Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE
Nora stared at Edgar’s initials until the letters blurred.
E.F.
Two small marks.
A decade of marriage reduced to evidence.
Daniel took the phone from her.
“We need the original.”
Elaine nodded.
“And handwriting verification.”
Nora said nothing.
She no longer needed verification emotionally.
Edgar had already admitted attending the transfer.
He knew.
Maybe not every detail.
Maybe not from the beginning.
But he knew enough.
Daniel called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Alvarez sent officers to Edgar’s known locations.
His car was found outside a coffee shop near Camelback Road.
Edgar was gone.
Nora looked at the time.
9:48 a.m.
Less than twelve hours earlier, Edgar had walked through their front door smelling like another woman’s perfume.
Now he was missing.
Elaine did not call it missing.
“Running.”
Nora looked at her.
“You think he ran?”
“I think men who suddenly stop answering after being confronted with documentary evidence often discover urgent travel plans.”
Daniel frowned.
“He could also be in danger.”
Elaine shrugged.
“Both can be true.”
Nora hated that answer.
She hated that some small part of her still worried about Edgar.
Betrayal did not erase ten years of reflexes in one night.
Her phone rang.
Marcus.
Nora answered.
“I’m at the office.”
“I told you to go home.”
“I did.”
“So why are you back?”
“Because you need to see something.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“Marcus.”
“It’s important.”
Everything was important now.
Every discovered document opened another door.
Behind every door stood another betrayal.
“What?”
“Security recovered partial video from the executive garage.”
Nora sat straighter.
“Of the burglar?”
“Yes.”
“Face?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A vehicle.”
Elaine moved closer.
Marcus sent a still image.
Nora opened it.
A dark-blue SUV.
Arizona plate partly obscured.
She zoomed.
The sticker in the rear window made her stop.
Desert Ridge Pediatrics.
Heather’s workplace.
“Is that Heather’s car?”
Marcus asked.
Nora forwarded the image to Daniel.
He checked police information.
Heather owned a dark-blue Volvo XC90.
Same model.
Same general color.
Nora felt sick.
“Could she have broken into my office?”
Elaine took the phone.
“Time?”
“11:54 p.m.”
Nora calculated.
Heather had contacted Nora at approximately 3:30 a.m.
Hours later.
If Heather had broken into the office, why warn Nora?
Unless she had stolen the documents to protect them.
Or unless everything she said was manipulation.
Elaine asked Marcus.
“Did the person leave carrying anything?”
“One bag.”
“Direction?”
“North exit.”
“Any traffic cameras?”
“Police are checking.”
Nora thought of Heather’s missing phone.
The blood.
The message on the wall.
Stop looking for what was never yours.
If Heather was part of the conspiracy, perhaps her disappearance was staged.
But Ava?
Would she use a seven-month-old child as leverage?
Nora had learned in twelve hours not to underestimate anyone.
Daniel called Heather’s sister.
Her name was Rachel.
Rachel confirmed Heather owned the SUV.
But Heather had not driven it for three days.
“Why?”
Nora asked.
“It wouldn’t start.”
“Where is it?”
“At the repair shop.”
Daniel looked at Nora.
“Which repair shop?”
Rachel named a shop in Tempe.
Police called.
The owner said the Volvo had been dropped off three days earlier.
It was still there.
The vehicle at Nora’s office was therefore either identical or using copied plates.
Another deliberate impersonation.
Elaine leaned back.
“Somebody wants us to believe Heather committed the burglary.”
Nora nodded.
“Which means whoever did it knows she is already suspicious.”
Daniel added.
“And knows enough about her car to copy it.”
Nora looked at him.
“Kristina?”
“Possible.”
“Edgar?”
“Possible.”
“Dr. Voss?”
“Possible.”
Elaine interrupted.
“Or someone we haven’t identified.”
Nora hated the phrase.
Someone else.
The unknown number.
The burglar.
The person behind Plan B.
At 10:32 a.m., police located Edgar.
