Chapter 8 - ASHLEY'S SECRET
The recorded argument continued for sixteen minutes.
By the end, we knew more than Michael realized.
Ashley had checked weather conditions.
Michael had selected the overlook.
Ashley had disabled location sharing on Michael's phone.
Michael had packed my winter boots himself because he knew they had poor traction.
That detail was supposed to support the story that I slipped.
Everything had been planned.
But then Michael said something we did not expect.
"You were supposed to delete the footage."
Ashley went silent.
"What footage?" I asked.
Rebecca motioned for me to wait.
On the recording, Ashley finally answered.
"I did."
"No, you deleted the cabin camera."
"That's what you told me."
"There was another camera in the vehicle."
Daniel immediately called the investigators.
Michael's SUV had been impounded temporarily after my disappearance.
Police had already examined the standard dashboard system.
Nothing.
But Michael was talking about something else.
The SUV belonged to his company.
Several executives had aftermarket security systems because of previous theft.
Rebecca obtained a warrant through the detective assigned to my case.
Inside the rearview mirror housing, technicians found an encrypted memory card.
Most footage had been overwritten.
But one clip remained.
Seven minutes.
The camera faced inside the vehicle.
It showed Michael and Ashley thirty minutes before we reached the overlook.
I was asleep in the back seat.
Pregnancy exhausted me constantly.
Michael was driving.
Ashley sat beside him.
She whispered, "Are you really going through with it?"
Michael did not hesitate.
"There's no other way."
"You could divorce her."
"And lose half the company?"
He laughed.
"No."
Ashley stared ahead.
"What if she survives?"
Michael looked toward the sleeping image of me reflected in the mirror.
"She won't."
I stopped watching.
That was enough.
Daniel closed the laptop.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
My marriage had lasted five years.
I had defended Michael to friends.
I had believed his ambition meant he cared about our future.
I had spent nights rubbing his shoulders while he complained about business stress.
I had carried his child while he calculated the price of my death.
Rebecca finally broke the silence.
"We can arrest him now."
"Both?"
"Ashley is more complicated."
"Why?"
"Her language suggests participation."
Rebecca folded her hands.
"But she may argue that she knew something was happening without actively assisting."
"She stood above the cliff."
"Your testimony establishes that."
Daniel looked at me.
"What do you want?"
I thought about Ashley asking whether I was dead.
I thought about her stamping her feet because she was cold while I bled below them.
"I want both of them."
Rebecca nodded.
"Then we wait one more day."
"Why?"
She turned the laptop around.
"Because Ashley bought a plane ticket."
"Where?"
"Cayman Islands."
Michael had not bought one.
May you like
Ashley was preparing to run.
And she was preparing to leave Michael behind.
