Chapter 4 - SOMEONE WAS STILL WATCHING
I called 911.
Then Rachel.
Then I locked Ethan and myself in the bathroom until police arrived.
The photograph changed the investigation overnight.
Someone had access to the prison.
Someone knew the execution schedule.
Someone knew where Ethan was sleeping.
And Victor was already in custody.
Which meant Victor had help.
Police found no usable fingerprints.
The camera outside my apartment had been disabled eleven minutes before the intruder entered.
Rachel stared at the photograph.
“This wasn’t intimidation.”
“What was it?”
“A demonstration.”
She looked at Ethan.
“They wanted you to know they can reach him.”
I felt rage replacing fear.
“Then find them.”
“We’re trying.”
“That’s what everyone said six years ago.”
Rachel didn’t defend herself.
Instead, she asked me for every letter Mom had sent.
I had kept all 214.
We spent the morning reading them.
Most were exactly as I remembered.
Love.
Apologies.
Claims of innocence.
Then Rachel noticed something.
“Why does she capitalize random words?”
I looked.
She was right.
Home.
Red.
Ledger.
Daniel.
Locker.
First letters.
Rachel arranged them by date.
Mom had been hiding messages.
She had assumed prison mail was being monitored.
One sequence read:
CHECK DANIEL’S LOCKER.
Dad had rented a private storage locker.
I had never known.
Rachel found the facility.
The account was still active because automatic payments had continued from an old trust.
We obtained access that afternoon.
Inside were old tax records.
Family photographs.
Business contracts.
And a small black safe.
Rachel opened it under warrant.
Inside was a flash drive.
A handwritten ledger.
And a sealed envelope addressed to me.
SOPHIE.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Dad’s handwriting.
If you’re reading this, something happened before I could fix it.
I stopped.
Rachel looked at me.
“Keep going.”
Victor has been moving company money through shell vendors.
I confronted him.
He says he can explain.
I don’t believe him.
Detective Alan Mercer may be involved.
My mouth went dry.
There was more.
If anything happens to me, do not trust Victor.
Do not trust Mercer.
And most importantly, find out who owns Bellweather Holdings.
Rachel immediately searched the company.
Bellweather Holdings owned warehouses across three states.
It had received millions from Hayes Medical.
But its ownership was hidden behind layers of corporations.
Then Rachel plugged in the flash drive.
There was one audio file.
Dad’s voice filled the storage unit.
“Victor, the money goes back tomorrow.”
Then Victor.
“You report this and we both lose everything.”
“I’m not the one who stole it.”
“You think Caroline stays with you after the company collapses?”
Dad laughed bitterly.
“This has nothing to do with Caroline.”
“It has everything to do with her.”
Silence.
Then Victor said something that made my skin crawl.
“She should have chosen me.”
I looked at Rachel.
“What?”
The recording continued.
Dad sounded stunned.
“You’re still obsessed with my wife?”
Then a third voice spoke.
Mercer.
“Gentlemen, we need to calm down.”
The recording ended.
We had them.
Or so I thought.
Then every light in the storage facility went out.
Rachel reached for her weapon.
“Sophie, behind me.”
May you like
Smoke began pouring beneath the door.
Someone had set the building on fire.
