Chapter 21 - What Trent Finally Admitted
Rachel agreed to hear Trent’s statement.
From another room.
Through a recording.
She refused to sit across from him.
Trent’s voice sounded smaller than she remembered.
He admitted following instructions from the anonymous caller.
He admitted searching Eleanor’s attic.
He admitted monitoring Rachel’s movements.
He admitted taking money from their joint accounts to cover business losses.
Then came the part Rachel had feared.
“I knew who she was before I met her.”
Marlow asked, “Why approach her?”
“Because Marianne told me Arthur Whitmore had destroyed my father.”
“You believed Rachel could give you access?”
“At first.”
Rachel shut her eyes.
At first.
The same excuse.
Again.
Trent continued.
“Then I loved her.”
Rachel stopped the recording.
Eleanor looked at her.
“You don’t need to listen.”
“Yes, I do.”
She pressed play.
Marlow asked about the anonymous caller.
Trent could not identify the voice.
But he remembered something.
Every conversation ended the same way.
Three slow taps.
Not spoken.
Physical.
As though the caller tapped a pen against a desk.
Three knocks.
Nathan looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
Samuel.
Trent also admitted the caller warned him not to trust Peter Vale.
“He said Peter stole from the Holloways.”
Marlow asked, “Did you ever meet Peter?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
That matched Peter’s disappearance.
Trent had gone to a parking garage believing Peter intended to sell him evidence.
Instead Peter told him he was being manipulated.
“He said Garrison was a trap,” Trent explained.
“Did you believe him?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I hit him.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Trent continued.
“He fell. He got up. He told me that someday I’d realize every person feeding my anger was making money from it.”
Marlow’s voice sharpened.
“Did you make him disappear?”
“No.”
“Did you threaten him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hurt your wife?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Rachel expected an excuse.
None came.
Marlow asked, “Why?”
Trent’s voice cracked.
“Because I wanted control.”
Rachel pressed stop.
That was enough.
No story about his father.
No Marianne.
No Samuel.
No hidden account could erase that answer.
He had wanted control.
Rachel stood.
“What happens to him?”
Marlow answered carefully.
“That depends on several investigations.”
Rachel nodded.
“I want the divorce filed today.”
Eleanor reached for her.
Rachel shook her head.
Not because she rejected comfort.
Because she was standing on her own.
“And I want every charge supported by the evidence pursued.”
May you like
Her voice did not tremble.
“Whatever happens to Samuel does not excuse Trent.”
