Chapter 6 - The Woman Rebecca Claimed Not to Know
I took a photograph of the framed picture.
Then I sent it to Laura’s former business partner, Susan Parker.
Susan called me less than a minute later.
“Where did you get that?”
“At Dr. Jonathan Mallory’s office.”
There was silence.
“Michael, why are you there?”
“Because someone forged a psychological evaluation for Emily.”
Susan stopped breathing for a moment.
Then she whispered a name.
“Rebecca.”
I leaned against the wall.
“You knew her.”
Susan didn’t answer.
“You knew Rebecca knew Laura.”
“Yes.”
The word felt like another betrayal.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Laura made me promise.”
“Laura is dead.”
“I know.”
Her voice cracked.
“She was afraid.”
“Of Rebecca?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then who?”
Susan took a long breath.
“Victor Hale.”
I looked at Andrew.
He could hear Susan through the speaker.
“Victor handled contracts for Laura’s company before she fired him.”
“Why did she fire him?”
“She believed money was disappearing.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
Susan explained that Laura had discovered irregular transfers from one of the company’s research subsidiaries.
Victor had approved several legal structures connected to the accounts.
Rebecca had worked for the charitable foundation that processed some of the payments.
Dr. Mallory sat on its advisory board.
The three of them had known one another for years.
“Did Laura prove anything?”
“Not before the accident.”
The word accident suddenly sounded different.
I hated myself for thinking it.
Laura had died when another vehicle forced her off a rain-soaked road.
Police determined the other driver was never identified.
There had been no evidence of foul play.
At least that was what I had been told.
“Why didn’t you tell me this after she died?”
“Because Victor threatened a lawsuit.”
“I wouldn’t have cared.”
“It wasn’t you he threatened.”
Susan began crying.
“He said he would drag Laura’s reputation through the press.”
She paused.
“And he mentioned Emily.”
I closed my eyes.
“How?”
“He told me children suffer when adults refuse to leave old problems buried.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“That was a threat.”
“I know.”
“And you stayed quiet.”
“I was scared.”
“So was my wife.”
Susan began apologizing.
I ended the call before my anger made me say something unforgivable.
Andrew stared at the photograph.
“This changes everything.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“It explains everything.”
Rebecca hadn’t entered my life by accident.
I remembered where we met.
A charity auction fourteen months after Laura died.
Rebecca had spilled champagne near my table.
She had apologized.
We talked for twenty minutes.
She said she had recently moved back to the city.
She said she had never been married.
She said she knew almost nobody there.
Every part of it might have been manufactured.
My phone rang again.
This time it was one of the detectives at the house.
“We found something in Ms. Whitmore’s closet.”
“What?”
“A locked metal box.”
“Open it.”
“We did.”
The detective paused.
“There are photographs inside.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
My stomach tightened.
“You and your daughter.”
“How old?”
“Some are recent.”
He hesitated.
“Some appear to have been taken several years ago.”
I looked at the photograph of Rebecca beside Laura.
“How many years?”
“At least four.”
Four years.
May you like
Rebecca and I had met two years ago.
She had been watching us long before I knew her name.
