Chapter 2 - THE LOCKED DRAWER
The ambulance arrived twelve minutes later.
The police arrived in nine.
By then, Bianca was gone.
Julian stood in the front hallway while paramedics checked Martha’s lungs.
“Any chest pain?” one asked.
“No.”
“Dizziness?”
“I’m fine.”
“You swallowed pool water.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Julian crouched beside her.
“Mom.”
She looked at him.
“You’re going to the hospital.”
“I need to tell you something first.”
“It can wait.”
“No.”
Her voice made him stop.
Martha looked toward the police officers near the kitchen.
“Not here.”
Julian lowered his voice.
“What is this about Dad?”
Martha looked away.
“Your office.”
Bianca’s warning returned to him.
Check your office.
Julian stood.
His study was at the far end of the mansion.
The door was open.
He knew immediately something was wrong.
The desk drawers had been pulled out.
Papers covered the floor.
A framed photograph of his father had been smashed.
Julian walked slowly inside.
“No.”
The wall safe stood open.
His stomach dropped.
He crossed the room.
Cash was still inside.
So were two watches.
But one folder was missing.
A blue folder he had not touched in almost a decade.
Martha appeared behind him wrapped in a blanket.
“You kept it.”
Julian turned.
“The accident file?”
She nodded.
Julian stared at the empty shelf.
The file contained records from his father’s death.
Police reports.
Insurance documents.
Photographs.
And one private investigator’s report that Julian had never understood.
“You told me to throw that away years ago.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Martha closed the office door.
“Your father didn’t die because he lost control of the car.”
Julian felt his chest tighten.
The story had always been simple.
Charles Hale had been driving home after a late dinner.
His Mercedes left a mountain road during a storm.
He died instantly.
“What are you saying?”
Martha sat.
“Three days before your father died, he told me someone inside the company was stealing from him.”
Julian frowned.
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“They found nothing.”
Julian stared at her.
“What does Bianca have to do with this?”
Martha hesitated.
“Last month I found her in your office.”
Julian remembered.
Bianca had said she was looking for a charger.
“She was reading the file?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must have some idea.”
Martha looked down.
“I recognized a name.”
“What name?”
“Laurent.”
Julian’s blood turned cold.
Bianca Laurent.
“Her family?”
“Her father.”
Julian shook his head.
“Bianca told me her father died when she was a teenager.”
“He did.”
Martha looked directly at him.
“But before that, Victor Laurent worked for your father.”
Julian’s mouth went dry.
“What?”
“He was an accountant at Hale Industries.”
“Why have I never heard this?”
“Because after your father died, Victor disappeared.”
Julian stared.
“Disappeared?”
“For almost a year.”
“And then?”
“He was found dead in Florida.”
Julian walked toward the window.
“That could be a coincidence.”
“I thought so too.”
“Until?”
“Until Bianca started asking questions about your father.”
Julian turned.
“What questions?”
“She wanted to know what he owned personally.”
“Financial questions?”
“Property. Trusts. Insurance.”
Martha tightened the blanket around herself.
“She asked whether your father had left anything outside the estate.”
Julian remembered conversations now.
Bianca laughing over dinner.
Asking about old properties.
Family trusts.
Whether Charles Hale had owned anything overseas.
He had thought it was curiosity.
“What was my father investigating?”
Martha looked toward the open safe.
“I don’t know.”
Then Julian saw something beneath the desk.
A small black object.
He picked it up.
A flash drive.
Martha frowned.
“That isn’t yours?”
“No.”
Julian plugged it into his laptop.
There was only one file.
An audio recording.
Date stamped four days earlier.
Julian pressed play.
At first, there was static.
Then Bianca’s voice.
“We need to move before the wedding.”
A man answered.
“You’re getting impatient.”
Julian didn’t recognize him.
Bianca whispered:
“Martha found the original file.”
The man cursed.
“You said it was destroyed.”
“I thought it was.”
“And Julian?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Keep it that way.”
Bianca laughed.
“He’ll sign everything once we’re married.”
“What if the old woman talks?”
A pause.
Then Bianca answered.
“She won’t be a problem much longer.”
Martha covered her mouth.
Julian stared at the laptop.
Then the unknown man said something worse.
“Your father made the same mistake with Charles Hale.”
The recording ended.
Julian felt as if the room had tilted.
Martha whispered:
“Victor Laurent killed your father.”
Julian didn’t answer.
Because suddenly his phone buzzed.
A text message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
There was a photograph attached.
Bianca standing beside a black SUV.
Underneath were six words.
DON’T INVOLVE THE POLICE AGAIN.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
WE STILL HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT.
