Chapter 8 - The Tape
The next morning, police digitized the VHS tape.
Grant wouldn’t let us see it immediately.
“Evidence first,” he said.
By noon, he changed his mind about one part.
There was a recorded conversation between Jackson and Daniel.
October 14.
Five years earlier.
Jackson sat beside me when Grant played the audio.
Daniel’s voice came first.
“You’re marrying Emily, so you deserve to know what your mother did.”
Jackson sounded younger.
Angry.
“You don’t know my mother.”
“I know she logged into Dr. Mercer’s system six times after midnight.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves he wasn’t there.”
“You’re obsessed with Emily.”
“I loved her. That doesn’t mean I’m lying.”
The recording crackled.
Then Daniel said something that made my skin turn cold.
“I sent copies to Natalie. If Lorraine comes after me, the truth still exists.”
Jackson’s recorded voice answered.
“Why would my mother come after you?”
“Because I confronted her yesterday.”
The tape went silent for three seconds.
Then Daniel whispered:
“She offered me fifty thousand dollars to disappear.”
The recording ended.
I stared straight ahead.
Jackson looked sick.
“You knew.”
“I knew he accused her.”
“You knew enough.”
“I confronted Mom afterward.”
“And?”
“She cried. Said Daniel was stalking her.”
“And you believed her.”
“I wanted to.”
That answer hurt because it was true.
Jackson had spent his whole life wanting to believe Lorraine.
Even when believing her required distrusting everyone else.
Grant stopped the recording.
“There’s more.”
A second file had been copied onto the VHS.
Security footage.
Grainy.
Nighttime.
A parking garage.
The date stamp showed the night before Daniel died.
Daniel walked toward his car.
A woman approached.
Lorraine.
Even with the bad image, I recognized her.
They argued.
No audio.
Daniel tried to leave.
Lorraine grabbed his arm.
He pulled away.
She pointed at him.
Then a second person entered the frame.
Cassandra.
Younger, but unmistakable.
Cassandra handed Lorraine something.
A small envelope.
Daniel took it.
Looked inside.
Then laughed.
He threw it on the ground.
Lorraine slapped him.
Daniel walked away.
Grant paused the video.
“This doesn’t prove involvement in his death.”
“But it proves she lied,” I said.
“Yes.”
“What happened to Daniel’s car?”
“According to the original report, brake failure.”
My stomach twisted.
“Mechanical?”
“That was the conclusion.”
“Could someone cause it?”
Grant gave me a careful look.
“We’re reopening the file.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Emily?”
Natalie.
I jumped up.
“Oh my God. Where are you?”
“I’m okay.”
“Police are looking for you.”
“I can’t go to them yet.”
“Why?”
“Because Cassandra has someone inside the department.”
Grant heard that.
His expression hardened.
Natalie rushed on.
“Daniel left one more thing. Not in the storage unit.”
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
“Where?”
“At your house.”
I froze.
“My house?”
“He hid it before he died.”
“Where?”
Natalie whispered two words.
May you like
“Mia’s room.”
Then downstairs in our hospital hallway, a fire alarm suddenly began screaming.
