Chapter 6
Maria didn't take us to the storage facility.
Not immediately.
She called federal investigators first.
That decision probably saved us.
Two agents met us at a government building downtown.
Agent Carter was a woman in her fifties with calm eyes.
Agent Ruiz was younger and barely spoke during the first hour.
They copied the flash drive.
Photographed Emily's letter.
Downloaded Michael's texts.
Reviewed the video from the company party that one of Michael's coworkers had emailed me.
When they reached the part where Lauren tried to put a tracker in my purse, Ruiz looked up.
“Do you still have the device?”
David placed it in an evidence bag Maria had insisted we buy.
Ruiz smiled faintly.
“Your attorney is thorough.”
Maria said, “That's why people pay me.”
Nobody laughed.
I told them everything.
Michael's lies.
Rebecca.
My mother's messages.
Emily's calls the night she died.
The agents didn't react emotionally.
I hated that.
But I also understood.
They needed facts.
After three hours, Agent Carter closed her notebook.
“We cannot tell you what investigation may or may not already exist.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Already exist?”
She held up a hand.
“I said may.”
“That's not reassuring.”
“It wasn't intended to be.”
“Was my sister murdered?”
“We don't know.”
“Did Denver police investigate my mother?”
“I can't speak for them.”
I leaned forward.
“But you can look.”
“Yes.”
“Then look.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“We will.”
The storage locker became part of the investigation.
I wasn't allowed to open it alone.
At 4:20 that afternoon, we arrived with the agents.
Unit 814 was small.
Inside were three cardboard boxes and a blue plastic file crate.
The sight of it made my heart race.
Emily had built an archive.
Bank records.
Printed emails.
Photographs.
Copies of contracts.
A second flash drive.
A disposable phone.
And a handwritten notebook.
The first page said:
IF SARAH IS READING THIS, I FAILED.
I sat on the concrete floor.
For several minutes, I couldn't continue.
Agent Carter crouched beside me.
“You don't have to read this now.”
“Yes, I do.”
I turned the page.
Emily had created a timeline.
Our father's illness.
His company.
The trust.
Our mother's control of his finances during his final year.
Michael appearing in our mother's contacts before he met me.
Payments.
Shell companies.
Property purchases.
Rebecca.
Lauren.
And eventually, Denver.
Emily believed our father discovered that Mom had been taking money from the family business.
He planned to change his will.
He died before he could.
Cancer.
Natural causes.
But Emily had written a question beside it.
Did Dad know about Michael?
I kept reading.
Michael wasn't just some man Mom found.
His father had once worked for ours.
Michael blamed Dad for firing him after an embezzlement scandal.
That scandal destroyed Michael's family financially.
Years later, my mother contacted Michael.
Why?
Emily had underlined the question three times.
Was it revenge?
Money?
Both?
The next page contained a name.
Rebecca Cole.
Beside it:
Rebecca thinks Michael is a traveling consultant named Michael Grant.
My head snapped up.
“He lied to her too.”
Agent Carter said, “Apparently.”
Rebecca wasn't his partner in crime.
She was another victim.
I looked at photographs of Michael with his children.
Suddenly I didn't hate them.
I felt sorry for them.
Their father wasn't who they believed either.
Then I reached the Denver entry.
November 17.
Emily had written:
10:00 a.m. Met David. Gave partial records.
1:15 p.m. Lauren confronted me in lobby.
3:40 p.m. Mom arrived.
4:10 p.m. Michael arrived.
6:00 p.m. They offered $2m for silence. Refused.
8:45 p.m. Called Sarah. No answer.
9:02 p.m. Called Sarah. No answer.
9:17 p.m. Called Sarah. No answer.
My tears fell onto the paper.
I had seen those calls.
I had rejected them.
The next line:
Mom says Sarah knows everything and wants nothing to do with me.
I whispered, “No.”
David looked over.
“What?”
“She told Emily I knew.”
My hands shook.
“She told her I knew and didn't want to help.”
I turned the page.
Last entry.
11:46 p.m.
They want the original drive. I told them David has it. That was a lie.
If Mom comes back, don't open door.
That was the end.
