Chapter 16 - Diane's Version of Love
Diane refused to speak without an attorney.
But the letter spoke for her.
She described Ryan's father as weak.
Careless.
Too sentimental to protect the company.
According to Diane, he was preparing to report financial irregularities.
She claimed doing so would have destroyed the family business.
She never directly admitted causing his death.
Instead she wrote one chilling sentence.
I stopped him from making a mistake he could never undo.
Ryan read that line repeatedly.
Police treated it as evidence.
Not a confession.
Forensic investigators examined the old phone.
They recovered deleted messages.
Several were between Diane and an unknown number.
One conversation occurred two days before Ryan's father died.
HE'S GOING TO THE LAWYER.
Then a reply.
THEN MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T.
The number had been disconnected years ago.
Detectives traced it to a prepaid phone.
Another dead end.
Ryan hated uncertainty.
He wanted one clean answer.
One piece of evidence that explained his father's final hours.
But real life wasn't giving him one.
Meanwhile, Grace improved enough to come home.
The first night in our apartment, Ryan barely slept.
Every tiny sound from the bassinet made him sit upright.
At three in the morning, I found him standing beside Grace.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking her breathing.”
“For the sixth time?”
“Seventh.”
I smiled.
“She has you trained already.”
He finally smiled too.
Then someone knocked.
Both of us froze.
Ryan checked the camera.
Police.
Detective Ramirez stood outside.
We let him in.
He carried a file.
“We identified the unknown number.”
Ryan stared at him.
“You said it was prepaid.”
“It was.”
“But somebody used a credit card to purchase it.”
“Whose?”
Ramirez placed the receipt on our table.
Samuel Grant.
Ryan stood.
“No.”
The retired controller who had helped us.
The man who had saved ledgers.
The man who claimed Diane destroyed his career.
The phone connected to Diane before Ryan's father died had been purchased by him.
Ramirez looked at Ryan.
“We need you to understand that Samuel may not have been only a witness.”
Ryan grabbed his keys.
“Where is he?”
Ramirez's expression told us the answer was worse than expected.
May you like
“Gone.”
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