Chapter 8 - The Woman in the SUV)
The driver had remained in the SUV for less than four minutes.
Evelyn remembered because the headlights had shone through the foyer windows while Caroline entered.
At the time she assumed Derek had hired a car.
Now the security footage showed something different.
At 11:04, a black SUV entered the property.
At 11:09, Caroline and Derek walked toward the front entrance.
At 11:11, the SUV moved away from the main drive.
But it did not leave.
It traveled down the service road toward the detached garage.
At 11:27, a woman emerged.
Blonde.
Similar height to Caroline.
She wore dark clothing and carried a pale bundle beneath one arm.
At 11:34, she appeared near the side entrance wearing a green dress and cream cardigan.
Caroline stared at the screen.
"That's my outfit."
Richard looked toward her.
"Do you own another one?"
"No."
"Was anything missing from your luggage?"
"I didn't unpack."
They went upstairs.
The two suitcases waited where Derek had left them.
Caroline opened the first.
Shoes.
Toiletries.
Sweaters.
The second contained dresses and coats.
She searched.
Then stopped.
"What?"
Evelyn asked.
Caroline lifted an empty garment bag.
"This had my green dress from last year's Christmas dinner."
Evelyn looked at what Caroline was currently wearing.
"Then what are you wearing now?"
Caroline stared down.
The dress looked identical.
Almost.
She checked the label.
It was the correct designer.
Correct size.
But the stitching near the hem was new.
Caroline whispered, "He replaced it."
Richard frowned.
"Why?"
Malcolm answered from the doorway.
"So the other woman could wear the original."
Caroline's face drained.
Derek had not improvised last night.
He had prepared.
The outfit.
The trip.
The chore list.
The access attempt.
All of it.
Richard called the security director.
"Identify the SUV."
Ten minutes later they had a plate.
The vehicle was registered to a short-term corporate fleet.
The booking name meant nothing to Caroline.
Laura Benton.
Richard knew it.
His face changed instantly.
"Who is she?" Caroline asked.
Richard walked toward the window.
"Former compliance analyst."
"At Mercer?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"She resigned eight months ago."
"Why?"
Richard did not answer.
Evelyn did.
"She accused Derek of manipulating vendor approvals."
Caroline turned.
"You knew her?"
"She contacted me."
"Why you?"
"Because she believed Richard's internal team was burying her complaint."
Richard faced Evelyn.
"They weren't."
"You don't know that."
"I investigated."
"You assigned Derek's division head to investigate Derek."
Richard's jaw tightened.
"He reported no evidence."
"And three months later Derek received a promotion."
Caroline laughed once.
"Of course he did."
Richard looked toward her.
"That promotion wasn't my decision."
"Whose was it?"
Silence.
Richard seemed to realize something.
He took out his phone.
"Marcus Hall."
Evelyn knew the name.
Chief operating officer.
Richard's closest executive for twenty years.
The man who had attended birthdays, funerals, and Caroline's wedding.
Richard dialed.
No answer.
He called again.
Voicemail.
Malcolm looked concerned.
"Where is Marcus today?"
"Boston investor meetings."
"Verify it."
Richard called his assistant.
Thirty seconds later he lowered the phone.
"The Boston meetings were canceled yesterday."
Caroline stared.
"Where is he?"
"No one knows."
Evelyn felt the shape of the problem expanding.
Derek had never possessed enough authority to create all of this alone.
The forged access.
The internal trustee request.
The vendor irregularities.
The promotion after a compliance complaint.
Someone had protected him.
Richard turned toward Malcolm.
"Freeze Derek's old credentials."
"They should already be disabled."
"Should be isn't good enough."
Malcolm called.
Caroline sat on the bed.
Her hands trembled.
Evelyn moved toward her.
Caroline looked up sharply.
"I'm fine."
Evelyn stopped.
"Okay."
Caroline stared at the identical green dress.
"I was awful to you last night."
Evelyn said nothing.
"I handed you a chore list."
"Yes."
"I told you to earn your keep."
"Yes."
Caroline laughed weakly.
"You're really not going to make this easier."
"No."
Caroline looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because apologizing to me won't matter if you only do it because you're frightened."
Caroline absorbed that.
Evelyn continued.
"Find out who you are when no one cleans up after you. Then apologize if you still mean it."
Caroline's eyes filled again.
"You sound like my mother."
Evelyn looked toward the green case downstairs.
"Sometimes."
Richard entered the bedroom.
"Security found Laura Benton's phone number."
"Call her," Caroline said.
"They did."
"And?"
"It has been disconnected."
Malcolm entered behind him.
"But we found something else."
He held out a tablet.
A toll record captured the SUV leaving Connecticut at 3:12 a.m.
Heading south.
"So she's gone," Caroline said.
"Maybe."
Malcolm swiped.
"At 4:06, the vehicle stopped at a service plaza."
Security footage showed Laura Benton stepping out.
She was no longer wearing Caroline's dress.
She carried a black backpack.
A man joined her near the entrance.
The camera captured his face clearly.
Richard grabbed the tablet.
"No."
Caroline looked.
She had seen the man before.
Not recently.
In photographs.
At her mother's funeral.
At Christmas.
Beside her father on a lake.
Her voice disappeared.
"Uncle Thomas?"
May you like
Richard stared at the image of his supposedly dead brother.
The timestamp was less than three hours old.
