Chapter 7 - HIS OWN VOICEI had heard Julian lie so many times that his truthful voice shocked me.
“Mara?”
“Where were you the night my father died?”
Silence.
That was all I needed.
I closed my eyes.
“You were there.”
“Mara—”
“Were you in his house?”
“Yes.”
Samuel turned toward me.
Detective Alvarez stopped walking Rebecca toward the elevator.
I put the call on speaker.
“Why?”
Eleanor's voice lowered.
“Because Harrison asked me to come.”
Rebecca smiled from the doorway.
I hated that smile.
“What happened?”
“I won't discuss this over the phone.”
“You will if you expect me not to call the detective standing six feet away.”
Alvarez lifted an eyebrow.
Eleanor exhaled.
“Harrison called at eleven thirty-seven that evening. He sounded weak. He asked me to bring documents concerning Julian.”
“What documents?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Julian had started moving small amounts from investment accounts. Harrison noticed.”
My chest tightened.
“You knew before Dad died?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't tell me.”
“Harrison wouldn't allow it.”
“Why?”
“Because you were trying to get pregnant.”
The answer hit me strangely.
Dad had been protecting my marriage while preparing for it to collapse.
“He thought if he confronted Julian too early, Julian would take you and disappear emotionally before Harrison could secure your future.”
Tears burned my eyes.
“What happened that night?”
“I arrived shortly after midnight. Harrison was in his study.”
“Was he sick?”
“He was dying, Mara.”
“I know that.”
“No. I mean that night.”
My breathing stopped.
Eleanor continued.
“He had collapsed beside the desk before I arrived. I called the hospice nurse. Harrison refused an ambulance.”
That sounded like Dad.
Stubborn until the end.
“He gave me the letter. He gave me instructions. Then Lawrence Pritchard arrived.”
Samuel muttered a curse.
“Why?”
“I don't know. Harrison hadn't called him.”
“What happened?”
“They argued.”
“About what?”
“Money. Documents. The trust.”
“Then?”
“Lawrence left.”
“And Dad?”
“He was alive when I left.”
“How long?”
“Maybe forty minutes.”
“Who stayed with him?”
Another silence.
“Julian.”
The world seemed to tilt.
Julian had told me he was at a business dinner that night.
I had driven to Dad's house alone after the hospice nurse called at 2:14 a.m.
My father was already gone.
“Julian was there?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the next morning Julian told me Harrison had made him promise not to.”
I almost laughed.
“You believed him?”
“At the time, I still believed my son had limits.”
I looked at Alvarez.
He was already texting someone.
Rebecca's smile had disappeared.
“Was Dad's death investigated?”
“No. He had terminal cancer. Hospice signed the paperwork.”
Of course.
Nobody investigates the expected.
Rebecca spoke from the doorway.
“You're missing the best part.”
Alvarez turned.
“Quiet.”
She ignored him.
“Ask Eleanor what Harrison was holding when she left.”
Eleanor heard her.
“Who is that?”
“Rebecca.”
A sharp inhale.
“You brought that woman near your child?”
“I didn't know.”
“Mara, get away from her.”
Alvarez took Rebecca down the hallway.
I returned to the call.
“What was Dad holding?”
Eleanor whispered, “A flash drive.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Did you see what was on it?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
“I assumed Julian took it.”
We searched everything recovered from Julian's house.
No flash drive.
But later that night, investigators found something else.
An old security camera system in my father's house had stored archived footage on a cloud account.
The account had never been canceled.
Most footage had overwritten itself.
But one motion-triggered clip from the night Dad died had been manually saved.
At 1:08 a.m., Julian entered the study.
At 1:43, he walked out.
He was holding something.
A silver flash drive.
My father was still alive when he entered.
The camera didn't show Dad leaving.
At 2:14, hospice arrived.
I watched the footage three times.
There was no violence.
No obvious crime.
Just Julian entering.
Julian leaving.
And thirty-one minutes between those moments.
Alvarez was careful with me.
“This doesn't prove he caused your father's death.”
“I know.”
“Your father was severely ill.”
“I know.”
“Don't let suspicion become certainty.”
I hated him for saying it because he was right.
The following morning, Vanessa called.
I almost didn't answer.
“Mara?”
She sounded exhausted.
“What do you want?”
“I found something.”
Those three words were becoming the soundtrack of my life.
“What?”
“Julian came home last night.”
“You're still staying there?”
“I was packing.”
“Vanessa—”
“He was drunk. He didn't know I was upstairs.”
I sat beside Ivy's bassinet.
“What happened?”
“He opened the safe in his office.”
My heart pounded.
“Then?”
“After he passed out downstairs, I checked it.”
“And?”
“There was a flash drive.”
I stood so fast pain shot through my abdomen.
“Silver?”
“Yes.”
I gripped the counter.
“Do not touch anything else.”
“I already took it.”
“Vanessa!”
“I didn't know what it was!”
“Where are you?”
“In my car.”
“Drive to the police station.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
Her voice cracked.
“Because Julian woke up.”
My blood froze.
“Is he with you?”
“No.”
“Then drive.”
“He knows I took it.”
A horn blared through her phone.
She screamed.
“Vanessa?”
“He's behind me.”
I heard an engine.
Tires.
Her breathing.
“Mara, he's following me.”
“Call 911.”
“I did.”
“Don't go home.”
“I know.”
“Go somewhere public.”
“He keeps calling.”
“Don't answer.”
Another horn.
Then Vanessa said something that frightened me more than anything else.
“Mara, there are two cars.”
“What?”
“One is Julian.”
“And the other?”
“I don't know.”
A black SUV pulled beside her.
I could hear her crying.
“Vanessa, stay on the phone.”
The SUV surged ahead.
Then slowed.
Her voice became tiny.
“They're forcing me toward the shoulder.”
“Vanessa!”
There was a crash.
The call went dead.
I screamed her name into silence.
Twenty-three minutes later, Detective Alvarez called.
Vanessa was alive.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Her car had spun into a guardrail, but the airbags deployed.
Julian had stopped behind her.
The black SUV had disappeared.
Police found Julian standing beside Vanessa's vehicle.
He claimed he had been trying to help.
Vanessa told a different story.
And in her coat pocket, officers found the silver flash drive.
By midnight, Samuel had opened it.
The first folders contained trust records.
The second contained emails.
The third contained audio.
My father had recorded his final conversation with Julian.
Samuel looked at me.
“You don't have to listen.”
“Yes, I do.”
He pressed play.
My father's weak voice filled the room.
Then Julian spoke.
May you like
And the first thing my ex-husband said was:
“If you tell Mara what I did, I'll make sure she loses everything.”
