Chapter 6 - THE RECORDING
The USB held one recording more important than all the others.
I made it four days before the balcony.
Brandon thought I was visiting my sister.
Instead, I returned to the villa early.
Margaret’s Mercedes was outside.
I entered through the kitchen.
Voices came from Brandon’s office.
I almost walked in.
Then I heard my name.
“Claire is getting suspicious.”
Margaret said.
I stopped.
Brandon answered.
“She doesn’t know enough.”
“She hired someone.”
My heart stopped.
“How do you know?”
“I checked her calls.”
I quietly turned on the recorder in my pocket.
Brandon cursed.
Margaret continued.
“You waited too long.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Get control of the trust.”
“We need a medical basis.”
“Then create one.”
Brandon lowered his voice.
“And if she fights?”
Margaret answered.
“She won’t fight forever.”
There was a pause.
Then Brandon said something I would hear in nightmares for months.
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
Margaret’s voice became colder.
“Accidents happen.”
Silence.
Brandon did not say no.
That was the part that destroyed me.
He did not say no.
Instead he asked.
“What about the policy?”
Margaret answered.
“It becomes much cleaner if the death is accidental.”
My hands shook so hard I nearly dropped the recorder.
Then a chair moved.
I stepped backward.
I slipped into the pantry before the office door opened.
Brandon walked past.
Margaret followed.
When the front door closed, I waited ten minutes.
Then I called Dana.
She listened to the recording.
“Police.”
She said immediately.
“I’m sending it tonight.”
“Good.”
“But we still need the original contract files.”
“I know where they are.”
“Claire.”
“Brandon keeps an encrypted drive in the office safe.”
“Do not touch it.”
“I know the code.”
“How?”
“It’s our wedding date.”
Dana was silent.
“Of course it is.”
That night, Brandon left for dinner with a client.
Margaret went to a charity gala.
I opened the safe.
The encrypted drive was inside.
So were three passports.
Brandon’s.
Rebecca’s.
The little boy’s.
And airline tickets to Zurich.
Departure date.
Saturday.
Three days away.
They were planning to leave.
I copied the drive.
Contracts.
Accounts.
Insurance records.
Emails.
Then one video file appeared.
Security footage from the villa.
I opened it.
Margaret was standing beside the balcony railing.
She looked around.
Then loosened two bolts from the metal support.
My blood went cold.
The footage was dated twelve days earlier.
May you like
The balcony had not been waiting for an accident.
They had been preparing one.
