Chapter 8 - CATHERINE’S RECORDING
The recording began with static.
Then Catherine spoke.
“If William is listening to this, I was right to be afraid.”
Mark covered his mouth.
Sarah reached for his hand.
Catherine continued.
“Brenda has been asking about the Harbor property again.”
“She believes she deserves the money.”
“I told her the property was never meant for her.”
“She became furious.”
There was a pause.
“She said I have always loved Mark more.”
Mark looked down.
Catherine’s voice softened.
“That is not true.”
“I love both my children.”
“But Brenda has become obsessed with what she believes she is owed.”
Another pause.
“I found withdrawals from my investment account.”
“Brenda denied taking them.”
“Tonight, I discovered copies of my signature in her desk.”
Sarah felt her skin prickle.
The recording continued.
“I am meeting an attorney tomorrow.”
“I am changing the estate instructions.”
“If anything happens to me before then, William needs to know I did not imagine this.”
The recording ended.
Mark cried silently.
Sarah had rarely seen her husband cry.
He had stood firm at his father’s funeral.
He had comforted everyone else.
Now he looked nineteen years old again.
Lost.
Detective Hale gave him several minutes.
Then he explained the significance.
“This gives us motive.”
“But not proof Brenda caused the accident.”
Mark nodded.
“I understand.”
Sarah looked at the recorder.
“How did William get this?”
Hale answered.
“Possibly from the private investigator.”
The device contained a second file.
That recording had been made only two months earlier.
William’s voice.
“Thomas, if Brenda realizes we reopened Catherine’s case, she will panic.”
Another man responded.
“She already suspects.”
“Then move the originals.”
“Where?”
William paused.
“Somewhere she would never look.”
The file ended.
Mark frowned.
“What originals?”
Hale suspected documents.
Perhaps photographs.
Perhaps reports from the original crash.
But the hidden compartment was empty.
Someone had found it first.
Then Sarah remembered Elena’s video.
Brenda had looked over her shoulder twice.
Not toward Elena.
Toward the hallway.
“What if Brenda wasn’t checking whether I was coming back?”
Elena looked confused.
“What else would she be checking?”
Sarah replayed the video.
Brenda opened the packet.
She glanced over her left shoulder.
Then again.
The hallway security mirror reflected a faint figure.
Sarah zoomed in.
A man stood near the study door.
Mark leaned closer.
“That isn’t Daniel.”
Detective Hale froze the frame.
The figure was blurry.
But one detail was visible.
A distinctive silver walking cane.
Mark stood abruptly.
“I know who that is.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Who?”
“My uncle Robert.”
Robert Caldwell was William’s younger brother.
He had attended the funeral.
He had hugged Sarah.
He had kissed Noah.
And after William’s death, Robert had offered to help manage the estate.
Sarah remembered him clearly.
Quiet.
Polite.
Almost invisible during every family argument.
“What was he doing in our house?” she asked.
Mark looked confused.
“He told me he was in Chicago that week.”
Detective Hale was already making a call.
Robert’s travel records were checked.
There had been no trip to Chicago.
His phone had been switched off during the hours he claimed to be flying.
Sarah looked at Elena.
“So Brenda wasn’t alone.”
Elena’s voice barely rose above a whisper.
“No.”
Then Mark remembered something.
“My father’s will.”
“What?”
“Robert is the backup trustee if Brenda cannot serve.”
Sarah felt the pieces shift again.
If Sarah lost control.
If Brenda became disqualified.
If something happened to Mark.
Robert could potentially control Noah’s inheritance.
Detective Hale immediately requested financial records.
By midnight, the result arrived.
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BRC Strategic Services had transferred nearly half of its stolen funds to another company.
That company belonged to Robert Caldwell.
