Chapter 9 - THE MUSIC BOX
Rachel’s apartment had been searched.
The front door was open when they arrived.
Grant immediately drew his weapon and ordered Rachel and Emily back into the hallway.
Two officers entered first.
Nobody was inside.
But someone had torn through the bedrooms.
Drawers lay open.
Documents covered the floor.
Rachel’s mattress had been pulled aside.
Emily stared.
“My room.”
Rachel ran.
The music box was gone.
Emily stood in the doorway.
“No.”
Rachel turned.
Emily rushed toward the empty shelf.
“It was right here.”
Grant examined the window.
“No forced entry.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Then whoever did this had a key.”
Thomas walked into the room.
“Victor?”
“He was at the hotel.”
“Someone working for him.”
Rachel looked around.
Then Emily suddenly crouched beside her bed.
“What are you doing?”
Emily reached underneath.
When she stood, she was holding a small brass key.
“Daddy told me to hide this.”
Rachel stared.
“When?”
“The same night.”
Thomas took the key.
“There’s a number.”
Stamped into the metal were four digits.
Rachel recognized them.
“Grand Central.”
Grant frowned.
“What?”
“Daniel had a safe-deposit locker near Grand Central.”
They drove there with two detectives.
The private vault company was closed, but Grant obtained emergency access through the warrant.
Locker 2714 opened with Emily’s brass key.
Inside was a black envelope.
A flash drive.
A handwritten ledger.
And a photograph.
Rachel picked up the photograph first.
Daniel stood on the Hamptons dock.
The timestamp showed 11:46 p.m.
Victor stood beside him.
But there was someone else.
Claire Morgan.
Rachel stared.
“She was there.”
Thomas leaned closer.
“No.”
“What?”
“That isn’t Claire.”
Rachel looked again.
The woman’s face was partially turned.
Thomas pointed toward her wrist.
“Claire doesn’t wear that bracelet.”
“How would you know?”
“Because I bought it.”
Rachel stared at him.
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
“For her sister.”
“Claire has a sister?”
“Had.”
Rachel’s pulse quickened.
“Who?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Laura Morgan.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died three months after Daniel.”
Grant looked up.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Rachel felt the pattern forming.
“Where did she work?”
Thomas answered quietly.
“Bennett & Cole.”
Rachel turned the photograph over.
Daniel had written four words on the back.
LAURA KNOWS WHERE IT WENT.
Grant looked at Thomas.
“Where did Laura live?”
“Brooklyn.”
Rachel picked up the flash drive.
Grant inserted it into his laptop.
A folder appeared.
ELLISON.
Inside were hundreds of transactions.
Then another folder.
VIDEO.
There was one file.
Timestamped twelve minutes before Daniel died.
Grant clicked it.
The footage showed the Hamptons dock.
Daniel entered frame.
Victor followed.
Then Laura.
There was no sound.
But the argument was obvious.
Victor grabbed Daniel’s jacket.
Daniel pushed him away.
Laura stepped between them.
Then the video abruptly ended.
Rachel stared at the frozen frame.
“Why did it stop?”
Thomas looked at the file information.
“It didn’t.”
He pointed at the screen.
“There’s a second segment.”
Grant opened it.
The image returned.
But Daniel was no longer standing.
Rachel’s face drained of color.
May you like
Victor was kneeling at the edge of the dock.
And Laura Morgan was staring down into the water.
