Chapter 6
Megan survived.
The bullet passed through her upper arm without hitting bone.
Thomas survived too.
Barely.
Lauren disappeared.
And Patricia was released from jail before sunrise.
That was the part that terrified me.
The assault charge wasn't enough to hold her long.
By the time Detective Hale learned Patricia might possess evidence connected to financial crimes and Emily Carter's death, she had already left the station.
Nobody knew where she went.
Not Robert.
Not Daniel.
Not Megan.
At least, that was what they claimed.
We gathered at the hospital.
Not like a family.
Like survivors from different sides of the same explosion.
Megan lay in bed.
Robert sat beside her.
Daniel stood near the window under police supervision.
I remained by the door.
Hale entered.
“Thomas is in surgery.”
“Did he say anything else?” I asked.
“No.”
“What about Lauren?”
“We found her vehicle two miles from the construction site.”
“Empty?”
“Yes.”
Daniel cursed.
Hale looked at him.
“You know where she'd go?”
“No.”
“Think harder.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“She has an apartment.”
“We searched it.”
“A sister in Phoenix.”
“Already contacted.”
“A condo in Miami.”
“Owned by?”
“Shell corporation. Empty.”
Daniel looked surprised.
Hale noticed.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
I almost laughed.
Daniel thought Lauren loved him.
Lauren had been preparing escape routes.
A mistress lying to a cheating husband who lied to his wife.
Poetic.
Hale looked at Megan.
“We need to know why Thomas took you.”
Megan swallowed.
“I called him.”
Robert stared at her.
“You what?”
“I panicked after Claire left.”
“Why would you call Thomas?”
“Because I knew Daniel owed him money.”
Daniel looked furious.
“Megan.”
She turned toward him.
“You told me he could fix problems.”
“Business problems.”
“You said if anything ever went wrong, call him.”
Daniel closed his mouth.
Megan continued.
“I thought Mom would blame me for giving Claire the folder.”
“She would,” I said.
Megan looked ashamed.
“I thought Thomas could help me disappear for a few days.”
Hale asked, “Instead?”
“He picked me up.”
“With Lauren?”
“No. Lauren came later.”
“What did Thomas want?”
“The letter.”
I frowned.
“The copy in Robert's safe-deposit box?”
“Yes.”
“How did he know?”
Megan looked toward Daniel.
“Because I told Daniel about it months ago.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You never said where it was.”
“No. But you knew it existed.”
Hale asked why Megan wrote it.
She began crying.
“I found invoices on Daniel's laptop.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Payments to fake subcontractors,” she continued. “I knew Lauren controlled the accounts. I confronted her.”
“When?”
“Almost a year ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That it was none of my business.”
“Did you know about Emily then?”
“Yes.”
Hale leaned closer.
“What did you know?”
Megan hesitated.
Then said, “Emily called me the night she died.”
The room froze.
Daniel turned from the window.
“What?”
Megan stared at him.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
“She called me because she couldn't reach Claire.”
My heart stopped.
“Me?”
Megan nodded.
“She trusted you.”
“I barely knew her.”
“She said you were the only person Daniel was afraid to disappoint.”
That sentence hurt.
Because once, maybe, it had been true.
“What did she want?”
“To give you files.”
“The drive?”
“I think so.”
“What happened?”
“She asked where you were. You were in Seattle for a conference.”
I remembered.
Three years earlier.
A medical technology conference.
I had been gone four days.
“Emily said she would keep the evidence somewhere safe and talk to you when you returned.”
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Daniel.
He looked genuinely shocked.
“You never knew she tried to contact me.”
“No.”
Hale asked Megan, “What did Emily tell you?”
Her voice shook.
“She said the company was laundering money through subcontractors. She said Lauren was moving payments. She said Daniel might be involved.”
Daniel whispered, “Might?”
Megan glared at him.
“You're worried about that word?”
He looked down.
“She was scared,” Megan continued. “She said Lauren had threatened her.”
Hale wrote something.
“Did she mention Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That Lauren claimed Thomas would make problems disappear.”
I thought about the car crash.
The pursuit.
Lauren saying she only wanted the laptop.
Three years of lies.
“Did Emily say where the files were?”
“No.”
Megan wiped her tears.
“The next morning, police said she was dead.”
Robert covered his face.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
Megan looked at him.
“Because Mom told me not to.”
There it was again.
Patricia.
Robert slowly lifted his head.
“Your mother knew?”
“She knew Emily called me.”
“And?”
“She said Emily was unstable. She said if I repeated anything, I could destroy Daniel's company.”
Daniel looked sick.
“Mom knew all of this?”
Megan stared at him.
“She always knew more than you thought.”
Hale asked where Patricia might hide.
Robert said, “Her sister.”
“Checked.”
“Church friend.”
“Checked.”
“Country club.”
“Checked.”
Daniel suddenly spoke.
