Chapter 6 - Inside Daniel's Watch)
The jeweler worked under police supervision.
Grace stood on one side of the glass counter.
Peter stood beside her.
Detective Bennett watched from the other.
The watch had belonged to Daniel's grandfather before Daniel inherited it.
Heavy steel.
Old-fashioned.
Sentimental but not particularly valuable.
Richard had removed it from Peter's room one week before the wedding.
Now Grace understood why.
The jeweler opened the back.
Nothing unusual.
Then he removed the inner protective plate.
A tiny memory card dropped onto the velvet cloth.
Nobody spoke.
Peter looked at Grace.
"Dad put that there?"
Grace nodded slowly.
"I think so."
Federal technicians examined the card.
Encrypted.
It took five hours before they opened it.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Bank transfers.
Insurance claims.
Photographs.
Recorded conversations.
Identity documents.
And a spreadsheet.
Twenty-seven women.
Not nineteen.
Twenty-seven.
Beside each was a status.
APPROACH.
RELATIONSHIP.
MARRIED.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
CLOSED.
Grace stared at the final word.
Closed.
Bennett noticed.
"We don't know what it means."
Grace did.
They both did.
They simply did not want to say it yet.
Daniel had created notes explaining the network.
According to his files, Northstar Strategic Holdings was not a legitimate investment company.
It was a mechanism.
Richard created relationships.
Mark managed money.
Michael Dean and at least two other officials suppressed investigations.
A lawyer named Samuel Voss created trusts, wills and beneficiary changes.
A private nurse named Elaine Tucker helped produce medical documents.
Together they targeted financially secure women, especially those emotionally vulnerable after a death.
Not every woman died.
Some were simply robbed.
Some were manipulated into signing assets away before Richard vanished.
But several cases ended differently.
Accidents.
Falls.
Fires.
Drug interactions.
Disappearances.
Grace felt physically ill.
Peter was not allowed to see most of the files.
But he saw Daniel's final video.
The recording had been made three days before Daniel died.
Daniel sat in his office.
He looked exhausted.
"If Grace ever sees this, then I failed to keep this away from her."
Grace began crying before he continued.
"Grace, I'm sorry."
Peter squeezed her hand.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
"The man using the name Thomas Hale has partners. One of them is someone we know."
Grace already knew.
"Mark Reynolds."
Peter lowered his head.
Daniel explained that Mark had begun stealing from clients years earlier.
Richard became useful because he could form relationships with wealthy women who trusted him.
When Daniel discovered suspicious transfers, Mark tried to convince him they were accounting errors.
Daniel kept investigating.
Then Mark threatened him.
Daniel had recorded part of that conversation.
The next file played.
Mark's voice.
"You have a wife and a little boy."
Daniel's reply.
"Don't bring them into this."
"I'm telling you to think about them."
"You stole from these women."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I know enough."
"Then forget it."
"And if I don't?"
A pause.
Then Mark said, "People have accidents every day."
Grace covered her mouth.
Peter's face hardened.
Bennett stopped the recording before more could play.
Grace whispered, "He killed him."
"We still need evidence directly connecting Mark to the crash."
"But this is enough."
"It's enough for conspiracy and several financial crimes. We need more for murder."
Grace understood the difference.
Emotion wanted certainty.
Law required proof.
The investigation exploded nationally.
Old deaths were reopened.
Insurance companies produced records.
Banks froze accounts.
Two surviving women contacted authorities after recognizing Richard's photograph.
One said Richard had tried to convince her to sell her house.
Another said he had disappeared after she refused to change her will.
Every hour brought another piece.
But Richard and Mark remained missing.
Then, late that afternoon, agents found the honeymoon cabin.
It stood beside a remote lake.
No neighboring homes.
No cellular reception.
Inside they found wine.
Food.
Two suitcases Richard had packed for himself and Grace.
And beneath the sink, a bottle of prescription sedatives that had never been prescribed to Grace.
The back porch faced the lake.
A boat waited at the dock.
Inside the boat was a life jacket.
One.
Only one.
Grace stared at the lake through the cabin window.
The plan became clear.
Wedding.
Insurance activation.
Remote cabin.
Sedatives.
Water.
An accident.
Grace would become another grieving headline.
Newlywed woman drowns during honeymoon.
Richard, the devastated husband, would inherit five million dollars.
Peter would lose another parent.
Grace stepped outside and vomited.
When she returned to the hotel that night, Peter was waiting.
He had heard enough.
"Was he going to kill you?"
Grace wanted to protect him.
But Peter had already saved her life.
Lying would only insult the courage it had taken him to stand in that aisle.
"Yes."
Peter nodded.
He did not cry.
That frightened Grace more.
"Peter."
He looked at her.
"I need you to know something."
"What?"
"You stopped him."
Peter shook his head.
"Dad stopped him."
Grace touched the watch.
"Your dad helped."
Peter looked down.
"But I found it."
"You did."
"And I stood up."
"You did."
Grace pulled him close.
"You saved my life."
Peter finally cried.
For the first time since the wedding, he allowed himself to be a child.
Then Grace's phone buzzed.
A message from Rebecca.
I can take you to the place where he kept the women.
Grace stared at it.
May you like
A second message appeared.
But if Richard realizes I'm alive, he will come for me first.
