Chapter 5 - the cousin who had been watching
Emily did not go home.
She drove directly to Rebecca Sloan’s office.
Rebecca had agreed to remain available because everyone expected something to happen at the party.
Nobody had expected Sophie to be struck.
Nathan arrived twenty minutes later.
Sophie slept against Emily’s shoulder, exhausted from crying.
A doctor at an urgent-care clinic later confirmed there was no serious injury.
The physical damage was minor.
The consequences were not.
Rebecca listened to Emily’s audio recording.
Margaret’s insult.
The slap.
Emily confronting Daniel.
Daniel saying nothing.
Then the chaos.
Rebecca replayed the first seconds twice.
“That sound is clear.”
Emily looked at Sophie.
“I wish it wasn’t.”
“I know.”
Nathan placed the anonymous message on the screen.
“You think Melissa sent this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She was holding her phone. She looked at me after I received it.”
Rebecca asked, “Would she help us?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily called.
Melissa answered on the fourth ring.
“Emily?”
“It was you.”
Silence.
“The message.”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“How long have you known?”
“Not everything.”
“How long?”
“Six months.”
The room felt colder.
Melissa continued quickly.
“I didn’t know about Sophie’s account at first. I swear.”
“What did you know?”
“I knew Aunt Margaret was helping Daniel prepare for custody.”
Emily tightened her grip around the phone.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“No, you sent an anonymous message after my daughter got hit.”
Melissa inhaled shakily.
“You’re right.”
The blunt answer surprised Emily.
Melissa continued.
“I was scared.”
“Of Margaret?”
“You know what she does to people.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
Melissa explained.
She had worked part-time for a document services company the previous year.
Margaret had asked her to notarize several papers.
Melissa refused because Emily was not present.
Margaret became angry.
A week later, Daniel arrived with a document already bearing what looked like Emily’s signature.
Melissa again refused.
Daniel told her it was simply paperwork related to Sophie’s education trust.
“He said you were overwhelmed after having the baby and hated dealing with finances.”
Emily looked at Nathan.
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“What happened then?” Emily asked.
“They found someone else.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you take the bank photograph?”
Melissa hesitated.
“Because by then I knew something was wrong.”
She had seen Margaret and Daniel meeting at Stanton Bank.
She followed them.
Took photographs.
Then Margaret discovered that Melissa had been asking questions.
“She threatened you?”
“Not directly.”
“What did she do?”
“She called my employer.”
Emily frowned.
Melissa explained that Margaret accused her of mishandling confidential family documents.
Melissa lost her job.
No evidence.
No formal accusation.
Just enough suspicion.
“She told me afterward that people who interfere in other families should expect consequences.”
Emily closed her eyes.
That sounded exactly like Margaret.
Rebecca leaned toward the phone.
“Melissa, this is Rebecca Sloan. I represent Emily. Would you be willing to provide a sworn statement?”
Melissa went quiet.
Rebecca waited.
Finally Melissa said, “Yes.”
Emily looked up.
Melissa continued.
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The party was supposed to be worse.”
Emily’s blood turned cold.
“What does that mean?”
“I heard Aunt Margaret talking to my mother last night. She said Daniel had papers in the car.”
“The custody petition?”
“Yes.”
Emily already knew.
Melissa said, “If you caused a scene, Daniel was supposed to leave with Sophie.”
Emily stared at the table.
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Leave where?”
“The new house.”
Nathan whispered something under his breath.
Melissa continued.
“Aunt Margaret said once Sophie was physically with Daniel, they would file Monday morning and claim you were unstable after attacking family members in public.”
Emily remembered the slap she gave Daniel.
The shove into the cake.
They had provoked her.
But Margaret had struck Sophie first.
And Emily had evidence.
Rebecca asked, “Did Margaret know Emily discovered the account?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Daniel found the bank envelope moved.”
Emily remembered returning it to the folder.
Apparently not perfectly.
“He told her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
That explained the urgency.
The slap may not have been planned.
But the confrontation had been.
Margaret knew the financial evidence was about to surface.
The custody scheme was running out of time.
Melissa lowered her voice.
“And Emily?”
“Yes?”
“Do not go back to the house alone.”
“Why?”
“Daniel left the party ten minutes after you.”
Emily looked at Rebecca.
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know. But his mother told him to get the folder before you did.”
The folder.
Emily immediately knew what she meant.
The original forged documents.
Maybe other records.
Evidence.
Nathan stood.
“We need to preserve anything inside the house.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Emily does not go there.”
“It’s her house.”
“And Daniel is angry, humiliated, and potentially destroying evidence.”
Emily stood.
“I’m going.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“No.”
“I’m not letting them erase everything.”
“You have copies.”
“Not everything.”
Emily thought about Daniel’s desk.
The locked drawer he had recently started using.
She had never cared enough to ask why.
Now she did.
Rebecca exhaled.
“Then you do not go alone.”
Police would not conduct a search without proper grounds, but Rebecca arranged for a civil standby while Emily retrieved essential belongings.
By the time they arrived, Daniel’s truck was gone.
The house looked ordinary.
Emily entered carrying Sophie.
Rebecca remained near the doorway.
Nathan went upstairs with Emily.
The locked desk drawer had been forced open.
Empty.
Daniel had taken something.
But inside the trash bin beneath the desk, Emily found strips of shredded paper.
Nathan crouched.
“Don’t touch.”
They photographed everything.
One strip contained part of Emily’s name.
Another showed the words psychological evaluation.
A third contained a bank routing number.
Then Emily noticed something beneath the desk.
A small black USB drive.
Daniel must have dropped it.
She picked it up carefully.
Nathan looked at her.
“Do not plug that into your computer.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“What do you think it is?”
May you like
Emily stared at the drive.
“I think Daniel was never as passive as I believed.”