He had entered a private storage facility in North Phoenix.
Officers stopped him as he exited.
Inside his rented unit they found suitcases.
Cash.
A passport.
And a locked metal box.
Nora listened as Alvarez described it.
“How much cash?”
“Approximately seventy thousand dollars.”
Daniel swore.
“What’s in the box?”
“Waiting on a warrant.”
“Did he explain why he was there?”
“He says he went to retrieve personal items because Nora expelled him from the house.”
Nora almost laughed.
“With a passport and seventy thousand dollars?”
“That is what we are clarifying.”
“Is he under arrest?”
“Not currently.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Of course not.
Lies were not always crimes.
Affairs were not crimes.
Cowardice was not a crime.
Even monstrous behavior often required patience before the law caught up.
Alvarez continued.
“However, he agreed to come in with counsel.”
“Agreed?”
“His attorney advised cooperation.”
Nora looked at Daniel.
“Who is his attorney?”
Alvarez gave the name.
Charles Baines.
Daniel’s expression changed.
“You know him?”
“He handles white-collar criminal defense.”
That told Nora exactly what Edgar believed he was facing.
Not divorce.
Criminal exposure.
At noon, Daniel received an emergency court order preserving records from Nora’s fertility clinic.
The clinic’s general counsel attempted to delay.
Daniel did not allow it.
At 12:47, Elaine received bank data from the Perkinson entity.
The $310,000 sent from Finch Consulting had not primarily gone to Heather.
It had paid three people.
Dr. Samuel Voss.
Kristina Finch.
And a company called Sonoran Wildlife Education LLC.
Nora stared at the final name.
Elaine searched.
Sonoran Wildlife Education operated reptile demonstrations for schools and corporate events.
Its owner was a man named Cody Mears.
Nora felt her stomach tighten.
A reptile handler.
Daniel called Alvarez immediately.
Police contacted Cody Mears.
His business address was empty.
His phone disconnected.
His social-media pages had been deleted that morning.
Elaine looked at Nora.
“There’s your snake.”
Potentially.
The money chain was becoming clear.
Nora’s money funded Finch Consulting.
Finch Consulting sent money into a Kristina-controlled Perkinson entity.
That entity paid a fertility doctor.
Kristina.
And a reptile business.
The same ecosystem funded both the stolen embryo and the attempted murder.
Nora whispered.
“She used my own money.”
Elaine nodded.
“That happens more often than people imagine.”
Nora looked at her.
“How can you say that like it’s normal?”
“Because greed is boring.”
Elaine leaned forward.
“The methods change.”
“The motive rarely does.”
Nora looked away.
Money.
Control.
A child.
Replacement.
Kristina had apparently decided Nora’s assets could finance Nora’s destruction.
At 1:15 p.m., police opened Edgar’s metal box under warrant.
Inside were photographs.
Nora expected Heather.
Instead, Alvarez called and asked her to sit down.
Nora already was.
“What did you find?”
“Photographs of you.”
Nora frowned.
“What kind?”
“Surveillance.”
Her skin prickled.
“How many?”
“Dozens.”
“From when?”
“Multiple dates.”
“Where?”
“Phoenix.”
“Scottsdale.”
“Las Vegas.”
“Albuquerque.”
Nora’s breathing slowed.
Those were business destinations.
Someone had followed her across three states.
Alvarez continued.
“Some are dated more than two years ago.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“What else?”
“A notebook.”
“Whose handwriting?”
“Unknown.”
“What does it contain?”
“Your schedule.”
Nora stood.
“What?”
“Travel times.”
“Hotels.”
“Medical appointments.”
“Work events.”
“Several entries marked opportunity.”
Nora felt nauseated.
Daniel took the phone.
“What kind of opportunity?”
Alvarez paused.
“One entry corresponds to the Sedona trip.”
Nora’s heart stopped.
“What does it say?”
Alvarez read carefully.
Sedona — isolated weekend — medication available — E hesitant.
