Chapter 9 - The Person Sloane Was Afraid Of)
Natalie's handwritten records gave police what the foundation's altered accounting system had hidden.
A trail.
Money had moved from the charity into Gray Harbor Strategy.
Gray Harbor paid Northline Advisory.
Northline transferred funds to a private investment account.
The beneficial owner of that account was Sloane Whitaker.
Seven million dollars.
Four years.
Fraud.
Embezzlement.
Money laundering.
But none of it proved murder.
Then Lucas Marr called Hannah.
It happened at 6:18 on a Wednesday morning.
Hannah's phone rang while she was making Caleb breakfast.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
"Hannah Brooks?"
"Yes."
A man's voice.
"I need Jackson Reed."
"Who is this?"
Another pause.
"Tell him I didn't know she would hurt the baby."
Hannah's entire body went cold.
"Lucas?"
The line went silent.
"Lucas, where are you?"
"I didn't know."
"What didn't you know?"
"I thought she wanted the cameras off because she was moving documents."
"Where are you?"
"I can't go to the police."
"You already tried to enter the house."
"She told me the key was for the office."
Hannah looked toward Caleb.
"You wrote nursery on it."
"I didn't."
Hannah froze.
"What?"
"The tag was already attached."
"Then who gave you the key?"
Lucas began breathing faster.
"Sloane."
Hannah put the call on speaker and used Jackson's second phone to contact Detective Ortiz.
Jackson came running downstairs.
Hannah held up one hand.
Keep him talking.
"Why did Sloane send you?"
Lucas said nothing.
"Lucas."
"She wanted a file."
"What file?"
"Something Natalie kept."
Jackson's face changed.
"What did she think was in the nursery?"
"She didn't say."
Hannah asked, "Did you disable the camera before Sloane attacked me?"
Lucas whispered, "Yes."
Jackson's jaw tightened.
"Did you disable the garage camera the night before Natalie died?"
Silence.
Then Lucas started crying.
Not loudly.
It sounded like a man who had spent months expecting the question.
"I gave her access."
Jackson closed his eyes.
"What did she do in the garage?"
"I don't know."
"Did you go there?"
"No."
"Did you see her?"
"No."
"What did she tell you?"
"That Natalie had discovered financial records and she needed to get into the house without being recorded."
Jackson gripped the counter.
"You helped her."
"She paid me."
"My wife died the next morning."
"I know."
"Did you know she was going to touch the car?"
"No."
"Did you know afterward?"
Lucas did not answer.
"Lucas."
"She called me."
"When?"
"The morning of the crash."
"What did she say?"
Lucas's voice dropped.
"She said there had been an accident."
Jackson's breathing became shallow.
"And?"
"She asked whether deleted security footage could ever be recovered."
Nobody spoke.
Lucas continued.
"That's when I knew something was wrong."
"Why didn't you go to police?"
"Because I had illegally accessed your system."
"So you protected yourself."
"Yes."
"And Natalie was dead."
"I'm sorry."
Jackson almost spoke.
Ortiz's voice came quietly through Hannah's second phone.
"Keep him on."
Hannah asked Lucas where he was.
He refused.
Then Jackson changed tactics.
"What are you afraid of?"
Lucas laughed bitterly.
"You don't know her."
"I think I'm learning."
"She knows everything about people."
"Money?"
"Money. Affairs. Drugs. Debts. Whatever she can use."
"What does she have on you?"
Lucas went silent.
"Lucas."
"My brother."
"What about him?"
"He stole equipment from a hospital system. I covered it up. Sloane found out."
Jackson finally understood.
Sloane did not build loyalty.
She built leverage.
Everyone around her carried a secret.
And she collected those secrets until they became chains.
"Why call now?"
Lucas took a shaky breath.
"Because she told me something last night."
"What?"
"She said if the trust investigation continues, Caleb will be removed from you before the end of the week."
Jackson's face hardened.
"How?"
"I don't know."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Then what do you know?"
Lucas hesitated.
"I know where she keeps copies."
"Copies of what?"
"Everything."
"Where?"
There was a long pause.
Then Lucas gave them an address.
A private storage facility outside the city.
Unit 314.
The call ended.
Police traced it to a bus station forty miles away.
By the time officers arrived, Lucas was gone.
But the storage unit existed.
A warrant was obtained.
Inside Unit 314, police found three locked metal cabinets.
The first contained financial records.
The second contained personal files on members of the foundation board.
The third contained photographs and documents connected to the Reed family.
There were copies of Caleb's medical records.
Jackson's travel schedule.
Hannah's background report.
Private photographs of Natalie.
Copies of the original and amended trusts.
And one small evidence bag.
Inside was a pair of latex gloves.
Detective Ortiz stared at them.
"Why would she keep these?"
No one knew.
Then a forensic technician lifted the bag.
A faint dark residue remained on one glove.
May you like
The laboratory identified it forty-eight hours later.
Brake fluid.
