Chapter 5 - The Recording Inside the Rabbit
The officers advised Helen to spend the night elsewhere.
She refused.
Leaving the house would allow Mark to argue that she had abandoned it or that she was too frightened to remain alone. More importantly, she did not know what evidence might disappear while she was gone.
The police agreed to increase patrols and helped her update the alarm code.
Claire surrendered her key.
She also surrendered her phone after an investigator explained that the messages between her and Mark could be evidence.
Sophie remained beside Helen.
“Shouldn’t she go somewhere else?” Claire asked.
“She is staying with me,” Helen replied.
“I’m her mother.”
“And she is a witness to a conversation involving a crime.”
Claire looked as though she had been struck.
The officer spoke calmly.
“No one is removing custody tonight. But until we understand what happened, Sophie should remain where she feels safe.”
Sophie did not move toward her mother.
Claire noticed.
Her shoulders lowered.
Helen did not enjoy seeing her daughter hurt, but she would not rush to comfort her. Claire’s pain did not erase the choices that created it.
At eleven that night, the house became quiet again.
Claire left with the officers to provide a formal statement. David remained on the phone while Helen reviewed security arrangements.
Mark had stopped calling after learning police were involved.
That worried David more than the earlier threats.
“A man like Mark does not accept a closed door,” he said. “He looks for a window.”
Helen sat on the edge of the bed while Sophie changed into her lavender pajamas.
“What about Evelyn Vale?”
“I contacted a retired investigator who worked on the Raven Hill cases. Evelyn vanished after the company dissolved.”
“Apparently she did not vanish far enough.”
“The investigator believes she continued operating through shell companies.”
“And George knew her.”
“Yes.”
“You keep giving me partial answers.”
“Because I only have partial facts.”
“You had five years to find more.”
David was silent.
Helen softened slightly.
“I’m sorry.”
“You have every right to be angry.”
“What did George ask you to do?”
“Protect the original deed and trust documents. He believed someone had created duplicates.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He was trying to determine who was involved before alarming you.”
“That sounds like George.”
Her husband had loved by carrying burdens silently.
At the time, Helen considered it protective.
Now it felt dangerous.
Sophie climbed onto the bed with Mr. Buttons.
David said, “I’ll come first thing in the morning. We’ll open the envelope together.”
Helen ended the call and placed the phone on the nightstand.
Sophie remained unusually still.
“You said earlier that you recorded your parents,” Helen said.
The girl looked at the rabbit.
“How?”
Sophie reached beneath its little blue vest and pulled at a loose section of stitching.
Inside the fabric was a small plastic voice recorder.
Helen recognized it.
She had bought it for Sophie’s school interview project.
“You put it inside Mr. Buttons?”
“Dad checks my tablet.”
The answer sent a new wave of anger through Helen.
“Why did you think you needed to record him?”
“Because Mom kept saying he never said things.”
Helen’s expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
“Dad says something, and later Mom says she remembers it differently. Then Dad tells her she’s tired.”
Helen took the recorder.
“How many conversations are on this?”
“I don’t know. I turn it on when they fight.”
“Sophie, listening to adults argue is not your responsibility.”
“I wanted Mom to know she wasn’t imagining it.”
Helen closed her eyes for a moment.
The child had been trying to provide evidence of reality to her own mother.
She inserted the recorder into the bedside laptop.
There were fourteen audio files.
The most recent had been created at 10:36 the previous night.
Helen opened it.
At first, there was only the muffled sound of footsteps.
Then Mark spoke.
“Rhodes signs the report tomorrow. Once the petition is filed, Helen loses authority over the house.”
Claire’s voice followed.
“You said this was about protecting the property.”
“It is.”
“Then why does Raven Hill become the owner?”
“Temporarily.”
“That isn’t what the transfer says.”
“You’re reading language you don’t understand.”
“I understand the word permanent.”
A chair scraped.
Mark’s tone hardened.
“You already signed the affidavit.”
“You told me it would never be submitted.”
“You should have read it.”
Claire began crying.
“What if my mother challenges the signature?”
“She won’t have standing once the court accepts the medical report.”
“And if Sophie tells her?”
A long silence followed.
Then Mark said, “Sophie believes what we teach her to believe.”
Helen glanced toward her granddaughter.
Sophie stared at the blanket.
The recording continued.
Claire said, “She heard us.”
“Then take her tablet.”
“She could tell Mom.”
“Not if Helen is already under supervision.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means by Sunday night, your mother will be in Denver and the house will be empty.”
Helen stopped the audio.
Sophie whispered, “There’s another part.”
Helen resumed playback.
Mark’s voice returned.
“The original deed is inside George’s envelope. Evelyn says we need it before the court reviews the trust.”
“Why?”
“Because the signature on our power of attorney came from the wrong document.”
“What wrong document?”
“The first forgery.”
The bedroom seemed to shrink around Helen.
Claire’s voice became almost inaudible.
“You told me Mom signed that amendment.”
“Your mother never signed anything.”
A sharp sound followed, as though Mark had closed a drawer.
Then he said, “Neither did your father.”
Helen replayed the sentence.
Neither did your father.
George’s signature on the trust amendment had also been forged.
Sophie hugged her knees.
“Is Grandpa’s name stolen too?”
Helen looked toward the sealed envelope beneath her pillow.
Before she could answer, headlights swept across the bedroom ceiling.
May you like
A vehicle turned into the driveway.
Then a second car followed.
