Chapter 5 - THE EMPTY STORAGE UNIT
The storage unit was empty except for dust, a broken chair, and one yellow child's raincoat.
Sophie's raincoat.
Emily had bought it the spring before she died.
I picked it up.
There was something sewn inside the pocket.
A memory card.
I almost laughed from the shock.
Emily had hidden evidence inside the one thing she knew I would recognize but Claire would overlook.
Detective Harris connected the card to a computer.
Video files appeared.
The first showed Emily sitting in our kitchen.
The second showed Claire entering the company office after midnight.
The third showed Daniel's father meeting a man I recognized from old newspaper photographs.
A retired police supervisor.
The same supervisor whose signature appeared on the missing witness report from Emily's crash.
Harris stared at the screen.
“Now I know why the report disappeared.”
The final video was different.
Emily looked directly into the camera.
“If anything happens to me, don't trust Daniel.”
My stomach dropped.
Daniel stood beside me.
He went pale.
“I don't understand.”
The video continued.
“Daniel isn't the mastermind. But he helped them before he understood what they were doing.”
I looked at him.
“You were helping them?”
He shook his head.
“I thought we were moving money to protect the company.”
“You lied to me for three years.”
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe you now?”
“You shouldn't.”
His honesty surprised me.
Then he said something I wasn't expecting.
“Because you don't have to believe me. You only have to verify me.”
That was the first thing he said that sounded like truth.
We traced the accounts.
The money had moved through three shell companies and eventually into a charitable foundation.
The foundation's trustee was Rachel.
My sister.
I drove home and confronted her.
She burst into tears.
“I didn't know.”
“Your name is on the account.”
“Claire asked me to sign paperwork months ago.”
“You signed without reading it?”
“I trusted her.”
I closed my eyes.
Trust had become the most expensive thing in my family.
Rachel gave me a folder.
“Claire told me it was for a children's charity.”
Inside was a list of donors.
One name appeared at the top.
The retired police supervisor.
Another appeared at the bottom.
The attorney who had handled Emily's estate.
Then I saw something worse.
A handwritten note from Emily.
Ethan, the money isn't the real reason they want me gone.
Underneath it was one final sentence.
May you like
They are looking for the child.
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