Chapter 7 - The 4:12 Login
The login came from an IP address registered to Vance Meridian Holdings.
That should have been impossible.
Federal investigators had seized the company’s main servers two days earlier.
But one remote administrative system remained active.
Someone had entered Lily’s policy account at 4:12 a.m.
They had viewed the claim requirements.
Then downloaded a copy of her death certificate.
I stared at Rachel.
“Who had the death certificate?”
“The funeral home.”
“The hospital.”
“My office.”
“And federal investigators.”
Rachel nodded.
“Plus anyone who could access the county records after filing.”
My mind raced.
“What did they do with it?”
“They started a claim.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“Someone filed for the money?”
“They began the process.”
“Did David?”
“He was still flying home.”
“Julianne?”
“Same flight.”
“Then who?”
Rachel did not answer.
At 5:30 that evening, Adrian called me to the federal building.
The interview room was small.
Gray walls.
Metal table.
A box of tissues I refused to touch.
Adrian sat across from me with another investigator named Nina Torres.
Nina specialized in forensic accounting.
She slid a photograph across the table.
A man in his early sixties.
Silver hair.
Thin glasses.
Martin Keller.
“Mr. Keller was located forty minutes ago.”
Relief passed through me.
“Where?”
“Inside his vehicle at a rest area near Kenosha.”
Something about Nina’s voice made the relief disappear.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“He claims someone threatened him.”
“Who?”
“He won’t say.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“But he gave us this.”
He placed a small flash drive on the table.
“Martin says Mr. Vance asked him to create the policy.”
My stomach tightened.
“He says David ordered it?”
“Yes.”
“Did David know Lily was insured?”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
I could hear the ventilation system above us.
I looked down at my hands.
“Did he know about the claim?”
“We don’t know.”
Adrian continued carefully.
“Martin claims the policy wasn’t originally about Lily dying.”
I looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Nina answered.
“Vance Meridian needed collateral to secure a short-term private loan.”
“The lender required key-person and contingent-family coverage tied to a package of guarantees.”
“That’s grotesque.”
“It’s also highly irregular.”
“Did David forge my signature?”
“Martin says David supplied signed forms and told him you had approved them.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course he did.”
Adrian pushed the flash drive closer.
“But that isn’t why Martin ran.”
“What’s on it?”
“Internal emails.”
“Payment records.”
“And one audio recording.”
My chest tightened.
“Of David?”
“No.”
Nina and Adrian exchanged a glance.
The pause frightened me more than any answer could have.
“Who?”
Adrian spoke.
“David’s chief financial officer.”
I knew him.
Richard Sloan.
He had worked beside David for nine years.
“He recorded a conversation three days before Lily became sick.”
“What conversation?”
Adrian pressed play.
Richard’s voice came through the speaker.
Then another voice answered.
May you like
David’s.
And in the first ten seconds, I heard my husband say my daughter’s name.
