Chapter 14 - The Betrayal Inside My House
Police reached my house in nine minutes.
Samuel was gone.
Blood stained the carpet beside the safe.
Not much.
But enough to make my knees weak.
A chair had been overturned.
My father’s documents were scattered across the floor.
The settlement page was missing.
Naomi turned toward me.
“Who knew Samuel had it?”
I answered immediately.
“You.”
“Marcus.”
“Peter.”
“Allison.”
“Brenda.”
“Connor.”
“And me.”
That was too many people.
Someone had leaked it.
Connor stood under police supervision in the driveway.
Brenda sat inside an unmarked vehicle.
Naomi began reviewing calls.
Marcus had been inside Apex headquarters all afternoon.
Peter was in a monitored investor meeting.
Allison remained under protection.
Connor had been moving between attorneys and the garage.
Brenda had been with us.
Then Naomi asked a different question.
“Who knew Samuel was coming to your house today?”
I stared at her.
“I didn’t.”
Neither did she.
Samuel had apparently come on his own.
A neighbor’s camera showed his car arriving at 12:41.
Seven minutes later, another vehicle appeared.
A silver sedan.
Registered to Dana Mitchell.
My best friend.
I felt as if the floor shifted.
“No.”
Naomi did not answer.
Dana had given me a place to sleep after the restaurant.
She had listened while I cried.
She had brought coffee.
She had told me Connor never deserved me.
She knew where I kept emergency keys.
She knew my father’s stories.
She knew more about my marriage than almost anyone.
Naomi called her.
No answer.
I called.
Voicemail.
Police went to her apartment.
Empty.
Then I remembered the night after the restaurant.
I had left my purse on Dana’s kitchen counter while showering.
My spare house key was inside.
So was a photocopy of the trust summary I had taken from Connor’s tablet.
Dana had access.
But why?
Naomi searched financial records.
The answer arrived before sunset.
Dana Mitchell had received eighteen payments from a marketing company called Blue Harbor Media.
Total: $214,000.
Blue Harbor ultimately traced back to Northstar Meridian.
Elaine.
I could not breathe.
Dana had been feeding Elaine information.
For how long?
Records showed the first payment three years earlier.
Three years.
Every conversation.
Every marital complaint.
Every fear.
Every suspicion.
My best friend had been selling all of it.
A message appeared on my phone.
From Dana.
I’M SORRY.
Then another.
I DIDN’T KNOW IT WOULD GO THIS FAR.
Naomi told me not to respond.
A third message arrived.
SAMUEL IS ALIVE.
A fourth.
ELAINE HAS HIM.
Then Dana sent coordinates.
The lake house.
Naomi immediately began coordinating officers.
But another message arrived.
DON’T COME THROUGH THE MAIN ROAD.
RAYMOND WIRED THE GATE.
I stared at the screen.
Dana had betrayed me for three years.
Now she was trying to help.
Or trying to lure us into another trap.
Then came one final photograph.
Samuel sat tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Elaine.
Beside Elaine was Raymond Hale.
And on the table lay a small digital recorder.
My father’s initials were scratched into its metal case.
May you like
EM.
The recording Elaine had spent years trying to find.
