Chapter 2 - PLAN B
The blast shook the front windows.
Nora instinctively ducked.
Sergeant Alvarez shouted for everyone to stay inside.
Another officer ran toward the front door.
Flames climbed from beneath Nora’s black Mercedes.
The fire spread so quickly that the hood was engulfed within seconds.
Kristina did not look surprised.
Nora noticed that immediately.
Edgar did.
So did Alvarez.
“What did you do?”
Edgar shouted at his mother.
Kristina said nothing.
The officer holding her tightened his grip.
Alvarez pulled out his radio.
“Vehicle fire, possible deliberate ignition, residential driveway.”
Nora stared through the windows.
Her car had been parked less than twenty feet from the house.
She had driven it home that afternoon.
If she had gotten inside it later, the timing could have been very different.
Plan B.
The words repeated in her mind.
Kristina smiled again.
Not broadly.
Just enough.
Nora felt sick.
“You planned both.”
Kristina looked at her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The snake and the car.”
“You’re hysterical.”
Nora almost admired the audacity.
“You just watched my car explode.”
“You’ve been under enormous stress.”
Edgar suddenly grabbed the back of a dining chair.
“Mom, stop.”
Kristina turned toward him.
Her expression sharpened.
“What?”
“Stop talking.”
Nora looked at Edgar.
His fear had changed.
He was no longer worried that Nora might discover the affair.
He was worried about something larger.
Alvarez noticed it too.
“Mr. Finch, do you know anything about that vehicle?”
“No.”
“Did you know your mother had a second phone?”
“No.”
Kristina laughed.
Edgar turned on her.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you were always weak.”
The words hit him.
Nora saw it.
Kristina had spent decades controlling Edgar.
Nora had mistaken it for closeness.
Now she saw the mechanism.
Praise when he obeyed.
Contempt when he resisted.
Kristina looked toward Nora.
“He would have had nothing without you.”
Nora blinked.
The insult made no sense at first.
Then she understood.
Kristina was not defending Edgar.
She was humiliating him.
Nora glanced at her husband.
Edgar’s face was tight with rage.
“Shut up.”
Kristina smiled.
“There he is.”
Alvarez stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Fire crews arrived minutes later.
The driveway filled with emergency lights.
Neighbors gathered near the gates.
A firefighter confirmed the blaze appeared to have started beneath the rear wheel well.
That meant accelerant or an ignition device was possible.
The police immediately expanded the scene.
Nora’s home became a crime scene.
The snake.
The burner phone.
The vehicle fire.
The insurance policy.
The affair.
The child.
Everything was suddenly connected.
Daniel Moore arrived at 12:16 a.m.
Nora had never been so relieved to see him.
Daniel was sixty-one, compact, silver-haired, and impossible to intimidate.
He entered wearing khaki pants, loafers without socks, and a navy blazer over a T-shirt.
He looked like a man dragged from bed.
His eyes were fully awake.
“What happened?”
Nora pointed toward the driveway.
“My car exploded.”
Daniel looked outside.
Then toward Kristina.
Then toward Edgar.
“What happened before that?”
Nora told him.
Daniel listened without interrupting.
When she reached Heather, his expression changed.
When she reached the $25 million policy, he cursed.
When she reached Plan B, he immediately asked for a private room.
Alvarez allowed Nora and Daniel into the home office.
Daniel closed the door.
“Listen to me carefully.”
Nora nodded.
“Do not sleep here tonight.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Do not go anywhere with Edgar.”
“I won’t.”
“Do not eat anything prepared by Kristina.”
Nora almost laughed.
“She’s probably going to jail.”
“Probably is not enough.”
Daniel took out his phone.
“Do you have somewhere secure?”
“My Scottsdale condo.”
“Does Edgar have access?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
“My office.”
“He has visited.”
“Marcus?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Marcus Reed?”
“Yes.”
“Does Edgar know where he lives?”
“Probably.”
Daniel shook his head.
“We’ll use a hotel under my firm’s account.”
Nora sat slowly.
The adrenaline was wearing off.
Her hands were beginning to shake again.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“What exactly did the insurance paperwork contain?”
“Twenty-five million in coverage.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Edgar.”
“Revocable?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Nora looked up.
Daniel continued.
“We change it immediately.”
“Can we?”
“If the policy is active and you retain the right to change beneficiaries, yes.”
Nora stared toward the closed door.
“Who should get it?”
“That is your decision.”
Nora thought of nobody.
Her parents were dead.
She had no children.
Her younger brother had died in college.
She had built a company large enough to employ hundreds of people.
She had spent years thinking Edgar was her family.
Now she realized she had structured nearly her entire personal estate around a man who had betrayed her.
Daniel leaned forward.
“We also need to review your will.”
