Chapter 5
Ryan was taken to the station before dawn.
Not arrested for my mother’s death.
Not yet.
But police had enough questions to keep him busy.
Diane left separately.
Thomas drove me to the hospital.
The burn on my hand was painful but not serious.
A nurse wrapped it carefully.
“You’re lucky,” she said.
Lucky.
I almost laughed.
By six in the morning, Christmas was over.
So was my marriage.
Thomas waited outside the treatment room.
When I stepped into the hallway, he stood.
“I booked a hotel suite for you.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“It’s not about money.”
“Everything in your family is about money.”
He flinched.
I regretted the words for half a second.
Then I remembered the insurance policy.
The affair.
The gambling.
My mother.
“No,” Thomas said quietly. “You’re right.”
I crossed my arms.
“What happens now?”
“I’m giving everything to police.”
“Everything?”
He hesitated.
There it was again.
Another secret.
“Thomas.”
He rubbed his face.
“Ryan has access to a family trust.”
“How much?”
“About three million dollars.”
My stomach dropped.
“You said he was stealing.”
“He couldn’t withdraw directly from the trust, so he moved money through business accounts.”
“Why?”
“I assumed he was trying to cover gambling debts.”
“Assumed?”
“There may be another reason.”
He handed me his phone.
A message from his investigator had arrived thirty minutes earlier.
FOUND CONNECTION BETWEEN LAUREN MITCHELL AND DIANE HAYES. CALL ASAP.
I looked up.
“Lauren knows Diane?”
“Apparently.”
We called Daniel from the hospital parking lot.
He answered immediately.
“Lauren isn’t just Ryan’s girlfriend,” he said.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What is she?”
“She worked for Diane twelve years ago.”
Thomas frowned.
“Doing what?”
“Personal assistant.”
Thomas went silent.
I stared at him.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Daniel continued.
“Lauren left after eight months. But according to payroll records, Diane continued sending her money for years.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m still tracing it.”
Thomas paced beside the car.
“How much?”
“Roughly two hundred thousand dollars.”
I felt sick.
“Ryan’s affair started two years ago.”
“That’s what it looks like,” Daniel said. “But Lauren’s connection to this family is much older.”
“What does that mean?”
“I found a photograph from a charity event eleven years ago. Diane, Lauren, and Ryan are all in it.”
Thomas stopped walking.
“Ryan told me he met Lauren at a conference two years ago.”
“He lied.”
Of course he did.
I was beginning to realize that lying was not something Ryan did.
It was the foundation of his life.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“There’s another problem.”
“What?”
“Someone accessed the storage facility where I keep backup documents.”
Thomas stiffened.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Was anything stolen?”
“Yes.”
My heart started pounding.
“What?”
“The file on Emily’s mother.”
I looked around the parking lot as if Ryan might be standing there.
“But you have copies.”
“Some.”
“What’s missing?”
Daniel hesitated.
“A photograph.”
“Of what?”
“A traffic camera image taken near the crash site.”
My mouth went dry.
“Who was in it?”
“I couldn’t identify the driver.”
“But?”
“It showed another car behind Emily’s mother about three minutes before the crash.”
Thomas asked, “What kind?”
“A black SUV.”
Ryan drove a black SUV three years ago.
I remembered because he sold it two weeks after my mother’s funeral.
He said it reminded him of her accident.
My stomach twisted.
“Do you know the plate?”
“Partial plate only.”
“Does it match Ryan’s?”
Daniel was silent.
Then he said, “Yes.”
Before anyone could speak, Thomas’s phone beeped.
A text message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
May you like
There was only one sentence.
STOP DIGGING OR EMILY FINISHES WHAT HER MOTHER STARTED.
