Chapter 3
I knelt in front of Lily.
“What goodbye letters?”
Her lower lip trembled.
“I heard Daddy talking in the garage.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Who was he talking to?”
“I don’t know. He had the little phone you’re not allowed to see.”
The burner phone.
“What did he say?”
Lily looked toward my father.
“He said Mommy would be gone by Friday. Then he said everyone would believe she left us.”
My father closed his eyes.
Detective Bennett took the red key carefully.
“Did your father see you listening?”
“No. I was behind the boxes.”
“Where did you find the key?”
“In his coat pocket. I took it because I thought he was locking Mommy somewhere.”
I hugged her.
“You were very brave, but you must never investigate something dangerous by yourself.”
“I wanted to help you.”
“You already helped me by calling Grandpa.”
The detective photographed the key.
A small number was stamped into the metal.
B-417.
“It could belong to a storage facility,” she said.
My father’s phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway to answer.
When he returned, his face was grim.
“Ryan has been released.”
“What?”
“His attorney arranged an emergency bond hearing.”
Detective Bennett frowned.
“That was fast.”
“His attorney is Victor Hale.”
My stomach tightened.
Victor was my father’s oldest business partner.
He had been at every family Christmas I could remember.
He had toasted Ryan at our wedding.
“Why would Victor represent him?”
“He wouldn’t,” my father said. “Not unless he was involved.”
The detective looked at him.
“Involved in the missing funds?”
“Victor’s signature was required for two of the transfers.”
“Then why wasn’t he already under investigation?”
My father glanced at me.
“Because I didn’t tell the police.”
I stared at him.
“You hid that too?”
“I was gathering evidence.”
“You were protecting your company.”
“I was trying to prevent a panic that could destroy thousands of jobs.”
“And while you protected your stock price, Ryan planned my death.”
My father flinched.
“You’re right.”
“Stop saying that as if it fixes anything.”
He said nothing.
Lily returned to my side.
I lowered my voice.
“We are not going home tonight.”
Marcus arranged secure rooms at a hotel owned by one of my father’s companies.
Detective Bennett assigned officers to watch the hallway.
Before we left the hospital, I gave a formal statement.
Photographs were taken of my injuries.
I hated every flash.
But I wanted a record Ryan could not erase.
At the hotel, Lily fell asleep beside me with her hand wrapped around my finger.
My father waited in the living room of the suite.
I joined him after midnight.
“Tell me what Ryan knows about you.”
My father poured water into a glass.
He didn’t drink it.
“Twenty-three years ago, Victor and I bought a failing manufacturing company.”
“What does that have to do with Ryan?”
“Victor arranged the financing. Some of the paperwork was false.”
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
“But you found out.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I signed new documents to keep the company alive.”
“Illegal documents?”
He nodded.
“We repaid every dollar. No investor lost money. The company survived and now employs four thousand people.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
“You committed fraud.”
“I did.”
I walked toward the window.
All my life, Charles Whitmore had been presented as a man whose word meant more than any contract.
I had built my idea of honesty around him.
Now both men I had trusted most had admitted to deception.
“Does Ryan have proof?”
“Victor kept copies.”
“And now Victor is helping him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Ryan and Vanessa discovered the old records. They used them to pressure Victor into approving the transfers.”
“You could have gone to the authorities.”
“I would have lost the company.”
“You may lose it anyway.”
“I know.”
I turned toward him.
“Ryan said I would be gone by Friday. Today is Thursday.”
My father’s face hardened.
“We’ll find the storage unit.”
Detective Bennett called before sunrise.
The key belonged to a storage facility thirty minutes from our house.
Unit B-417 was rented under my maiden name.
Police obtained a warrant.
Inside, they found two suitcases.
One contained my clothes.
The second held cash, a passport, and bottles of anxiety medication prescribed to me.
“I don’t take anxiety medication,” I said.
“The prescription was filled three months ago,” the detective replied.
“By whom?”
