Chapter 4 - RACHEL’S VOICE
The flash drive contained seventeen files.
Detective Morgan insisted we stop opening them until another detective arrived.
His name was Aaron Keller.
Financial crimes.
He recognized Harbor Ridge immediately.
“Your family’s company?”
“Yes.”
“How large?”
“About nine hundred employees.”
He exhaled slowly.
“That’s not small.”
“No.”
Vanessa refused to speak without an attorney.
Police escorted her out before midnight.
She wasn’t arrested for Rachel’s death.
Not yet.
But she was taken for questioning regarding the children.
The house became silent after she left.
Too silent.
I sat on the kitchen floor with Ethan and Lily between my arms.
Neither wanted to sleep upstairs.
So we built a blanket fort in the living room.
At one in the morning, Detective Keller called me into the office.
“We can watch one.”
He pointed toward the flash drive.
“The file is labeled DANIEL.”
I nodded.
He opened it.
Rachel appeared on the screen.
My breath stopped.
Three years disappeared in one second.
Her dark hair was pulled into a loose bun.
She wore the gray sweater I loved.
She looked tired.
Alive.
“Daniel.”
Her recorded voice filled the room.
“If you’re watching this, I’m either being paranoid or I was right.”
I covered my mouth.
Rachel continued.
“Michael has been moving money through contractors that don’t exist.”
“He isn’t working alone.”
“Vanessa Hart is authorizing vendor files from an external accounting service.”
I looked at Keller.
He was already writing.
Rachel held several documents to the camera.
“The number is at least four point eight million.”
“I think it’s higher.”
Then her expression changed.
“Two nights ago, Michael came to the house.”
I remembered that night.
Rachel told me they had argued about Dad’s care.
That was a lie.
“He told me family problems should stay inside the family.”
“He said if I went to Daniel, Daniel would lose the company.”
Rachel looked down.
“I didn’t tell you because your father was still recovering.”
“I thought I could get enough proof first.”
Her voice began to tremble.
“I was wrong.”
A pause.
“Vanessa followed me yesterday.”
Keller looked up sharply.
Rachel continued.
“She doesn’t know I saw her.”
“If something happens to me, Daniel, don’t let Michael tell you it was weather.”
My eyes filled.
That had been the official explanation.
Rain.
Speed.
A dangerous mountain road.
Rachel’s voice softened.
“I love you.”
“I’m sorry I kept this from you.”
“Protect Ethan.”
“Protect Lily.”
Then she leaned closer to the camera.
“And whatever you do, do not let Vanessa near the children.”
The file ended.
I sat frozen.
For three years, I had mourned an accident.
For fourteen months, I had allowed one of the people Rachel feared into our home.
Into our marriage.
Into my children’s bedrooms.
Keller closed the laptop.
“I need to ask something.”
I looked at him.
“When did you first meet Vanessa?”
“Two years after Rachel died.”
“Where?”
“A fundraiser.”
“Who introduced you?”
I thought about it.
The answer felt poisonous now.
Michael.
Keller said nothing.
He didn’t need to.
May you like
My brother had not introduced me to a woman by chance.
He had placed someone Rachel feared directly beside me.
