Chapter 11 - The Missing Phone
Michael disappeared for almost eighteen hours.
His attorney claimed he needed space.
Police considered him a person of interest in the suspected financial fraud but had not charged him.
Vanessa hired her own attorney.
Patricia stopped answering calls.
The Bennett family was collapsing behind closed doors.
Then my doorbell rang.
A woman stood outside.
Mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
She held the hand of a little boy.
I knew immediately who she was.
“Rebecca?”
She nodded.
The little boy looked up at me.
He had Michael’s eyes.
“Can we come inside?”
Every instinct told me to shut the door.
Instead I looked at the child.
“Come in.”
Rebecca sat at my kitchen table.
Ethan colored quietly beside her.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Finally she whispered.
“I didn’t know about you at first.”
I stared at her.
“How long?”
“I met Michael seven years ago.”
“When did you learn he was married?”
“About a year later.”
“And you stayed.”
Shame crossed her face.
“Yes.”
I could have screamed.
But screaming would not change anything.
“Why are you here?”
Rebecca reached into her bag.
“Because Michael called me last night.”
My body tensed.
“What did he say?”
“He told me to leave Denver.”
“With Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said everything had gone wrong.”
She started crying.
“He said people were going to blame him.”
“People should blame him.”
“I know.”
Rebecca wiped her face.
“He also said something about a phone.”
“What phone?”
“He told me if Vanessa found it, he was finished.”
My attention sharpened.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca opened her purse again.
“He mailed me this key two weeks ago.”
A small brass key lay in her palm.
A number was engraved on it.
Daniel immediately recognized it as a storage locker key.
The rental company was traced within an hour.
A facility near Michael’s office.
Locker 417 had been rented under another shell company.
Police obtained access that evening after the financial crimes detective became involved.
Inside were boxes of records.
Cash.
Passports.
A laptop.
And one black phone.
The device required a code.
Rebecca knew it.
Ethan’s birthday.
The phone contained hundreds of encrypted messages between Michael and Vanessa.
Most concerned money.
Some concerned custody.
One message stopped everyone.
Vanessa.
If Claire refuses to sign at dinner, provoke her.
Michael.
Not in front of the kids.
Vanessa.
The kids are the point.
Michael.
I said scare her, not hurt her.
Vanessa.
Then make sure she gives us something the judge can use.
I kept scrolling.
The final message had been sent three hours before our anniversary dinner.
Vanessa wrote.
And if she still doesn’t break?
Michael replied.
Then we use Plan B.
Nobody in the room knew what Plan B meant.
Until police found another photograph stored on the phone.
May you like
It showed my car.
And beneath the driver’s seat was a small plastic bag filled with pills.
