Chapter 10 - Rebecca’s Confession
They found Rebecca at 1:20 the next morning.
She was not at her mother’s house.
She was sitting in a parked rental car two streets away.
A packed suitcase was in the trunk.
Thirty-eight thousand dollars in cash was hidden beneath the spare tire.
By sunrise, she was inside an interview room.
At 8:15 a.m., Adrian called me.
“She’s talking.”
I drove downtown with Rachel.
Rebecca looked nothing like the polished woman who used to walk through our kitchen carrying David’s schedule.
Her hair was tangled.
Her eyes were swollen.
She refused to look at me.
I sat across from her.
Rachel sat beside me.
Adrian stood near the wall.
Rebecca whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
I did not respond.
She started crying.
“I didn’t know Lily would die.”
My entire body went rigid.
Rachel touched my arm.
Rebecca shook her head frantically.
“That came out wrong.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Tell the truth,” I said.
My voice did not sound like mine.
Rebecca wiped her face.
“David’s company was collapsing.”
“I knew for almost a year.”
“He started moving money.”
“At first, he said Maya had approved it.”
She looked at me.
“I believed him.”
“Then I realized signatures were being copied.”
“Why did you help?”
“Because he said if the company failed, hundreds of employees would lose everything.”
I almost laughed.
The hero excuse.
David loved that one.
He could justify destroying one person by claiming he was saving a hundred others.
Rebecca continued.
“He told me the trust money would be replaced.”
“Then the Sterling loan failed.”
“And everything got worse.”
“What about Lily’s insurance?”
Rebecca looked at Adrian.
Then back at me.
“David ordered Martin to create it.”
“Did David forge my signature?”
“No.”
The answer surprised everyone.
“I did.”
Rachel stiffened.
Rebecca started crying harder.
“He gave me copies of documents.”
“He told me where to sign.”
“He told me it was temporary.”
I wanted to hate her.
Part of me did.
But beneath the anger was something else.
A terrible question.
“Did you block the hospital?”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
The room became silent.
“Rebecca.”
She nodded.
Once.
My heart stopped.
“Why?”
“David told me before the trip that Maya might try to interrupt him.”
“He told me to filter anything nonessential.”
“When the calls started, I saw the hospital number.”
“Why would you block a hospital?”
“I called David.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Rebecca looked toward Adrian.
“They recovered the call.”
My pulse pounded.
“When?”
“10:56 p.m.”
That was early.
Hours before Lily died.
“What did you tell him?”
Rebecca looked directly at me.
“I told him the pediatric hospital was calling.”
Every sound in the room disappeared.
“And?”
May you like
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“He told me to block it.”
