Chapter 17 - The Voice Behind the Wall
The transmitter had stopped sending data shortly after Sabrina’s arrest.
Victor recovered fragments of its connection history. The recordings had been uploaded to a private server routed through several foreign accounts.
The installation invoice led to a contractor named Daniel Voss.
Teresa remembered him.
Sabrina had hired Daniel to repair the mansion’s intercom after claiming Elena had forgotten to answer the front gate.
“He spent two days inside the walls,” Teresa said. “Garrick approved the payment.”
Garrick looked sick.
“I thought he was repairing the system.”
“You thought many convenient things,” Elena replied.
Daniel’s registered address was empty. His company had closed. The telephone number on the invoice now belonged to a grocery store.
Clara proposed using the transmitter against whoever still monitored the network.
That evening, Elena and Victor held a staged conversation in Richard’s office.
“The original ledger is in the wine cellar,” Elena said loudly. “Behind the 1987 bottles.”
Victor replied that they would deliver it to investigators the following morning.
Then they waited.
At 1:42 a.m., a motion sensor activated near the west garden.
A masked intruder entered through a service door using a valid six-digit code. He moved directly toward the wine cellar.
Police officers positioned inside the mansion ordered him to stop.
He ran.
Garrick, who had been waiting in the library with his release officer, stepped into the corridor and blocked the nearest exit. The intruder struck him aside and reached the courtyard before two officers restrained him.
Daniel Voss was arrested beside the rebuilt fire pit.
Inside his jacket, investigators found an encrypted phone and a key to Richard’s office.
They also found a small cassette recorder wrapped in cloth.
Elena recognized it immediately.
Richard had used the recorder during the early years of their company. He carried it through kitchens, construction sites and meetings, dictating ideas whenever he was too busy to write.
Daniel refused to explain where he obtained it.
The encrypted phone contained only one visible contact.
C.V.
Clara Vaughn shared those initials.
So did Celeste’s middle and married names, Celeste Victoria Vale.
Clara noticed everyone looking at her.
“My mother used those initials too,” she said quietly.
The cassette inside the recorder was labeled in Richard’s handwriting.
For Elena, if Bluebonnet returns.
Elena carried it into the library.
May you like
Her hands remained steady until Richard’s voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this,” he said, “then the ledger has failed to keep you safe.”
