Chapter 5 - Agent Marlow
The woman introduced herself as Agent Lena Marlow.
Rachel refused to shake her hand.
Eleanor noticed.
That mattered.
Samuel noticed too.
“Inside the shed,” he said.
Rachel backed away.
“No.”
Agent Marlow kept her voice calm.
“Mrs. Holloway, I’m not here to arrest you.”
Rachel laughed once.
It sounded close to panic.
“That’s exactly what people say before they arrest somebody.”
Eleanor looked from her daughter to Marlow.
“You know Rachel?”
“I know her name.”
“From where?”
Marlow hesitated.
Samuel stepped closer to Eleanor.
“I called her after checking the companies you mentioned.”
Eleanor’s anger rose.
“You brought a federal agent to my home without asking me?”
Samuel did not flinch.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Garrison Equity Partners is already under investigation.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
Eleanor stared at her.
“You knew.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
“Rachel.”
“I didn’t know about an investigation.”
“But you knew the company mattered.”
“Yes.”
Agent Marlow opened a slim folder.
“Garrison Equity has moved approximately eighteen million dollars through a series of connected entities over the last fourteen months.”
Eleanor felt Samuel watching her reaction.
“Trent’s company?”
“We’re still determining that.”
“What does Rachel have to do with it?”
Marlow looked at Rachel.
“That depends on what is on the drive.”
Rachel immediately said, “No.”
Eleanor turned.
“What?”
“You can’t take it.”
Agent Marlow did not move.
“Why not?”
Rachel crossed her arms.
“Because it’s mine.”
“Is it?”
“I took it.”
“From your husband’s office.”
Rachel’s silence answered.
Marlow continued.
“If the drive contains evidence connected to an active federal investigation, preserving it correctly matters.”
Rachel looked at Eleanor.
“Mom.”
Eleanor stepped between them.
“Agent Marlow, my daughter is clearly frightened.”
“I can see that.”
“And I will not allow anyone to pressure her in my home.”
Marlow nodded.
“Fair.”
Samuel raised an eyebrow.
Eleanor ignored him.
“What exactly are you investigating?”
“Fraud.”
“Whose?”
“I can’t discuss everything.”
“Then you won’t get everything.”
Marlow almost smiled.
“I was told you’d say that.”
Eleanor looked at Samuel.
He raised both hands.
“I told her you were difficult.”
“Arthur called it discerning.”
“Arthur also called you terrifying.”
“That’s why I married him.”
For the first time, Rachel almost smiled.
Then the back door slammed.
All four froze.
Trent.
Rachel’s face went white.
“He’s looking for me.”
Samuel moved toward the shed door.
Marlow stopped him.
“No.”
“What?”
“If he sees me, this changes.”
Eleanor understood.
“You don’t want him knowing about the investigation.”
“Not yet.”
Rachel whispered, “You need to leave.”
Marlow looked directly at her.
“Mrs. Holloway, is your husband controlling whether you can speak to people?”
Rachel looked away.
“Leave.”
“Has he threatened you?”
“Leave.”
“Has he ever hit you?”
Rachel snapped, “I said leave.”
Eleanor flinched.
Not because Rachel shouted.
Because she finally heard the terror behind it.
Marlow closed the folder.
“All right.”
She handed Eleanor a card.
Eleanor refused it.
“If Trent searches me, he finds that.”
Marlow considered this.
Then she took back the card.
“Memorize the last four digits.”
She spoke four numbers.
Eleanor repeated them.
Marlow looked at Rachel.
“If you decide you want help, tell your mother those four numbers.”
Rachel said nothing.
Marlow and Samuel left through the rear garden gate.
Eleanor waited thirty seconds.
Then she and Rachel returned to the kitchen.
Trent stood by the sink.
He had Eleanor’s old gardening phone in his hand.
Rachel stopped walking.
Eleanor’s stomach dropped.
Trent held it up.
“Lose something?”
Eleanor kept her expression neutral.
“That belonged to Arthur.”
“I found it in the shed.”
“You searched my shed?”
“I was looking for tools.”
“You were looking behind paint cans?”
He smiled.
“You’re very suspicious this morning.”
“So are you.”
Trent looked at Rachel.
“Where were you?”
“Garden.”
“With her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rachel shrugged.
“Fresh air.”
Trent walked toward them.
He held out the phone.
Eleanor reached for it.
He pulled it away.
“Who did you call?”
“No one.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“The battery was warm.”
Eleanor had underestimated him.
Not again.
Trent unlocked the phone.
Eleanor’s heart kicked.
He shouldn’t know the passcode.
Then she remembered.
There wasn’t one.
Arthur hated passcodes.
Trent opened the recent calls.
Empty.
Eleanor nearly smiled.
Samuel had apparently called from a blocked routed number.
Trent stared at the screen.
Nothing.
“Problem?” Eleanor asked.
He handed the phone back.
“No.”
Rachel exhaled almost silently.
Trent walked past them.
Then stopped.
Without turning, he said, “Someone came through the garden gate.”
Rachel froze.
Eleanor’s hand tightened around the phone.
“How would you know?”
Trent turned.
“Mud.”
He pointed toward the kitchen floor.
A small dark footprint marked the tile.
Not Eleanor’s.
Not Rachel’s.
A man’s shoe.
Samuel’s.
Trent looked at Eleanor.
“Who was here?”
She answered immediately.
“The gardener.”
“You don’t have a gardener.”
“I do now.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Name?”
Eleanor smiled.
“Would you like his Social Security number too?”
Trent stared at her for a long moment.
Then he walked away.
Rachel waited until he disappeared upstairs.
“He knows.”
“No.”
“He knows somebody came.”
“That is different.”
Rachel grabbed Eleanor’s arm.
“Mom, you don’t understand him.”
Eleanor looked down at her daughter’s fingers digging into her sleeve.
“Then help me understand.”
Rachel released her.
Her voice became nearly inaudible.
“Three months ago, a man who worked for Trent disappeared.”
Eleanor felt her stomach drop.
“What man?”
“His accountant.”
“Disappeared how?”
“He stopped coming to work.”
“That does not mean he disappeared.”
“His wife filed a missing-person report.”
Eleanor stared.
“Did Trent mention it?”
“He said the man stole money and ran.”
“And you believed him?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
Rachel looked toward the hallway.
“I found something in Trent’s desk.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
“Of the accountant?”
“Yes.”
“Doing what?”
“Standing here.”
Eleanor’s breath caught.
“In my house?”
“Outside.”
“When?”
“The date was from seven years ago.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I never met Trent seven years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then why would his accountant be outside my house?”
May you like
Rachel whispered,
“That’s what I was trying to find out when I found the hard drive.”
