Chapter 10 - The Second Recording
The second recording was hidden inside a children’s music box.Clara found it in a photograph from the Mercer house. The box sat on a shelf in Beatrice’s bedroom, painted blue with a chipped white star. Nina had dismissed it as decoration until Clara remembered that Beatrice had once told her it belonged to Julian.“He hated that song,” Clara said.“Why does that matter?”“Because he never let anyone touch it.”Agent Grant returned to the house with a warrant addendum. The music box was still on the shelf. Inside its wooden base, technicians found a memory card.The file had been recorded six months before the attack.Arthur and Julian sat in Beatrice’s bedroom. Beatrice stood by the mirror, removing earrings.“She suspects the payments,” Julian said.“Suspicion is not evidence,” Arthur replied.“She has the vendor list.”“Then make her doubt the list.”Beatrice turned. “She has always wanted to believe she is smarter than us.”Julian lowered his voice. “I don’t want this to become violent.”Arthur laughed. “Violence is what happens when persuasion fails.”“I’m serious.”“Then persuade her.”The recording ended there.Clara sat motionless while Nina replayed it. The words were not a confession to the attack, but they established a pattern. Julian had discussed the risk, heard his father speak about violence, and continued.“He could claim he objected,” Nina said.“Did he?”“The recording doesn’t show what he did afterward.”“He disabled the alarm.”“Peter’s recording helps.”“I don’t want help that only proves he was nearby.”Nina looked at her. “You want the entire truth.”“Yes.”“The law may give you pieces.”Clara stared at the screen. “Then I’ll build the picture from pieces.”Julian was served with a subpoena the following morning. He appeared at the federal building with his attorney, a silver-haired man named Curtis Hall. Reporters waited outside, hungry for the story of the vanished founder and the husband who had supposedly been abandoned.“My client has no comment,” Hall said.Julian did.“I hope Clara is safe.”The clip reached her before he finished the sentence.Elise watched it from the hospital window. “He’s very good at sounding innocent.”“He practiced with me.”Elise looked ashamed. “I used to envy him.”“Why?”“He could enter a room and make people want to agree with him. I had to prove every number.”“Numbers remember.”“People don’t.”That afternoon, the board approved an independent review. The review uncovered twelve employees whose access had been copied or altered. Two were willing to speak. One refused. The other was found unconscious in his apartment before the interview.Agent Cho said the employee had overdosed, but the scene contained no prescription bottles and no phone.“They’re escalating,” Clara said.“That’s why you’re under federal protection.”“Protection didn’t stop them from reaching Peter.”“It did stop them from killing him.”Clara wanted to argue, but the truth was uncomfortable. Survival was not the same as safety. It was only the condition that allowed a fight to continue.Nina received a call from the prosecutor’s office. A grand jury had been convened to examine financial fraud, witness intimidation, and possible conspiracy. The investigators had not yet charged anyone with Clara’s assault. They needed to establish who ordered it and whether the corporate scheme connected to the violence.“Will the footage be enough?” Clara asked.“It will be evidence,” Nina said. “Enough depends on corroboration, authentication, and what the defense challenges.”Clara nodded. She appreciated the precision. False certainty had nearly destroyed her.That night, she opened the folder containing her old marriage photographs. In every image, Julian stood beside her with one hand on her back. At the warehouse opening, his fingers rested over her shoulder. At the first major contract, he leaned toward the cameras while she held the documents.She had thought he was proud.Now she saw him measuring the distance between her and the spotlight.Beneath the photographs was a note in her own handwriting.If Julian ever says he did it for me, check who benefited.Clara did not remember writing it.But she knew exactly what it meant.
