Chapter 17 - THE HOUSE AT LAKE GENEVA
Three days later, Marcus found the property.
A cottage overlooking Lake Geneva.
Purchased through one of Eleanor’s shell companies eleven years earlier.
Police surrounded it before dawn.
No one was inside.
But the house contained photographs of my family.
Hundreds of them.
Clara leaving medical appointments.
Me entering company headquarters.
Julian at restaurants.
Our home.
The hospital.
My son’s neonatal unit.
Someone had been watching us.
Detective Harris found prepaid phones.
One contained recent messages.
The recipient was listed only as R.
The last message said:
If Sebastian refuses, release everything.
“What is everything?”
I asked.
Harris shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
Another phone contained photographs of documents.
One showed a contract involving my largest upcoming deal.
The folder I had returned home to retrieve on the day I found Clara under the table.
My stomach tightened.
The forgotten folder had saved my wife.
Now I realized someone had been photographing its contents before I retrieved it.
The deal was worth almost $600 million.
Only five executives knew the details.
One was my chief operating officer.
Robert Lane.
Margaret Lane’s husband.
R.
I immediately called company security.
Robert had not arrived at work.
His laptop was gone.
His company access had been used at 4:03 that morning.
He downloaded confidential pricing data.
Then resigned by email.
Margaret called me thirty minutes later.
She was crying.
“I didn’t know.”
“Where is Robert?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he work with Eleanor?”
She hesitated.
“Sebastian.”
“How long?”
“He handled some investments for her.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Margaret broke down.
“Years.”
I closed my eyes.
The woman who had finally tried to help Clara had been married to another participant.
“Did you know about the forged documents?”
“No.”
“Did Robert?”
“I think so.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he threatened me.”
“With what?”
“Our daughter.”
Robert controlled family finances.
He had threatened to cut off their daughter’s medical care if Margaret spoke.
The pattern repeated.
Control through dependency.
Different house.
Same poison.
Robert had been feeding Eleanor business information.
He knew my schedule.
He knew when I traveled.
He knew when Clara would be alone.
And he knew exactly when I would be on the highway the day my brake line failed.
Detective Harris looked at me.
“We need to find him before Eleanor does.”
“Why?”
“Because if Robert arranged the brake sabotage, he is the person who can connect her to attempted murder.”
Then Marcus interrupted.
“We just got a traffic camera hit.”
“On who?”
“Robert.”
“Where?”
“Heading north.”
“Alone?”
Marcus shook his head.
“There’s a woman in the passenger seat.”
He turned the screen toward me.
May you like
Even through grainy highway footage, I recognized her.
Eleanor.