Nora went still.
Daniel understood.
“Edgar is primary beneficiary there too?”
“Yes.”
“How much is your estate worth?”
Nora looked away.
Daniel knew most of it.
But saying the number tonight felt obscene.
“Between the company shares, property, investments, and insurance?”
“Yes.”
“Approximately eighty-four million.”
Daniel stared at her.
Then he whispered.
“Jesus.”
Nora pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“The company valuation increased after the Nevada acquisition.”
“This is not a twenty-five-million-dollar motive.”
Nora understood.
“No.”
“This is potentially an eighty-million-dollar motive.”
The room became colder.
Daniel leaned back.
“Does Edgar know?”
“He knows I’m wealthy.”
“Does he know the approximate number?”
“He signed our estate planning documents four years ago.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Then assume yes.”
A knock sounded.
Sergeant Alvarez entered.
“Mrs. Preston, we need to ask about your car.”
Nora nodded.
“Anything unusual recently?”
She thought.
There had been plenty.
But normal life had trained her to dismiss most things.
A warning light two weeks ago.
A missing key.
A strange maintenance invoice.
She stopped.
“The spare key.”
Alvarez waited.
“It disappeared last month.”
Edgar had blamed the cleaning service.
Nora had replaced the key.
But someone could still have kept the old one.
“Who knew?”
“Edgar.”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“Anyone else?”
“Kristina.”
Alvarez wrote it down.
“Any recent maintenance?”
Nora thought again.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She named a luxury dealership in Scottsdale.
“What kind of service?”
“Tires and routine inspection.”
“When?”
“Last Thursday.”
Edgar entered the office doorway.
Nora stiffened.
Alvarez turned.
“You need to remain in the living room.”
Edgar ignored him.
“The car wasn’t at the dealership Thursday.”
Nora stared.
“Yes, it was.”
“No.”
“You drove it there.”
Edgar looked confused.
“I did not.”
Nora felt the first real wave of fear since the explosion.
“You texted me.”
She pulled out her phone.
The message remained.
Taking your car in for service today.
Nora showed it to him.
Edgar stared at the screen.
“I didn’t send that.”
Daniel immediately stood.
Alvarez took Nora’s phone.
“Do you have your phone from Thursday?”
Edgar nodded.
“Check your messages.”
He did.
There was no matching text.
Nora looked at the number on her device.
It appeared under Edgar’s name.
She opened the contact information.
The number was almost identical to Edgar’s.
One digit differed.
Someone had spoofed familiarity using a second number.
Daniel swore.
Nora whispered.
“Kristina.”
Edgar shook his head.
“My mother doesn’t understand technology.”
Daniel gave him a cold look.
“Your mother apparently understands rattlesnakes, burner phones, and vehicle fires.”
Edgar said nothing.
Alvarez asked Nora whether she had gone to the dealership personally.
“No.”
“Who picked it up?”
“A man wearing dealership clothing.”
“What did he look like?”
Nora remembered.
Mid-forties.
Baseball cap.
Gray polo.
Dark sunglasses.
She had barely looked at him.
He had scanned something on a tablet.
She had handed him the key.
Two hours later the car returned.
Nora had received what looked like a digital invoice.
Alvarez asked her to forward it.
She did.
Less than a minute later, Daniel looked up from his phone.
“That dealership domain is wrong.”
Nora stared.
Daniel pointed.
The real domain ended with .com.
The invoice came from .co.
A fake service appointment.
Someone had gained unrestricted access to her car for nearly three hours.
Edgar sat down hard.
“I didn’t know.”
Nora looked at him.
Maybe he was telling the truth.
That possibility did not comfort her.
Because if Edgar had not known about Plan B, Kristina had been planning independently.
And independent people made unpredictable mistakes.
Alvarez’s radio crackled.
An officer outside had found something.
Alvarez left.
Daniel turned to Edgar.
“Get out.”
Edgar looked at him.
“This is my house.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Actually, it is not.”
Nora turned.
Edgar frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked at Nora.
She suddenly remembered.
The title.
When Nora purchased the Paradise Valley property six years earlier, Edgar’s credit had been terrible after his consulting company collapsed.
For tax and lending reasons, the home had remained solely in Nora’s name.
Edgar had contributed nothing to the purchase.
He had simply assumed marriage meant joint ownership.
Daniel looked at him.
“The property belongs to Nora.”
Edgar’s face reddened.
“We’re married.”
“That does not automatically put your name on the deed.”
“I live here.”
“For the moment.”
Nora looked at Daniel.
He understood.
“Nora?”
She spoke quietly.
“I want him out.”
Edgar stared at her.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“Because of Heather?”
Nora laughed once.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Because somebody put a rattlesnake in my bed.”
