Chapter 5 - MARGARET'S LAST WEEK
Margaret Collins had been sixty-one when she died.
She had been stubborn, funny, infuriatingly observant, and almost impossible to frighten.
That was how Eric remembered her.
Heather remembered something else.
Margaret had been nervous during her last week alive.
She had called twice without leaving messages.
Then she appeared unexpectedly at Heather's house three days before the crash.
Heather could still picture her standing in the kitchen holding a brown envelope.
"I need to give Eric something."
"What is it?"
"Insurance papers."
Heather had believed her.
Now she wasn't sure she believed anything.
"Did she leave the envelope?" Detective Price asked.
Heather shook her head.
"She took it with her."
Eric leaned against the hotel wall.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were in Chicago."
"You could've called."
"I did. You said you'd call her Sunday."
Sunday had never come.
Margaret died Saturday afternoon.
Eric sat down.
For the first time since the nightmare began, his anger disappeared.
Grief replaced it.
Heather sat beside him.
Price opened Margaret's old case file.
"The crash report says your mother experienced sudden cardiac arrest while driving."
"Confirmed?"
"Autopsy found significant cardiac damage."
"But?"
Price looked at them.
"Her toxicology screen was limited."
Eric raised his eyes.
"Why?"
"Because there was no suspicion of foul play."
Heather felt cold.
"What would a complete toxicology screen have found?"
"Depends."
"Can her body be tested now?"
Eric stared at him.
Margaret had been buried.
Price answered carefully.
"Potentially. Certain substances can remain detectable, depending on preservation and what we're looking for."
Eric rubbed both hands over his face.
"Do it."
"It's not that simple."
"Then make it simple."
"We need probable cause."
Heather pointed toward the photograph.
"You have Melissa meeting her three days before she died."
"That establishes contact."
"And Ryan wrote that she found out about CROWN."
"Which means we need to know what CROWN is."
The encrypted folder became the center of the investigation.
Police cyber specialists worked overnight.
By morning they recovered fragments.
CROWN was not a company.
Not exactly.
It appeared to be an informal name for a financial arrangement stretching back nearly fifteen years.
Accounts.
Shell corporations.
Property transfers.
Construction invoices.
Political donations.
Eric recognized vendors connected to Archer Development.
Some were current.
Others had gone bankrupt years ago.
One name appeared repeatedly.
COLLINS LEGACY TRUST.
Eric stared at it.
"I've never heard of that."
Price said, "It was created by your father."
"My father died eleven years ago."
"The trust predates his death."
"Beneficiaries?"
"We're still retrieving documents."
Heather asked, "What does Melissa have to do with any of this?"
Price swiped to another recovered file.
Payments.
Monthly amounts.
Seven years.
Recipient: M. Carter Consulting.
Daniel laughed bitterly when they showed him.
"Melissa never had a consulting company."
"Apparently she did on paper."
"How much?"
Price looked at the number.
"Just over six hundred thousand dollars."
Daniel went silent.
Heather stared at him.
"You didn't know?"
"I thought she made money from investments."
The next line was worse.
Payments to Ryan Collins.
Nearly nine hundred thousand dollars.
Eric stood.
"My brother was being paid?"
Price nodded.
"For what?"
"We don't know yet."
Then another name appeared.
Margaret Collins.
But beside hers there were no payments.
Only a notation.
OBSTRUCTION.
Heather's stomach twisted.
"What does that mean?"
Price scrolled.
Beneath Margaret's name was a date.
The day she died.
Then one word.
RESOLVED.
Eric stared at the screen.
No one spoke.
Daniel finally whispered, "Jesus."
Eric turned away.
Price closed the tablet.
"We now have enough to ask a judge for additional warrants."
"To exhume her?" Eric asked.
"Possibly."
Before Price could say more, Heather's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
Then a text arrived.
YOU SHOULD ASK ERIC WHY HIS MOTHER WAS REALLY AT YOUR HOUSE.
Heather stared at the message.
Another appeared.
SHE WASN'T THERE FOR HIM.
Heather's chest tightened.
A third message arrived.
SHE CAME TO WARN YOU ABOUT YOUR HUSBAND.
Heather slowly looked at Eric.
He saw her expression.
"What?"
She showed him the phone.
His face changed.
"That's a lie."
"How do you know?"
"Because my mother trusted me."
"Did she?"
Eric stared at her.
Heather hated herself for asking.
But the last forty-eight hours had turned trust into a luxury.
Her phone vibrated again.
One final message.
ASK HIM WHAT HAPPENED IN 2009.
Eric took one step backward.
Heather noticed.
"What happened in 2009?"
"Nothing."
"Eric."
"Nothing involving us."
Detective Price watched him carefully.
Heather whispered, "You recognize the year."
Eric closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the fear was unmistakable.
"That's the year my father disappeared for six months."
Heather frowned.
"You told me he was working overseas."
"That's what my mother told everyone."
"And the truth?"
Eric looked at Price.
May you like
"I don't know."
But his voice said otherwise.
