Chapter 7 - EMILY REMEMBERED THE SCENT
Police separated the guests.
Phones were collected from key witnesses.
The gala became a crime scene.
But Victor still wasn’t arrested for Daniel’s death.
There wasn’t enough evidence.
Not yet.
The brooch incident was clear.
The financial records were suspicious.
The cuff link placed something belonging to Victor near the dock.
But none of it proved murder.
Victor knew it.
As detectives escorted him toward a private conference room, he looked at Rachel.
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
Rachel stared back.
“My mistake was trusting you for two years.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“You still don’t understand Daniel.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You think your husband told you everything?”
Rachel’s jaw tightened.
Victor leaned closer.
“He didn’t.”
Grant stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Victor was taken away.
Rachel found Emily sitting with Thomas in a hotel office.
The child was holding her silver charm.
Rachel sat beside her.
“You okay?”
Emily nodded.
Then shook her head.
Rachel pulled her close.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally Emily whispered,
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“I smelled Uncle Victor before.”
Rachel looked down.
“What?”
“The smell on his shirt.”
“His cologne?”
Emily nodded.
“Where?”
Emily stared at the charm in her hand.
“The night Daddy died.”
Rachel went completely still.
“Emily.”
“I woke up.”
Rachel remembered that night.
Emily had been six.
Daniel had kissed her goodbye before driving to the Hamptons.
Rachel had stayed in Manhattan because Emily had a fever.
“What do you remember?”
“Daddy came into my room.”
“Yes.”
“He hugged me.”
“Yes.”
“And Uncle Victor was downstairs.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
That wasn’t possible.
Victor had always claimed he hadn’t seen Daniel that day until the Hamptons meeting later that night.
“What was he doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re sure it was Victor?”
Emily nodded.
“He was angry.”
“Did you see him?”
“From the stairs.”
“What happened?”
“They were talking quietly.”
“About what?”
Emily closed her eyes.
Rachel waited.
Then Emily whispered,
“Daddy said, ‘If you touch her trust, I’ll bury you.’”
Thomas slowly stood.
Rachel felt cold.
“What did Victor say?”
Emily opened her eyes.
“He said…”
She struggled.
“It was something about you.”
“Me?”
Emily nodded.
“He said Daddy should think about what happens to us if something happens to him.”
Rachel couldn’t breathe.
Thomas walked toward the door.
“I’m getting Grant.”
But Emily suddenly grabbed Rachel’s wrist.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“Daddy gave me something.”
Rachel stared at her.
“When?”
“That night.”
“What did he give you?”
Emily held up the silver charm.
“This.”
Rachel looked at it.
The charm from the broken music box.
Emily whispered,
“He told me never to lose it.”
Rachel took the charm carefully.
For eight years she had thought it was decorative.
Now she noticed something she had never seen before.
A tiny seam ran around the silver edge.
Thomas returned with Grant.
Rachel held up the charm.
“Can you open this?”
Grant examined it.
Then looked at Rachel.
“This isn’t a charm.”
He twisted the base.
May you like
The silver casing separated.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
