Chapter 20 - The Wrong Box
Samuel disappeared before sunrise.
Marlow had ordered him not to leave the county.
His car remained at home.
His phone remained on his nightstand.
His passport remained in a safe.
Samuel Prescott, who had spent decades telling other people to preserve evidence, had vanished without taking anything obvious.
Except Arthur’s ledger.
Eleanor discovered it missing at six twenty.
Daniel swore.
Rachel stood in the foyer.
“He took it while everyone was looking at the server.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He took it earlier.”
Nathan pointed toward the hidden camera archive.
They checked.
The footage showed Samuel sliding the ledger beneath his coat minutes after the attack.
Before Nathan had mentioned Peter.
Before anyone accused him.
Eleanor felt something inside her settle.
Not fear.
Certainty.
Samuel had known trouble was coming.
Marlow issued an alert.
At nine fifteen another surprise arrived.
Trent Holloway wanted to talk.
Rachel immediately said no.
Marlow replied, “You don’t have to see him.”
“I don’t want him in this house.”
“He won’t be.”
Trent had been released pending further proceedings on the assault investigation but remained subject to restrictions.
Now he was sitting with his attorney at a federal office asking specifically for Agent Marlow.
He had brought documents.
Rachel did not care.
Until Marlow called two hours later.
“Rachel, I think you need to hear this.”
“What did he say?”
“Garrison Equity wasn’t his idea.”
Rachel sat down.
Eleanor came beside her.
Marlow continued.
“Trent was losing money. A lot of it. Someone offered him financing through companies that looked legitimate.”
“Samuel.”
“We’re not there yet.”
“But you think it.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Trent admitted that six months earlier he received an anonymous package containing copies of old Holloway documents.
The package claimed Arthur Whitmore had hidden an account worth millions.
Trent believed the money belonged to his father.
Then someone called him.
A man who knew about his debts.
His marriage.
Rachel’s savings.
Even the layout of Eleanor’s house.
The caller told Trent that Schedule C contained the proof.
Rachel’s stomach turned.
“He came here because he was looking for it.”
“Yes.”
“And the cameras?”
Another pause.
“Trent installed two.”
Eleanor whispered, “Two?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
There had been more.
Marlow continued.
“Trent says he found a third camera already inside the house.”
Arthur’s.
The camera Trent had destroyed had not belonged to him.
Rachel stared toward the ceiling.
May you like
The title of the nightmare suddenly became clear.
The camera Trent destroyed had never been the only thing watching.