“My mother did that.”
“Maybe.”
Edgar’s face changed.
Daniel stepped slightly forward.
Nora continued.
“Somebody also tampered with my car.”
“I didn’t.”
“Maybe.”
“Nora.”
“And somebody knew about the insurance policy.”
“You left it on the table.”
“Exactly.”
Edgar stared at her.
The silence stretched.
He finally whispered.
“You think I wanted you dead?”
Nora looked into the face she had loved for ten years.
“I don’t know what you wanted.”
The words seemed to hurt him.
Good.
For the first time that night, Nora wanted them to.
Alvarez returned carrying another evidence bag.
Inside was a tiny rectangular object.
Daniel recognized it first.
“GPS tracker.”
Nora stared.
“Where?”
“Under the rear bumper.”
Edgar looked genuinely confused.
Alvarez continued.
“It isn’t part of the vehicle.”
Nora’s pulse accelerated.
Someone had been tracking her.
Not only tonight.
Potentially for weeks.
Alvarez looked toward Edgar.
“Do you recognize this?”
“No.”
Kristina shouted from the living room.
“Stop asking my son questions!”
An officer told her to sit down.
Kristina ignored him.
“He doesn’t know anything.”
Alvarez turned.
Kristina suddenly stopped.
Nora noticed the strange phrasing.
He doesn’t know anything.
Not he didn’t do anything.
Nora looked at Daniel.
Daniel had noticed too.
Then Kristina shouted again.
“This was supposed to be simple!”
The living room fell silent.
Edgar whispered.
“Mom.”
Kristina closed her eyes.
Alvarez walked toward her.
“What was supposed to be simple?”
Kristina began shaking her head.
“I didn’t mean that.”
“What was supposed to be simple?”
“Nothing.”
“You just said it.”
“I’m tired.”
Nora stepped into the living room.
Kristina looked at her.
And suddenly the hatred in the older woman’s face was impossible to hide.
“You ruined everything.”
Edgar stared at his mother.
“What did she ruin?”
Kristina looked at him.
“You.”
The word sounded like an accusation.
“You were supposed to have a family.”
Edgar’s face twisted.
“I have a family.”
“You have Heather.”
Nora looked away.
Kristina continued.
“And Ava.”
Nora froze.
Ava.
The baby had a name.
Edgar closed his eyes.
Kristina looked at Nora.
“A beautiful little girl.”
Nora’s chest tightened.
Kristina smiled cruelly.
“She looks exactly like Edgar.”
Edgar whispered.
“Stop.”
“She has his eyes.”
“Mom.”
“She grabs his finger whenever he visits.”
Nora stared at Edgar.
Visits.
Plural.
He had not merely had an affair.
He had been visiting the child.
Living a second life.
Kristina continued because now that she had started hurting Nora, she seemed unable to stop.
“He reads to her.”
Nora felt tears burn behind her eyes.
She refused to let them fall.
“He bought her a crib.”
Edgar stepped forward.
“Enough.”
“He loves that baby.”
Edgar shouted.
“Enough!”
Kristina finally stopped.
Nora looked at him.
“When do you visit her?”
Edgar could not answer.
“During my fertility appointments?”
He looked down.
That told her enough.
Nora turned away.
Her body felt hollow.
Then the burner phone on the kitchen counter vibrated.
Everyone looked toward it.
Alvarez picked it up.
A message appeared.
Unknown number.
He read silently.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Nora asked.
Alvarez looked at Kristina.
Then Edgar.
Then Nora.
“The message says, ‘Why is she still alive?’”
Nobody spoke.
Another message arrived.
Then another.
Alvarez read the second one.
“‘You said tonight would finish it.’”
Edgar backed away.
“I don’t know that number.”
Kristina went completely still.
Alvarez looked at her.
“Do you?”
Kristina said nothing.
The third message appeared.
Alvarez read it.
His face hardened.
Nora felt dread build in her stomach.
“What does it say?”
Alvarez looked directly at her.
“‘If Nora talks, we all go down.’”
Daniel immediately moved beside Nora.
Alvarez typed something into his radio.
Kristina started shaking.
Edgar stared at his mother.
Nora realized something.
The conspiracy was larger than Kristina.
Larger than Edgar.
Possibly larger than Heather.
Someone else knew.
Someone else had expected Nora to die tonight.
And that person was still free.
Then Nora’s personal phone rang.
Marcus Reed’s name appeared on the screen.
She answered immediately.
“Marcus?”
His voice was breathless.
“Nora, don’t come to the office.”
Her heart dropped.
“Why?”
There was noise behind him.
Alarms.
Shouting.
Then Marcus said four words that made Daniel grab Nora’s arm.
May you like
“Someone opened your safe.”
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