Chapter 5 - The Second Phone)
Security found Victoria's second phone thirty seven minutes later.
Not in the house.
In the koi pond.
One of the guards spotted ripples after reviewing exterior footage.
The device was recovered, bagged and handed to Ethan's private cybersecurity consultant.
Water damaged the phone.
It did not destroy it.
Victoria knew that.
Which meant whatever was inside mattered enough for her to try anyway.
Ethan moved Clara into Rebecca's former sitting room for the night because the child refused to enter her bedroom.
Maria sat beside her.
Button had been retrieved from the locked utility closet.
Clara held the rabbit under her chin.
Ethan crouched beside the sofa.
"I'm going downstairs for a little while."
Clara immediately grabbed his sleeve.
"No."
"I won't leave the house."
"No."
He looked at Maria.
Maria's eyes filled.
Ethan sat down.
"Okay."
For the next hour, the billionaire CEO of Caldwell Meridian held his daughter while lawyers, security officers and executives waited downstairs.
None of them mattered.
At eight thirty Clara fell asleep.
Only then did Ethan move.
His attorney, David Mercer, was waiting in the library.
"Police?"
"On their way."
"Child services?"
"Notified because of the circumstances."
Ethan nodded.
David studied him.
"You need to hear something before they arrive."
"What?"
"The camera."
Ethan looked at the blue bracelet resting inside an evidence bag.
"We identified the model."
"And?"
"It has cloud synchronization."
Ethan stood straighter.
"Footage exists?"
"Possibly."
"Nora Hale purchased it."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Find her."
"We already did."
"Where?"
"Hospital."
Ethan's expression changed.
"What happened?"
"Car accident."
"When?"
"Two nights ago."
"Condition?"
"Serious but stable."
Ethan walked toward the window.
Coincidence.
He wanted it to be coincidence.
Then David spoke again.
"The driver who hit her fled."
Ethan turned.
"Find him."
"We're working on it."
"And Aaron Vale."
David frowned.
"Who?"
Ethan placed Victoria's notebook on the table.
"One of the names in her contacts. Caldwell cybersecurity."
David opened the notebook.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because Nora tried to contact me."
"You know that?"
"Lauren checked the mail archive. There is evidence an inbound message was deleted."
David's face hardened.
"Internal deletion?"
"Looks like it."
"Then this is bigger."
"It already is."
Police arrived at nine twelve.
Victoria had changed clothes.
She wore cream trousers and a cashmere sweater.
She looked composed enough to attend a fundraiser.
Detective Marcus Hale asked her to explain the cage.
Victoria did.
Clara was having a tantrum.
Clara entered the cage voluntarily.
Victoria closed the door briefly so the child would calm down.
There was food in the bowl because the cage had previously belonged to a dog.
Clara exaggerated because she did not want Victoria marrying Ethan.
It was an ugly story.
It was also carefully constructed.
Then Detective Hale asked about the notebook.
Victoria smiled.
"I read parenting literature."
"Do those books recommend cages?"
"No."
"Did you write exposure stage 1 on a photograph?"
"I was documenting behavioral intervention."
"Are you a child psychologist?"
"No."
"Occupational therapist?"
"No."
"Doctor?"
"No."
Victoria's smile disappeared.
"I was trying to help."
Ethan listened from the far side of the room.
He wanted to interrupt.
He did not.
The detective eventually turned to him.
"Mr. Caldwell, we need full access to the property security system."
"You have it."
Victoria looked sharply at Ethan.
Her attorney, who had arrived twenty minutes earlier, whispered something to her.
She stood.
"My client will answer no further questions tonight."
Detective Hale nodded.
"That's her right."
Victoria walked toward the front door.
Ethan blocked the hallway.
Her attorney stiffened.
"Mr. Caldwell."
Ethan moved aside.
Victoria stopped beside him.
"You are making a mistake."
Ethan said nothing.
"You think Clara will thank you for destroying her chance at having a family?"
Ethan finally looked at her.
"She already has one."
Victoria's mouth tightened.
Then she left.
At eleven forty three, Ethan's cyber consultant called from the security office.
"We got into the second phone."
Ethan entered the room.
A technician displayed a list of encrypted messages.
Most had been deleted.
Some had been recovered.
One conversation was between Victoria and Aaron Vale.
Delete Hale email before EC sees it.
Done.
You owe me.
Noted.
Another thread involved an unknown number.
The messages were shorter.
She still has copies.
Handle it.
Ethan stared at the screen.
"Who owns the number?"
"We're tracing it."
A third thread was even more disturbing.
Photographs of Ethan's travel calendar.
Clara's therapy schedule.
Maria's work schedule.
Then a photograph of Nora Hale leaving the estate.
Ethan's blood went cold.
The final recovered message had been sent forty eight hours before Nora's crash.
Make sure she stops interfering.
Ethan turned to Detective Hale.
"Find whoever received that."
The detective's expression was grim.
"We will."
But before anyone could leave the room, the technician called them back.
"There is something else."
He enlarged a recovered photograph.
It showed a signed document.
A trust amendment.
Ethan recognized his own daughter's name.
Clara Rebecca Caldwell.
Beneficiary.
Then he saw the clause Victoria had highlighted.
If Ethan Caldwell died before Clara reached twenty one, control of Clara's assets would pass to her legally appointed guardian.
May you like
Beside the paragraph, Victoria had written one sentence.
Marriage must happen first.
