Chapter 6
Rebecca’s recording continued.
I could hear her breathing.
Fast.
Uneven.
Terrified.
“Michael and Miranda have been doing this for years.”
Detective Reed looked at me.
I felt my stomach drop.
Rebecca went on.
“They find people with money. People who are lonely. People who trust easily.”
Static.
“Miranda finds them first.”
My mind flashed back to the fundraiser.
Miranda smiling.
Miranda handing me a glass of wine.
Miranda saying, “There’s someone you should meet.”
Jason.
Michael.
Whatever his name was.
Rebecca’s voice grew weaker.
“Michael marries them. Sometimes he doesn’t have to. Sometimes they only need access.”
Reed quietly began recording the playback with his department phone.
“What does she mean, sometimes?” I whispered.
He shook his head.
We listened.
“They change names. They move. They create accidents.”
My skin crawled.
Rebecca coughed.
“I found records.”
A pause.
“Four women.”
I closed my eyes.
Four.
Before Rebecca.
Maybe after.
“I copied everything. Michael knows.”
The tape clicked.
Then Miranda’s voice suddenly appeared in the background.
“Rebecca?”
Rebecca gasped.
The recording ended.
I stood frozen.
“That’s it?”
Reed rewound.
Played the final seconds again.
Same result.
Miranda calling Rebecca’s name.
Rebecca gasping.
Silence.
I stared at the metal case.
“What records?”
Reed opened the red notebook.
Pages of dates.
Names.
Amounts.
Some names had been crossed out.
Some had question marks.
One made him stop.
“Emily.”
I leaned over.
My mother’s name.
SARAH BENNETT.
Beside it was a date.
Three days before my mother died.
“No.”
My knees weakened.
Reed caught my arm.
“What was the official cause of your mother’s accident?”
“Her brakes failed.”
The words barely came out.
I remembered the police officer coming to our house.
My father collapsing.
The funeral.
The closed casket because of the crash.
“She was driving down a hill.”
“Was the vehicle examined?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They said a brake line ruptured.”
Reed looked down at the notebook.
“Could have been mechanical failure.”
I stared at him.
Neither of us believed that anymore.
“Michael killed my mother.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Miranda did.”
“We don’t know.”
“They were afraid she had Rebecca’s evidence.”
“That is possible.”
I looked through the boxes.
“Then my father hid it here.”
“Yes.”
“And Jason married me because he thought I knew where it was.”
“Maybe.”
“But I didn’t.”
“No.”
“So why stay eleven years?”
Reed didn’t answer.
I did.
“Because of the money.”
The plan had evolved.
Find Sarah Bennett’s daughter.
Get close.
Search for evidence.
Then discover she had inherited money.
Marry her.
Wait.
Have children.
Create more leverage.
My entire family had been a long investment.
I bent over, suddenly nauseated.
One officer called from near the entrance.
“Detective.”
Reed turned.
“What?”
The officer held up a broken piece of plastic.
“Fresh.”
It was part of a zip tie.
Reed’s expression hardened.
“Everybody outside.”
“What?”
“Now.”
He drew his weapon.
The officers searched the unit.
I was taken outside.
Minutes later, Reed emerged.
“Someone has been here.”
“When?”
“Recently.”
“How do you know?”
“Dust patterns. The back window was forced.”
I looked toward the storage building.
“They knew about this.”
“Possibly.”
“But the case was still here.”
Reed nodded.
“Maybe they couldn’t find it.”
“Or they wanted us to.”
He looked at me.
That possibility was worse.
My phone rang.
Hospital.
I answered immediately.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Harper?”
It was Chloe.
Her voice trembled.
“Mom?”
“Chloe? Why are you using the hospital phone?”
“My phone stopped working.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are you?”
“With Noah.”
“Are the officers there?”
A pause.
“Mom…”
Every instinct in my body screamed.
“Chloe, where are the officers?”
“One went to get coffee.”
“And the other?”
“I don’t know.”
Reed was already motioning toward the car.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Chloe began whispering.
“There’s a nurse here.”
“Okay.”
“But I don’t think she’s a nurse.”
My blood went cold.
“Why?”
“She keeps asking when Noah gets medicine.”
I ran for the car.
Reed drove.
Sirens on.
“Chloe, listen to me. Do not leave the room.”
“I won’t.”
“Lock the door if you can.”
“I can’t. She’s standing beside it.”
I stopped breathing.
“Can she hear you?”
“No. I’m in the bathroom.”
The line crackled.
“Chloe, call 911.”
“I tried.”
“Then scream.”
“What?”
“Scream as loud as you can.”
Reed nodded hard.
“Do it.”
Chloe inhaled.
Then screamed.
The sound blasted through the phone.
I heard movement.
A woman shouted.
Then the call went dead.
“No!”
I called back.
No answer.
The hospital was twelve minutes away.
Reed made it in seven.
Police vehicles were already arriving.
I ran through the emergency entrance.
“Chloe!”
A security guard pointed upstairs.
“Fourth floor!”
I barely waited for the elevator.
When the doors opened, chaos filled the hall.
Nurses.
Officers.
A crash cart.
Then I saw Chloe.
She stood beside a police officer, crying.
I ran to her.
“Mom!”
I dropped to my knees and pulled her against me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“The lady tried to take Noah.”
My heart stopped.
I looked toward his room.
Doctors surrounded his bed.
“What did she do?”
“She unplugged something.”
A real nurse approached.
“Noah is stable.”
I nearly collapsed.
“What woman?”
“Security detained her near the stairs.”
Reed hurried past us.
“Stay here.”
I didn’t.
I followed.
At the end of the hallway, two officers held a woman against the wall.
She wore hospital scrubs.
A surgical mask hung below her chin.
Dark hair.
Older than I remembered.
But I knew her.
“Miranda.”
She looked up.
And smiled.
“Emily.”
I stepped toward her.
Reed blocked me.
“Why?”
Miranda tilted her head.
“You still don’t understand.”
“You tried to kill my son.”
“No.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“Saving him.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“From who?”
“Michael.”
“Jason isn’t here.”
Her smile disappeared.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
Reed spoke.
“Miranda Cole, you’re under arrest.”
She ignored him.
Her eyes stayed on me.
“You found Rebecca’s tape.”
I froze.
“How do you know?”
“Because your father wasn’t as clever as he thought.”
“You killed my mother.”
Miranda’s face changed.
Just slightly.
Enough.
“You did.”
“I didn’t touch Sarah.”
“Michael did?”
She said nothing.
“Answer me!”
Officers pulled her away.
She suddenly shouted, “Ask your lawyer why the storage unit stayed hidden!”
Mr. Sanders.
I stared after her.
“What does that mean?”
Reed watched Miranda disappear through the stairwell door.
“I don’t know.”
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A long pause.
His eyes lifted toward me.
“What now?”
He ended the call.
“Jason was seen twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“At Mr. Sanders’s house.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
Reed’s expression told me before he spoke.
“His front door is open.”
We called Mr. Sanders.
No answer.
Police entered his home.
They found blood in the kitchen.
No body.
No lawyer.
On the counter sat a single envelope.
My name was written across the front.
May you like
Inside was one line.
BRING REBECCA’S NOTEBOOK IF YOU WANT YOUR LAWYER BACK.
