Chapter 11 - the missing forty eight hours
Robert had evidence.
Hotel receipts.
Airline records.
Conference photographs.
He had attended an architecture convention in Chicago from November 25 through November 30, 2006.
The recording was supposedly made on November 27.
Either the label was wrong.
Or the voice wasn't Robert's.
Daniel listened again.
"It sounds exactly like you."
Robert shook his head.
"It isn't."
Ryan replayed it.
"Diane, what did you do?"
Same cadence.
Same gravelly edge.
Same voice Ryan had heard every morning of his childhood.
Margaret looked unsettled.
"Robert had a cousin who sounded similar."
Robert looked at her.
"Edward?"
"Maybe."
Ryan frowned.
"Who's Edward?"
Margaret sighed.
"Our cousin. He stayed with your parents for a while."
"When?"
"Around 2006."
Of course.
Another Holloway.
Another person erased from family conversation.
"Where is he now?"
"No idea."
Robert said, "Last I heard, Maine."
Daniel took out his phone.
"I'll find him."
Ryan looked at his father.
"Why would Edward be involved?"
Robert rubbed his forehead.
"He had financial trouble."
Margaret added, "Diane helped him."
That meant one thing in this family.
She owned part of him.
Sophie sat beside the cassette player.
"There's more tape."
They rewound slightly and pressed play.
Static.
Rebecca's voice.
Then the man again.
"You told me Claire had signed."
Diane responded.
"Keep your voice down."
"You forged her signature?"
"I solved a problem."
"You committed a crime."
"No. Linda handled the paperwork."
Robert whispered, "Linda Carver."
Diane continued on the tape.
"Claire is unstable. Rebecca wants the child. Everyone wins."
"Claire doesn't."
"Claire will recover."
"Does Robert know?"
Diane laughed.
"My husband knows what I tell him."
Ryan looked at his father.
Robert bowed his head.
The man spoke again.
"You said you needed one signature."
"I did."
"What did I sign?"
Silence.
The tape clicked.
Then ended.
Edward.
If it was Edward, Diane had used his resemblance to Robert's signature.
Ryan suddenly understood another possibility.
"Could Edward forge your signature?"
Robert looked up.
"We were cousins. We worked together when we were younger."
"Did he know what your signature looked like?"
"Yes."
Margaret said, "Diane might have used him as a witness."
Sophie stared at the adoption paperwork.
"Or more than that."
Ryan looked at her.
"What?"
She pointed toward a signature beside Diane's cousin Linda's notary stamp.
Robert M. Holloway.
Consent witness.
Robert stared at it.
"That's not mine."
Ryan compared it with his father's signature on the trust documents.
Almost identical.
But not perfect.
"We need Edward."
Daniel stood.
"I know someone who can locate him."
Ryan's phone rang.
The detective handling Noah's case.
He stepped into the hallway.
"Ryan Holloway."
"Mr. Holloway, we need you to come to the station."
"What happened?"
"We located your mother."
Everyone stopped talking when they heard.
"Where?"
"At a hotel near the airport."
"Is she under arrest?"
"I can't discuss that over the phone."
"Is she coming back here?"
"Mr. Holloway, there's another reason we need you."
Ryan's stomach tightened.
"What?"
"Your mother says she has evidence that your wife planned the confrontation."
Ryan almost laughed.
"What?"
"She provided us with messages she says came from Emily."
"What messages?"
"Threats."
Ryan looked toward Emily.
She stared at him.
"That's impossible."
"We need to establish that."
"What exactly do they say?"
"I'd prefer you see them here."
Ryan's anger returned.
Diane was doing it again.
Build uncertainty.
Create another version.
Make the victim defend herself.
Emily walked toward him.
"What's wrong?"
Ryan put the call on speaker.
The detective repeated the information.
Emily's face went pale.
"I never threatened Diane."
Ryan said immediately, "I know."
Emily looked at him.
A few months earlier, he might have said, Let's see the messages first.
That tiny difference mattered.
They went to the station.
The detective showed them screenshots.
The messages appeared to come from Emily's number.
You touch my son again and I'll make sure you regret it.
Thanksgiving is going to be the last time you humiliate me.
Push me again and I'll hit you so hard Robert won't recognize you.
Emily stared.
"The first sentence is mine."
Ryan looked at her.
She continued.
"I texted that after Noah's birthday."
The detective nodded.
"The other two?"
"Not mine."
"Could anyone access your phone?"
"No."
Ryan looked closer.
The screenshots had no timestamps visible.
"Can these be edited?"
The detective said, "Screenshots can be manipulated. We'll seek the original device and records."
"Whose phone?"
"Your mother's."
Ryan laughed.
"Good luck."
The detective gave him a strange look.
"We already have it."
Ryan stopped.
"She surrendered her phone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"She said she has nothing to hide."
That frightened Ryan more than if Diane had destroyed it.
If his mother willingly handed over her phone, she believed whatever was on it helped her.
The detective closed the folder.
"There's one other issue."
"What?"
"Your mother's hotel room was registered under another person's name."
"Whose?"
The detective turned the form toward them.
Claire Holloway.
Ryan stared.
Emily whispered, "Diane knows where Claire is."
The detective shook his head.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Because the identification used at check in belongs to Claire Holloway."
Ryan's pulse jumped.
"Where is the ID?"
"Your mother had it."
"How?"
"That's what we're trying to determine."
Ryan immediately called Claire.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
A third time.
Voicemail.
Ryan texted:
Call me now.
Nothing.
Then Sophie's phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Her face changed.
"It's Claire."
Ryan grabbed the phone.
The message contained only a photograph.
A road.
Trees.
A black SUV in the distance.
May you like
And four words.
She found me first.
