Chương 7
Richard’s brow tightened.
“Was he part of the trip?”
“We don’t know.”
“Any sign of his phone?”
“Not yet.”
“Cause of death?”
“Preliminary appearance suggests a fall, but we are not making assumptions.”
I shifted Eli carefully.
“What about Preston?”
“Still missing.”
“Vanessa?”
“Also missing.”
Evelyn sat down slowly.
Ortiz turned to me.
“There’s something else.”
I almost told her to leave and come back when the universe had developed better manners.
Instead, I waited.
“We pulled traffic-camera footage from the highway leading to Ravenstone.”
“What did it show?”
“Your SUV went up at 9:12 this morning.”
“I know.”
“Another vehicle followed eleven minutes later.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
That explained how he reached the mountain.
It explained nothing else.
Ortiz continued.
“Then at 1:46 p.m., your SUV came back down.”
My throat tightened.
“Preston and Vanessa?”
“We can’t see the occupants clearly.”
“So maybe.”
“Maybe.”
“And Daniel’s car stayed there.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Richard.
“If Daniel followed them, he might have seen what happened.”
Ortiz nodded.
“That’s one possibility.”
“And then someone killed him.”
“That is also one possibility.”
I hated the careful language.
It was responsible and therefore unsatisfying.
My phone was evidence, but I remembered something.
“Preston received a text before he pushed me.”
Ortiz looked up.
“What text?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“Maybe five minutes before.”
“What happened after he read it?”
“He got angry.”
“With you?”
“No.”
The memory returned in pieces.
Preston turning away from me.
His thumb moving quickly over the screen.
Vanessa asking what was wrong.
Preston telling her to shut up.
Then he shoved his phone into his pocket and told me we should walk closer to the overlook.
I had assumed his anger came from work.
I had been annoyed because he promised not to take calls that weekend.
“What did Vanessa do?”
“She looked scared.”
Ortiz wrote something.
“Scared of him?”
“I thought so.”
“And now?”
I looked down at Eli.
“Maybe scared of whoever texted him.”
Richard’s phone rang again.
He answered.
His face changed almost immediately.
“Yes,” he said.
Then he listened.
“No, do not approve anything.”
Ortiz watched him.
Richard turned away from us.
“I don’t care who authorized the request.”
Another pause.
“Freeze the entire claim file.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
His eyes met mine.
“Someone just attempted to change the payout instructions on your policy.”
My chest tightened.
“To what?”
“A trust account.”
“Whose trust?”
Richard said nothing for a second.
Then he looked at Ortiz.
“The account is registered to Daniel Mercer.”
Ortiz held out her hand before Richard had even finished speaking.
“Give me the name of the trust.”
Richard unlocked his phone.
“The Mercer Family Education Trust.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Education?”
Ortiz took the phone and copied the information into her notebook.
“Who controls it?”
Richard shook his head.
“We don’t know yet.”
“You said the account is registered to Daniel.”
“The bank profile is.”
“Can a dead man change insurance instructions?”
“No.”
I looked at Richard.
“Then whoever did it doesn’t know he’s dead.”
That silenced the room.
Ortiz stopped writing.
“Or they know and are trying to make it look like he acted before he died.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“Either way, the timing matters.”
Eli released a small sigh against me, completely uninterested in criminal strategy.
I touched the back of his head.
His hair was softer than anything had a right to be after a day like this.
Ortiz looked toward the bassinet, then back at Richard.
“When was the request submitted?”
“Seven minutes ago.”
“From where?”
“Our security team is tracing it.”
“Can they preserve everything?”
“They already are.”
She handed his phone back.
“Do not let anyone inside your company contact the sender.”
“I know.”
“People with expensive lawyers often believe they know things.”
Richard’s expression went flat.
“I am an expensive lawyer.”
Ortiz blinked.
Then, despite herself, she smiled.
“Wonderful.”
The room relaxed for approximately three seconds.
Then someone pounded on the door.
Not knocked.
Pounded.
Evelyn flinched.
Richard moved first.
Ortiz reached under her jacket.
“Who is it?”
A man shouted from the hallway.
“Police.”
Ortiz did not open the door.
“Name.”
“Officer Kane.”
She looked through the narrow glass panel.
Then she unlocked it.
A uniformed officer entered carrying a sealed evidence pouch.
Snow had melted dark patches across his shoulders.
“We found a phone near the lower turnout.”
Ortiz took the bag.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know.”
He turned it toward her.
The screen was shattered but still faintly lit.
I saw the case.
Brown leather.
A tiny scratch beside the camera.
My stomach dropped.
“That’s Preston’s.”
Everyone looked at me.
“You’re sure?” Ortiz asked.
“I bought him that case.”
“Could he have replaced it?”
“No.”
I pointed.
“That scratch happened when he dropped it in our driveway.”
Ortiz examined the bag.
“Where exactly was it found?”
“Drainage ditch beside the highway.”
“Near Daniel’s car?”
“About two miles from it.”
“Any blood?”
“Not visible.”
She nodded.
“Get it to digital.”
The officer left.
Evelyn whispered, “What does that mean?”
“It means his phone was thrown away or dropped.”
“By who?”
Ortiz looked at her.
“If I knew that, Mrs. Vale, I’d be having a much easier evening.”
My body had begun to shake again.
Not from cold this time.
Preston’s phone in a ditch.
Daniel dead.
Vanessa somewhere in the hospital or somewhere close enough to know I was alive.
A trust account being inserted into my insurance claim by an unknown person.
Nothing lined up.
That frightened me more than the parts that did.
I looked at Ortiz.
“What if Vanessa didn’t come here to hurt me?”
Richard turned.
“What?”
“She warned Evelyn.”
“She also stood there while Preston pushed you.”
“I know.”
The words tasted bitter.
“I’m not forgiving her.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“She could have stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“She could have called 911.”
“Yes.”
“She left me there.”
Richard did not soften his voice.
“Yes.”
May you like
I hated him for agreeing.
Then I hated myself for wanting him to tell me something easier.
