Chapter 4 - THE ORIGINAL LIE
June led me through the diner kitchen while the officers argued with their dispatcher.
A cook opened the back door.
A blue pickup waited in the alley.
“Get in,” June said.
“You lied to the police for me.”
“I’ve waited seventeen years to hear Elena’s voice again.”
We drove east as dawn broke over the highway.
June told me Elena had worked at my father’s first warehouse when she was sixteen. One night, she found Reagan and a shipping contractor relabeling stolen building materials.
Elena threatened to tell Camden.
The warehouse burned before sunrise.
A body was found near Elena’s locker. The remains were too badly damaged for a visual identification, but her necklace was recovered beside them.
Everyone assumed Elena had died.
“She escaped through a loading bay,” June said. “Camden found her hiding near the river.”
“Why didn’t they go to the police?”
“Because Reagan’s contractor was a man named Victor Hale. His brother was a detective. They changed the fire report and threatened our family.”
“Whose body was found?”
“No one knew.”
We reached an abandoned church surrounded by dead grass.
Elena waited inside.
She was in her thirties, with tired eyes and a scar running from her left ear to her collarbone.
“You look like Camden,” she said.
“Is he alive?”
She glanced at June.
“He was three months ago.”
Relief hit me so hard it hurt.
“Where?”
“I moved him after Reagan’s men found his cabin. During the move, he collapsed. He needed surgery, and the hospital demanded identification. We couldn’t risk using his real name.”
“Take me to him.”
“I will. But first, you need to understand why Reagan framed you.”
Elena connected the flash drive to an old laptop.
It contained financial records showing that Reagan and Carter had stolen almost twelve million dollars from Dennis Architectural Supply over nine years.
When my father began reviewing the accounts, they needed someone else to take the blame.
They chose me because I controlled the company’s payment system.
“Miles Voss created fake logins,” Elena said. “Carter used your access card. Reagan convinced Camden that you had a drug problem and were hiding debt.”
“I never touched drugs.”
“She planted pills in your apartment. Your father found them.”
I remembered his face at the trial.
Not angry.
Broken.
“He believed her.”
“At first.”
The church door creaked.
A man stepped inside holding a shotgun.
Victor Hale was older than in the photographs, but the burn scar across his hand made him easy to recognize.
Elena went still.
“You shouldn’t have called him,” Victor said.
“I didn’t.”
He smiled at me.
“Your father always said you were smart. Let’s see if you’re smart enough to put that drive on the floor.”
I slowly lowered my hand.
June moved beside me.
Victor aimed the shotgun at her chest.
Then Elena said, “Tell Finnley whose body was in the warehouse.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
June stared at her sister.
May you like
Elena’s voice shook.
“The body belonged to Reagan’s first husband.”
