Chapter 1 - The Recording Clara Never Finished)
Derek made it three steps toward the kitchen before Alex caught the back of his jacket.
Alex slammed him against the wall hard enough to rattle a framed photograph.
“Where are you going?”
“Get off me!”
“You run when the police arrive, and you expect me not to ask?”
“I panicked!”
“Why?”
“Because you’re acting insane!”
Alex tightened his fist in Derek’s jacket.
“My wife is in a coffin.”
“And she’s dead!”
The words landed like a slap.
Lily screamed.
“Stop saying that!”
Alex released Derek immediately and turned toward his daughter.
Two police officers entered through the open front door.
Behind them came Detective Rachel Monroe, a woman in her early forties wearing a dark blazer and an expression that shifted the second she saw the coffin in the living room.
“Who called?”
“I did,” Alex said.
Teresa moved forward.
“My son is grieving. There’s been a misunderstanding.”
Monroe ignored her.
“What misunderstanding?”
Alex held up the hidden phone.
“My daughter says my mother took my wife’s phone. My father hid this underneath his wheelchair. There’s a recording from my wife saying something about my boss and my mother.”
Monroe looked at Teresa.
“What boss?”
“Richard Voss,” Alex said. “CEO of Voss Meridian.”
Derek muttered something under his breath.
Monroe heard it.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Alex turned on him.
“Say it.”
Derek rubbed his jaw.
“I said this is getting worse.”
“How could it get worse?”
Derek laughed once without humor.
“You really don’t know.”
Teresa shouted his name.
“Derek!”
Everyone looked at her.
Teresa realized her mistake too late.
Monroe’s eyes sharpened.
“Mr. Carter, I think you should stop talking until I understand exactly what happened here.”
Alex pointed toward Clara’s coffin.
“Start with her.”
Beatrice stepped between them.
“I have legal documentation.”
“You’re the funeral director?” Monroe asked.
“Yes.”
“Who pronounced the deceased?”
Beatrice hesitated.
“Dr. Simon Bell.”
“What hospital?”
“It wasn’t at a hospital.”
Monroe stopped writing.
“Where?”
“At home.”
Alex stared at her.
“What?”
Beatrice’s face tightened.
“Clara collapsed Thursday night.”
“Thursday?”
Alex looked at Lily.
He had left Wednesday morning.
“She was fine.”
Teresa spoke softly.
“She became ill after dinner.”
“What kind of ill?”
“She couldn’t breathe.”
“And nobody called me?”
“We tried.”
“My phone never rang.”
“You were overseas.”
“I had service.”
Teresa faltered.
Derek looked at the floor.
Alex noticed.
“You knew?”
Derek did not answer.
“Derek.”
“I knew she got sick.”
“You knew my wife was dying and didn’t call me?”
“She wasn’t supposed to die!”
Silence.
Monroe slowly lowered her notebook.
“What do you mean, she wasn’t supposed to die?”
Derek’s face emptied.
Teresa moved toward him.
“Don’t say another word.”
Monroe stepped between them.
“Mrs. Carter, back away.”
A second officer guided Teresa toward the far side of the room.
Arthur groaned loudly from the wheelchair.
Alex knelt beside him.
“Dad?”
Arthur raised two shaking fingers.
Then pointed at the phone.
“Two?”
Arthur nodded.
“Two recordings?”
Arthur nodded again.
Alex unlocked the device.
There were four files.
The first had already begun playing.
The second was dated Thursday at 11:42 p.m.
Alex pressed it.
At first there was only movement and muffled voices.
Then Clara whispered.
“I hid this in Arthur’s chair because Teresa searches my room.”
Someone knocked.
Clara inhaled sharply.
A man’s voice came from outside the room.
“Clara?”
Derek.
Everyone looked at him.
On the recording, Derek spoke again.
“Open the door. We need to fix this before Alex comes home.”
Clara answered.
“You already took enough from us.”
Then another voice appeared.
Female.
Teresa.
“Stop being dramatic. Richard only needs your signature.”
Alex’s stomach tightened.
Richard.
His boss.
Clara whispered directly into the phone.
“If Alex ever hears this, tell him not to trust the Singapore trip. It was arranged.”
The recording abruptly ended.
Alex stood motionless.
His business trip had been to Singapore.
Richard Voss had insisted Alex personally attend the three-day negotiation.
A trip Alex had almost canceled because Lily had a school recital.
A trip Clara had encouraged him to take only after Richard called their house and told her the future of Alex’s division depended on it.
Monroe looked at Alex.
“You were intentionally sent away.”
It was not a question.
Alex looked at his wife’s coffin.
“When can you open it?”
Beatrice stepped back.
“You cannot.”
Alex turned.
“What did you say?”
“The coffin was sealed.”
“Then unseal it.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Beatrice swallowed.
“Because Teresa signed the authorization for immediate preparation.”
Alex stared at his mother.
Teresa said nothing.
Monroe spoke.
“Preparation involving what?”
Beatrice’s voice dropped.
“Cremation was scheduled for this afternoon.”
Lily began sobbing.
Alex looked at the clock.
They had intended to burn Clara’s body less than an hour after he arrived home.
His mother had known exactly when his flight landed.
A sick realization took shape.
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The funeral was never meant to comfort him.
It was meant to destroy evidence before he could ask questions.
