Chapter 9 - THE SECOND PLAN
Detective Bennett did not immediately believe Logan.
Neither did Ethan.
When she repeated the statement at Ethan’s house, Ethan’s first response was blunt.
“He’s lying.”
Natalie was less certain.
“About all of it?”
“He’s trying to save himself.”
“That doesn’t mean every detail is false.”
Diane looked terrified.
“What man?”
Detective Bennett shook her head.
“Logan has not provided a name yet.”
“Why?”
“His attorney stopped the interview.”
Ethan scoffed.
“Convenient.”
“Very.”
Natalie shifted on the sofa.
“He confessed to pushing me.”
“Yes.”
“So he’s already exposed himself criminally.”
“Yes.”
“Then why invent a story about Harold?”
“To bargain.”
Ethan answered before Bennett could.
Natalie looked at him.
“Or because he genuinely thinks Harold was getting rid of him.”
Diane whispered.
“Harold would never—”
She stopped.
Nobody said anything.
Diane lowered her eyes.
“I don’t know what Harold would never do anymore.”
That evening, a judge granted police broader access to company records.
Mercer Development’s office opened to investigators shortly after 6:00 p.m.
Harold arrived furious.
He demanded legal counsel.
He accused Ethan of engineering a hostile takeover.
He accused Natalie of fabricating the financial evidence.
Then detectives showed him the forged signature dated while Ethan was in Germany.
Harold stopped talking.
At 8:17 p.m., investigators found Marcus Vale’s missing company phone.
It was inside his locked desk drawer.
That meant Marcus had not taken it when he disappeared.
Someone wanted everyone to think he had.
Ruiz called Ethan.
“Your father had access to Marcus’s office.”
“So did twenty executives.”
“Yes.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking Marcus may not have left voluntarily.”
Ethan looked at Natalie.
She heard the words.
Her face tightened.
“Do you know where Marcus might go if he wanted to hide?”
Ethan thought.
Marcus had no obvious second home.
No boat.
No private plane.
Then he remembered something from years earlier.
“His father’s cabin.”
“Where?”
“Blue Ridge.”
“Exact address?”
“I can find it.”
Within thirty minutes, police in North Carolina were contacted.
The cabin was empty.
But someone had been there recently.
A coffee mug remained on the table.
A bed had been slept in.
And blood was found on a bathroom towel.
Not much.
Enough to matter.
Marcus was officially listed as missing.
Natalie stared at the ceiling that night.
“This is getting bigger.”
Ethan lay beside her carefully.
He had insisted she sleep in their bedroom rather than the guest room downstairs.
He also insisted on helping her take every step.
She had stopped arguing after the third attempt.
“I keep thinking about Logan.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t.”
“What if he’s telling the truth?”
“He pushed you.”
“I’m not forgiving him.”
“Good.”
“But he may know what Harold is capable of.”
Ethan stared into the darkness.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying fear can make people honest.”
“He’s afraid because he got caught.”
“Maybe.”
A soft movement came beneath her hand.
Natalie placed Ethan’s palm on her belly.
Their daughter moved.
Ethan closed his eyes.
Nothing else mattered for several seconds.
Then Natalie whispered.
“He wanted control of her before she was born.”
Ethan opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
“I don’t ever want Harold near her.”
“He won’t be.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
The next morning, Charles Whitmore called.
His voice was urgent.
“I found something.”
Ethan put him on speaker.
“What?”
“An amendment request Harold sent.”
“The trust?”
“Yes.”
“You told us.”
“No.”
Charles sounded unsettled.
“There was another one.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
Natalie sat straighter.
“What did it request?”
“To add an emergency guardian.”
Ethan frowned.
“Who?”
Charles paused.
“Diane.”
Everyone looked at her.
Diane shook her head immediately.
“I never agreed.”
Charles continued.
“The application contains your signature.”
Diane went pale.
“I didn’t sign anything.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Another forgery.”
“Yes.”
“Why add Mom?”
Natalie answered before Charles could.
“Because Harold would look conflicted.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Explain.”
“If Harold directly becomes guardian after Ethan is accused of theft, it looks suspicious.”
Diane understood.
“But if I become guardian.”
Natalie nodded.
“You would control the child’s shares.”
“And Harold controls me.”
Diane’s face crumpled.
“He thought I would do whatever he said.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
“Would you?”
Diane stared at him.
For once, she did not become defensive.
“For most of my marriage.”
Her voice broke.
“Yes.”
She wiped her face.
“But not anymore.”
A car stopped outside.
Ethan checked the security camera.
A delivery van.
The driver left a package.
No return address.
Ethan called Detective Bennett before touching it.
Police opened it twenty minutes later.
Inside was Marcus Vale’s wallet.
His driver’s license.
Three credit cards.
And a handwritten note.
The handwriting appeared shaky.
ETHAN DID NOT TAKE THE MONEY.
Below it was a second sentence.
HAROLD IS NOT THE ONLY ONE.
And beneath that were two initials.
R.K.
Ethan looked at Detective Ruiz.
“Robert Keene.”
Ruiz nodded.
Mercer Development’s second outside board member.
The man who had signed two suspicious authorizations.
Diane looked at Ethan.
“Robert and Harold have been friends since college.”
Natalie asked the question nobody wanted to ask.
“What if Harold isn’t the one everyone should be most afraid of?”
At that exact moment, Detective Bennett’s phone rang.
She listened for less than twenty seconds.
Then her face changed.
“What?”
Ethan asked.
“They found Marcus.”
Natalie gripped the sofa.
“Alive?”
Detective Bennett looked at them.
“Yes.”
Relief moved through the room.
May you like
Then Bennett added the part that erased it.
“He was found locked inside the trunk of his own car.”