“A psychiatrist named Dr. Edward Kane.”
“I’ve never met him.”
There were also printed emails supposedly written by me.
In them, I complained about motherhood.
I said I hated Chicago.
I said I wanted to disappear.
One message described a secret relationship with a man in California.
The final draft was addressed to Ryan.
I’m sorry. I can’t be a wife or mother anymore. Don’t look for me.
Lily’s goodbye letters.
My knees weakened.
“They planned to kill me and make it look like I ran away.”
Detective Bennett did not disagree.
A train ticket to California had been purchased for Friday morning.
Security footage showed Vanessa entering the storage facility twice.
Police went to her apartment.
It was empty.
Her closet had been cleared.
Her car was found at O’Hare Airport.
There was no record of her boarding a flight.
Ryan had disappeared too.
His court-ordered tracking device had been cut off and left in a restaurant bathroom.
My father’s investigators began searching every property connected to Victor.
At nine that morning, Diane arrived at the hotel.
She demanded to see Lily.
Security refused to let her upstairs.
Then she called me.
“You’re keeping my granddaughter from me.”
“Your son tried to kill me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Police found a storage unit filled with fake evidence.”
“Evidence your father probably planted.”
I almost ended the call.
Then Diane said, “Ryan told me what Charles did.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That your father stole his company and ruined Ryan’s father.”
I frowned.
“Ryan’s father died before I met him.”
“That doesn’t mean your family had nothing to do with it.”
“Explain.”
“Ryan’s father was an accountant for Whitmore Industries. He discovered the fraud twenty-three years ago.”
My heart stopped.
“What was his name?”
“Thomas Carter.”
I had heard that name.
When I was a child, my father had received a late-night phone call.
The next morning, a company accountant was found dead in his garage.
The death had been ruled a suicide.
My father never spoke about it.
Diane continued.
“Thomas left proof. Charles took it from me and threatened to destroy my family if I talked.”
“Why did Ryan marry me?”
There was a long silence.
My stomach turned.
“Diane?”
“He wanted justice.”
“Did he ever love me?”
“He didn’t expect to.”
The words cut deeper than the bruises on my face.
I ended the call.
My father entered the room moments later.
He saw my expression.
“What happened?”
“Did you know Ryan was Thomas Carter’s son?”
His face answered before his mouth did.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me marry him.”
“I didn’t learn the truth until after the engagement.”
“You said nothing.”
“Ryan told me he wanted no part of his mother’s accusations.”
“Did Thomas kill himself?”
My father looked toward Lily’s bedroom door.
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t good enough.”
“Thomas called me the night he died. He said he had copied the old financial records. He demanded five million dollars.”
“Did you pay him?”
“No.”
“What happened next?”
“Victor went to speak with him.”
“And Thomas died.”
“Yes.”
“Did Victor kill him?”
“I’ve asked myself that for twenty-three years.”
“You still kept Victor beside you.”
“I had no proof.”
“You had fear, and fear was enough to keep you silent.”
My father’s phone vibrated.
Marcus had found a possible location for Ryan.
Victor owned a hunting lodge near Lake Geneva.
One of Victor’s company vehicles had entered the property before dawn.
Police were heading there.
Then my phone received a video call.
It came from Ryan.
I answered.
His face filled the screen.
He was sitting in a dim room.
Vanessa stood behind him.
“Where are you?” I demanded.
Ryan smiled.
“Did you find your letters?”
“You’re going to prison.”
“So is your father.”
“What do you want?”
“Bring me the red key.”
“The police have it.”
His smile vanished.
“Then get it back.”
“What does it open?”
“Not just the storage unit.”
A cry sounded in the background.
It was soft, but I recognized the voice.
“Grandma?”
Lily appeared behind me.
Ryan heard her.
His face changed.
He looked almost disappointed.
Then I understood.
The cry on the phone had not come from Lily.
May you like
It came from Diane.
Ryan had taken his own mother.