Nora closed her eyes.
E.
Edgar.
Hesitant.
Not innocent.
Not unaware.
Hesitant.
There was another entry.
Alvarez read it.
Nevada Highway 95 — long solo drive — tire method rejected.
Nora gripped the chair.
Someone had considered sabotaging her tires.
Another.
Albuquerque hotel — balcony access poor.
Another.
Phoenix warehouse — forklift possibility too many witnesses.
Nora stopped listening for a moment.
The people around her became distant.
This was not one desperate decision after seeing a life-insurance policy.
This had been considered for years.
The policy might have accelerated the plan.
But the plan existed first.
Daniel asked.
“Anything identifying the writer?”
“Initials.”
“What initials?”
“K.F.”
Nora almost laughed.
Kristina had documented her own thoughts.
But Alvarez added.
“There are also entries in different handwriting.”
Nora felt dread.
“Initials?”
“E.F.”
Edgar.
Nora looked at Daniel.
The last remaining part of her that wanted to believe Edgar was merely weak disappeared.
“Read one.”
Alvarez hesitated.
“Mrs. Preston—”
“Read one.”
There was silence.
Then he did.
Insurance not enough yet.
Wait until policy increase.
Nora felt physically ill.
“When was that written?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
Fourteen months.
The $25 million increase had happened two days earlier.
But Edgar had anticipated it.
Nora whispered.
“He knew my advisor was pushing for an increase.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Nora remembered conversations at dinner.
Edgar asking whether she had finally updated coverage.
Nora thinking he cared about financial planning.
He had been waiting.
Alvarez continued.
“One more entry appears to be his.”
Nora almost told him to stop.
Instead she asked.
“What?”
“Need clean outcome.”
Nora squeezed her eyes shut.
“Anything else?”
“No scandal.”
“No investigation.”
“Natural or accidental.”
Daniel took the phone away.
“That’s enough.”
Nora sat motionless.
She had imagined betrayal as an affair.
Maybe financial theft.
Maybe a husband who no longer loved her.
She had not imagined a notebook where he evaluated acceptable ways for her to die.
Elaine spoke quietly.
“We can use anger later.”
Nora looked at her.
“What do I use now?”
“Discipline.”
Nora swallowed.
Elaine continued.
“They thought you were predictable.”
Nora looked toward the city.
“They studied your routes.”
“Your health.”
“Your schedule.”
“Your emotions.”
“Stop behaving predictably.”
Nora understood.
The woman they planned against was trusting.
Routine-driven.
Work-focused.
Emotionally loyal.
That woman no longer existed.
At 2:03 p.m., Edgar’s lawyer called Daniel.
Edgar wanted to negotiate information.
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Baines spoke formally.
“My client has information relevant to Mrs. Preston’s safety.”
Nora laughed softly.
Daniel ignored her.
“What does he want?”
“Assurances.”
“Against what?”
“Potential prosecution.”
Daniel smiled coldly.
“He should speak to prosecutors.”
“He is willing to provide names.”
Nora stopped.
“Names?”
Baines heard her.
“Mrs. Preston.”
“Who?”
“I cannot discuss specifics until we have a framework.”
Nora leaned toward the phone.
“Your client kept a notebook about ways I could die.”
Silence.
Baines finally said.
“My client disputes the interpretation of those materials.”
Nora laughed.
“Of course he does.”
Daniel ended the call.
“Don’t bargain privately.”
Nora nodded.
Then her phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived from an unknown number.
It showed Heather sitting in the back seat of a car.
She appeared alive.
Ava was in her arms.
Nora’s heart jumped.
Heather looked terrified.
Someone had taken the photo from the front passenger seat.
A message followed.
Stop the investigation.
Another.
Withdraw the complaint against Kristina.
Another.
Tell police the snake entered naturally.
Nora stared.
Daniel immediately contacted Alvarez.
A final message arrived.
Nora almost dropped the phone.
It read:
May you like
Or next time we send you the baby alone.
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