“The cabin.”
Robert looked at him.
“What cabin?”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“Mom has a cabin near Blue Ridge.”
Robert's face became blank.
“She doesn't own a cabin.”
Daniel didn't look at him.
“Yes, she does.”
“How?”
“Dad.”
Robert stood.
“How long?”
Daniel remained silent.
“How long has my wife owned property I don't know about?”
“Maybe ten years.”
Robert laughed once.
A terrible sound.
“With what money?”
Daniel answered softly.
“Yours.”
Robert sat back down.
I watched his marriage collapse in the same slow way mine had.
Not with one betrayal.
With the realization that the betrayal had lasted for years.
Hale left immediately.
Officers were sent to the cabin.
Two hours later, they called.
Nobody was there.
But Patricia had been.
Recently.
Fresh food.
A warm fireplace.
Clothes missing.
And blood in the bathroom.
Not enough to suggest serious injury.
But enough to raise questions.
They also found an empty safe.
Someone had removed everything.
That afternoon, Evelyn arrived at the hospital with more news.
Bad news.
“The court granted a temporary financial freeze.”
I nodded.
“And?”
“And Daniel filed for emergency custody.”
I stared at him.
He looked just as shocked.
“I didn't.”
Evelyn handed me documents.
His name.
His lawyer.
Signature.
Filed at 8:17 that morning.
I looked at Daniel.
“You said you didn't.”
“I didn't!”
Hale, who had just returned, took the paperwork.
“Could the signature be forged?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Possibly.”
I scanned the petition.
It accused me of abducting Sophie.
Financial instability.
Emotional volatility.
Violence.
Violence?
Then I saw the attached statement.
Signed by Patricia Bennett.
It claimed I had attacked her.
That she only grabbed me to defend herself.
The kitchen video proved otherwise.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Patricia alleged I had threatened to disappear with Sophie.
She included screenshots.
Texts from my phone.
Except I had never sent them.
One read:
If Daniel leaves me, he'll never see Sophie again.
Another:
I'll take her out of the country before I let his family win.
Evelyn whispered, “They're fabricated.”
“Yes.”
“But until we prove that, they're evidence.”
I felt sick.
Patricia hadn't just run.
She was still executing the plan.
Hale looked at Daniel.
“Who is your custody attorney?”
Daniel gave him the name.
Evelyn frowned.
“I know him.”
“So do I,” Hale said.
“Charles Weller.”
I had seen his name in the printed emails Megan gave me.
He had helped design the strategy.
Hale called him.
No answer.
An officer went to his office.
Closed.
Home.
Empty.
By evening, Weller had disappeared too.
I sat beside Megan's bed.
“What does your mother want?”
She looked at me.
“Control.”
“No. She's risking prison. Why?”
Megan hesitated.
“Because of the money.”
“What money?”
“Dad's trust.”
Robert turned toward us.
“What trust?”
Megan looked terrified again.
Daniel whispered, “Tell them.”
She swallowed.
“Grandpa Bennett left forty million dollars.”
Robert stared at her.
“My father's estate was eight million.”
“No.”
Megan shook her head.
“That's what Mom told you.”
Robert went completely still.
“She handled the probate records because you were grieving.”
His lips parted.
Megan continued.
“Most of the money was put into private holdings.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Who owns them?”
“Mom.”
Robert stood so fast his chair fell backward.
“No.”
Megan cried harder.
“I found documents in her office.”
Robert shouted, “No!”
Daniel stepped toward him.
Hale blocked him.
Robert's whole body shook.
“My father worked sixty years.”
Nobody spoke.
“He trusted Patricia.”
Megan whispered, “I think she moved the money slowly.”
“For how long?”
“Fifteen years.”
Robert turned away.
I understood suddenly.
Daniel's fraud wasn't the beginning.
It was a family tradition.
Patricia had been stealing long before him.
Maybe Daniel learned more from his mother than anyone realized.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I expected another threat.
Instead, it was a photograph.
Sophie.
My daughter.
Standing outside her school six months earlier.
Taken from across the street.
I stopped breathing.
A second photograph.
Sophie at soccer practice.
A third.
Sophie walking beside me at a grocery store.
Rachel leaned over my shoulder.
“What the hell?”
Then a message.
CLAIRE, I DON'T WANT TO HURT SOPHIE.
I stood so quickly the chair scraped the floor.
Hale came toward me.
Another message.
BUT YOU WILL GIVE ME WHAT BELONGS TO ME.
A final image appeared.
Patricia.
Sitting behind the wheel of a car.
Taken recently.
Maybe minutes ago.
She was holding today's newspaper.
And smiling.
Under the photo:
TELL ROBERT TO SIGN OVER THE BENNETT TRUST.
I looked at Robert.
His face collapsed.
May you like
Then the final sentence appeared.
OR NEXT TIME I WON'T JUST TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER.
