Chapter 7 - UNIT 317
Detective Bell obtained a warrant for the storage unit.
Eleanor warned me not to go near it.
I stayed in the hotel with Lily while police entered the facility.
Unit 317 contained twelve metal filing cabinets, two computers, dozens of boxes, and a wall covered with photographs.
Diane had kept records for more than twenty years.
Some files documented gifts and loans.
Others contained medical information, private messages, photographs, and recordings.
She used secrets as currency.
One folder bore Jason’s name.
It included reports from a private investigator who had followed him during college.
Another contained photographs of Brooke meeting a married man.
Diane did not trust her children.
She managed them.
My folder was nearly four inches thick.
It began six months before Jason and I married.
Diane had investigated my employment, family, finances, former relationships, and grandmother’s estate.
She knew the amount of my inheritance before Jason proposed.
That revelation destroyed the last illusion I had preserved.
Jason had always claimed he fell in love with my kindness.
Diane’s files suggested she approved of me because I had money and limited family influence in Chicago.
The police also found copies of my private medical records.
Someone at my former clinic had provided them illegally.
There were notes about my pregnancy.
There were photographs of me leaving therapy appointments after Lily’s birth.
There was even a report describing me as emotionally vulnerable and easy to isolate.
When Eleanor showed me the scanned documents, I became physically sick.
“They planned this before the wedding.”
“We do not yet know what Jason knew,” she said.
“He benefited from it.”
“Yes.”
“That’s enough.”
Another box contained contracts signed by Raymond Cole.
The payments described his work as reputation management.
The handwritten instructions told a different story.
Follow her.
Photograph her.
Enter the apartment.
Recover devices.
Pressure witnesses.
One note had been written the morning after Diane’s birthday party.
Retrieve Emily’s evidence before court.
The initials beneath it were D.B.
Diane was arrested that afternoon for violating the protection order, conspiracy related to the break-in, and suspected financial crimes.
Television cameras surrounded the courthouse.
She stepped from the police vehicle wearing dark glasses and an expensive beige coat.
She shouted that she was the victim of an unstable daughter-in-law.
Brooke repeated the same claim online.
Jason remained silent.
That evening, he sent me an email.
I was told your inheritance would secure our future.
I did not know Mom investigated you before we met.
I wanted to tell you about the money.
I kept waiting for the right time.
I read the message three times.
Then I forwarded it to Eleanor.
Her response came immediately.
Do not answer.
He just admitted he knew about the money.
Before I could close my laptop, another email arrived.
It contained no message.
Only an attachment.
The attachment was an audio recording.
Jason’s voice played through the speakers.
“If Emily leaves, we take Lily before she reaches a lawyer.”
Diane replied.
“And if she fights?”
May you like
Jason’s answer was barely audible.
“Then we make sure the court thinks she’s unstable.”