Agent Ruiz took the notebook carefully.
“Your sister was afraid of your mother.”
“Yes.”
Then he held up the disposable phone.
“We'll process this.”
A sound came from outside the unit.
Metal.
A door slamming.
Ruiz immediately stood.
Carter reached for her radio.
Footsteps.
Then Lauren appeared at the end of the hallway.
Alone.
She raised both hands.
“Please don't arrest me.”
Everyone froze.
Agent Carter moved toward her.
“How did you find this location?”
Lauren's eyes went to me.
“Because Emily told me.”
I stood.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew this was here?”
“Not exactly. I knew she had storage somewhere.”
“How did you know 814?”
“She told me if something happened, Sarah would understand.”
Anger surged.
“You were in Denver that night.”
Lauren's face collapsed.
“Yes.”
“Were you on the balcony?”
“No.”
“Was Michael?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes.”
My body went cold.
“Was my mother?”
Lauren looked at the agents.
“I want immunity.”
Agent Ruiz almost smiled.
“This isn't television.”
“I want a lawyer.”
Maria spoke.
“That's probably the smartest thing you've said.”
Lauren looked at me.
“I didn't push Emily.”
“Who did?”
“I didn't see.”
My voice rose.
“You were there.”
“I was in the hallway.”
“Then what did you see?”
She began crying.
Real tears this time.
Not the controlled performance from the party.
“Emily wouldn't give Michael the drive. They argued. Linda was screaming at her. Michael took Emily into the room because people were coming down the hallway.”
“What room?”
“1206.”
Emily's.
“I stayed outside.”
“Why?”
“Michael told me to.”
“And you always did what he said?”
Shame crossed her face.
“For a long time.”
“What happened?”
“I heard something break.”
My stomach clenched.
“Then?”
“Emily screamed.”
I couldn't breathe.
“One scream. Then Michael yelled, ‘What did you do?’”
Everyone went still.
I whispered, “Who was he talking to?”
Lauren wiped her face.
“Linda.”
My mother.
The hallway seemed to shrink around me.
“What happened next?”
“The door opened. Michael came out.”
“Where was my mother?”
“Inside.”
“And Emily?”
Lauren's voice broke.
“I didn't see her.”
“What did Michael say?”
“He told me to go downstairs.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“You left my sister in there?”
“I was scared.”
“She was scared!”
“I know!”
“No, you don't.”
I stepped toward her.
Agent Carter moved slightly between us.
Lauren sobbed.
“I went downstairs. Ten minutes later, Michael came to the lobby. Linda came down separately.”
“And Emily?”
Lauren couldn't look at me.
“Five minutes after that, hotel security started running toward the courtyard.”
My knees nearly gave out.
David caught my arm.
Lauren continued.
“Michael told me Emily jumped.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
“Then Linda said something in the car.”
“What?”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“She said, ‘She always was dramatic.’”
A sound came out of me.
Half sob.
Half scream.
Agent Carter steadied me.
But Lauren wasn't finished.
“Michael wanted to call you immediately. Linda stopped him.”
“Why?”
“She said you needed to hear about Emily from police so nobody could connect the family to the meeting.”
I stared at Lauren through tears.
“My mother went home and pretended she knew nothing.”
“Yes.”
“And Michael came home to me.”
“Yes.”
“He held me while I cried.”
Lauren nodded.
I covered my mouth.
The agents exchanged a look.
Then Ruiz's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“Yes.”
Pause.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Keep them there.”
He hung up.
Agent Carter looked at him.
“What happened?”
Ruiz looked directly at me.
“Denver police just reopened your sister's death investigation.”
My chest tightened.
“Why now?”
“Because someone walked into headquarters twenty minutes ago claiming to have video from the hallway outside Emily's room.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“A former Carlton employee.”
My heart pounded.
“Does it show what happened?”
“Not the balcony.”
“Then what?”
Ruiz's voice dropped.
“It shows your mother entering Emily's room at 11:52 p.m.”
I waited.
“And?”
“She leaves at 12:34.”
Emily's fall had been estimated at 12:31.
May you like
Three minutes earlier.
My mother had been inside.
