
I sat frozen.
“So Rachel was gathering evidence,” I whispered.
Mark nodded.
“And Thomas paid her because she wanted proof he was willing to bribe her.””
I remembered Vanessa’s accusation.
Rachel took money.
Technically true.
But not for the reason Vanessa wanted me to believe.
Mark opened another file.
“This one was recorded three days later.””
Rachel’s voice returned.
But this time she wasn’t talking to Thomas.
She was talking to a woman.
“Vanessa, please listen to me.””
My heart stopped.
Vanessa’s younger voice answered.
“You’re destroying my father.””
“He’s stealing money.””
“He says you’re blackmailing him.””
“He’s lying to you.””
“You took forty-eight thousand dollars!””
“Because I needed him to believe I could be bought.””
“You’re a liar.””
Then Rachel said something that made every hair on my arms rise.
“If anything happens to me, Vanessa, you need to tell Daniel the truth.””
The recording crackled.
Vanessa whispered, “Why Daniel?””
May you like
Rachel answered.
“Because Thomas knows I’m pregnant.””
