Chapter 6 - The Cottage by the Ocean)
They reached Cape May shortly after dawn.
Police were already there.
The back door had been forced open.
Drawers were overturned.
Photographs lay across the floor.
Someone had searched the cottage quickly and aggressively.
Nothing obvious had been stolen.
Nathan walked through the rooms with Olivia holding his hand.
The ocean was visible beyond the windows.
The little girl stopped in the hallway.
"I remember the bell."
Nathan looked down.
"What bell?"
She pointed toward the porch.
A small brass wind chime hung beside the door.
It moved in the morning breeze.
Nathan smiled sadly.
"Your mother loved that sound."
Olivia released his hand and walked toward the living room.
She seemed to be following something inside her own memory.
Nathan did not interrupt.
At the fireplace she stopped.
A framed photograph sat on the mantel.
Emily holding baby Olivia on the beach.
Olivia touched it.
"Mommy put my foot here."
Nathan frowned.
"Your foot?"
Olivia pointed toward the bottom of the fireplace.
There was a decorative tile with the impression of a seashell.
Nathan knelt.
The tile moved.
Behind it was an empty cavity.
Someone had already found it.
Nathan's heart sank.
Then Olivia said, "Not that one."
She pointed higher.
"Mommy said little shell."
There were twelve seashell tiles surrounding the fireplace.
Nathan inspected them one by one.
The smallest opened.
Inside was a memory card.
No larger than his thumbnail.
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Emily."
Michael brought a laptop.
The card contained financial spreadsheets, photographs of checks, account records, and dozens of audio files.
One file was dated five days before Emily's death.
Nathan played it.
Emily's voice filled the room.
"If this recording is found, Leonard Vale has already discovered that I know about Larkspur Holdings."
Nathan looked at Michael.
Emily continued.
"Larkspur is a shell company. The Whitmore Children's Foundation paid it more than nine million dollars over four years. Leonard approved every payment."
Nathan's face went cold.
Another voice appeared on the recording.
Leonard.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
Emily answered.
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
"You could destroy Nathan's company."
"No. You could."
"Think about Olivia."
There was a pause.
Nathan stopped breathing.
Emily said, "Was that a threat?"
Leonard's response was quiet.
"It was advice."
The recording ended.
Olivia looked at Nathan.
"Mommy sounds scared."
Nathan closed the laptop.
"She was brave."
Michael examined the remaining files.
"There are more."
The next recording was even worse.
Emily described meeting someone named A.C. who appeared connected to Leonard's transactions.
Nathan looked at Michael.
"Adrian Cole."
Michael nodded.
"Could be."
Vanessa and Adrian had told Nathan they barely knew Leonard before the wedding planning began.
That was another lie.
A third file contained photographs from a hotel security camera.
Leonard entering a conference room.
Adrian following him.
The date was four years earlier.
Before Emily died.
Nathan felt rage climb through him.
Vanessa may have entered his life later.
Adrian had not.
He had been part of Leonard's world from the beginning.
Sarah Bennett arrived an hour later.
She reviewed the files.
"This is enough for financial crimes."
"What about Emily?"
"Not yet."
Nathan stared at the ocean.
"I want the truth."
"We'll find it."
His phone rang.
It was Grace.
Nathan answered.
Her voice was shaking.
"Nathan, Vanessa is gone."
He stood.
"What?"
"The officer watching the guest house found the bathroom window open."
Nathan swore.
"Where is Adrian?"
"Still with police."
"Leonard?"
A pause.
"Nathan."
"What?"
"Leonard's gone too."
Nathan turned toward Michael.
Grace continued.
"And someone left something in Olivia's bedroom."
Nathan's blood turned cold.
"What?"
"A photograph."
"Of what?"
May you like
Grace began crying.
"Olivia sleeping."
