Chapter 11 - Eleven Minutes Were Not the Most Important Recording)
Police recovered Natalie Reed's phone before sunrise.
Sloane had not destroyed it.
She had made a mistake.
While escaping through Jackson's back garden, she apparently dropped it near the fence.
An officer found the device beneath wet leaves.
The screen was cracked.
The memory remained intact.
Jackson sat with Detective Ortiz and a digital forensic specialist while they examined the recovered data.
Most messages were ordinary.
Family.
Work.
Photos of Caleb.
Photographs of Jackson sleeping on the sofa with his infant son on his chest.
Videos of Caleb laughing.
Jackson had to look away.
Then the technician opened deleted voice memos.
Natalie had used her phone constantly for reminders.
Groceries.
Foundation tasks.
Doctor appointments.
One recording was labeled only with a date.
The night before the crash.
9:11 p.m.
Ortiz looked at Jackson.
"Ready?"
He nodded.
The recording began with movement.
Fabric.
A door closing.
Then Natalie's voice.
"You are not listening to me."
Jackson froze.
Sloane answered.
"I'm listening. I'm telling you you're wrong."
"You moved money."
"I moved authorized operating funds."
"To companies you own."
A pause.
"Lower your voice."
"No."
Natalie's voice became sharper.
"I changed Caleb's trust today."
Silence.
Then Sloane.
"What did you do?"
"I removed you."
Another silence.
"That was stupid."
"That reaction is exactly why I did it."
Sloane laughed.
A strange, humorless sound.
"You think Jackson can handle everything if something happens to you?"
"Why would something happen to me?"
The recording became silent.
Jackson stopped breathing.
Natalie spoke again.
"Sloane?"
Sloane answered more quietly.
"People make reckless choices when they're emotional."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you should think carefully before you destroy both of us."
"There is no both of us."
"You signed approvals too."
"I did not."
"Records say otherwise."
"You forged them."
"Can you prove that?"
Natalie did not answer.
Sloane continued.
"Think about Caleb."
"Do not use my son."
"I'm trying to protect him."
"From what?"
"From the consequences of what you're about to do."
Then footsteps.
A door.
Natalie's voice.
"Get out of my house."
The recording ended.
Jackson sat motionless.
Ortiz's face had become hard.
"Why did Natalie record this?"
The technician answered.
"The voice memo started five minutes before the argument. She probably activated it intentionally."
Jackson pressed both hands together.
"Is this enough?"
"For fraud and threats, it helps."
"For murder?"
"Not alone."
Then the technician raised a hand.
"There's another recording."
"What?"
"Automatic audio fragment."
He explained.
Natalie's phone had connected to Jackson's car charger in the garage.
The voice assistant had been accidentally triggered by a sound.
Only seventeen seconds of audio had been preserved.
They played it.
Metal movement.
A faint scraping sound.
Then Sloane's voice.
"How long?"
A man answered.
Jackson recognized Lucas.
"Ten minutes, maybe."
Sloane spoke again.
"Then delete everything after I leave."
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Jackson looked at Ortiz.
"That's the garage."
"Likely."
"And Lucas was there."
"Likely."
"They touched the car."
Ortiz stood.
"We need Lucas alive."
At 3:40 that afternoon, they found him.
He had checked into a motel under another name.
When police entered, Lucas did not run.
He sat on the edge of the bed.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
Finished.
Under questioning, he told the truth.
Sloane had called him the night before Natalie's death.
She said Natalie was trying to destroy the foundation and ruin innocent employees.
She needed access to the garage.
Lucas disabled the cameras.
He entered with her.
Then Sloane opened the trunk of her car.
Inside was a tool case.
Lucas claimed he finally understood what she intended.
He tried to leave.
Sloane threatened to expose his brother.
Then she ordered him to stand near the door and warn her if Natalie came downstairs.
"What did she do?" Ortiz asked.
Lucas looked at the floor.
"She loosened something near the rear wheel."
"Did you see what?"
"No."
"Did you ask?"
"She told me it would only make the car fail inspection."
Ortiz stared at him.
"And you believed that?"
"No."
Lucas began crying.
"I wanted to."
The next morning, Natalie drove away.
Forty minutes later, she was dead.
Sloane called Lucas.
She told him to erase the garage footage.
Then she arranged disposal of the car before a second inspection could occur.
Lucas had remained silent for eight months.
Now police had testimony.
Financial motive.
Threats.
Deleted surveillance.
Brake fluid on gloves from Sloane's storage unit.
The recovered voice memo.
And proof that Sloane had arranged destruction of the car.
May you like
An arrest warrant for Sloane Whitaker was issued that evening.
But Sloane had disappeared.
