Chapter 2 - The Briefcase
“Don’t touch my property.”
Harrison’s voice changed instantly.
No charm.
No patience.
Just command.
Deputy Price stood.
“You said this wasn’t a crime scene.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then you shouldn’t mind.”
Harrison took one step toward him.
“I mind because I’m a federal judge, Deputy.”
Price glanced toward Elena.
Paramedics were rushing through the courtyard.
Blood covered the side of her face, but she was conscious.
Barely.
That changed everything.
Sheriff Thomas Mercer arrived before the ambulance crew had even loaded her onto the stretcher.
He was broad, gray-haired, and sweating through the collar of his uniform.
“Harrison.”
Not Judge Vale.
Harrison.
Old friends.
That was bad.
Harrison pulled Mercer aside.
Elena couldn’t hear what they said.
But she saw Mercer’s eyes move toward the briefcase lying near the balcony doors above.
Then toward her.
The sheriff’s face tightened.
Deputy Price noticed too.
“Sheriff,” Price said, “victim made a statement.”
Mercer looked irritated.
“What statement?”
“She told me to check Judge Vale’s briefcase.”
Silence.
Harrison laughed once.
“That woman just fell twenty feet and hit her head.”
“She still said it.”
“She’s confused.”
Price didn’t move.
Mercer stepped between them.
“Owen, let paramedics work.”
“And the briefcase?”
“I’ll handle it.”
Price stared at him.
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mercer’s voice dropped.
“Go secure the front gate.”
“Sheriff—”
“That’s an order.”
Elena’s stretcher rolled past Harrison.
He leaned close enough that only she could hear.
“You should have stayed down.”
Her blood went cold.
He smiled for everyone watching.
“I’m praying for you, Elena.”
Then the paramedics carried her away.
Inside the ambulance, Elena struggled against unconsciousness.
“Phone,” she whispered.
The medic leaned over her.
“What?”
“My phone.”
“We didn’t find one.”
Of course they didn’t.
Harrison had taken it before striking her.
But the recording wasn’t only on the phone.
At least Elena hoped it wasn’t.
She had enabled automatic cloud backup weeks earlier after Harrison began deleting calendar entries from the office system.
If the upload had completed, the recording existed somewhere he couldn’t reach.
If it hadn’t—
She closed her eyes.
At the estate, Price climbed the balcony stairs after Mercer disappeared into the study with Harrison.
The briefcase was gone.
Price checked under furniture.
Behind curtains.
Nothing.
A housekeeper named Ruth Bell stood trembling near the hallway.
“You saw where it went?” Price asked.
Ruth looked toward the study.
Then shook her head too quickly.
“Mrs. Bell.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Did you see Elena fall?”
Ruth swallowed.
“No.”
“But you heard something.”
Another pause.
“A man shouting.”
“What did he say?”
Ruth’s eyes filled with tears.
“He said, ‘Give me the phone.’”
Price’s pulse jumped.
Then the study door opened.
Mercer came out carrying nothing.
“You done up here?” the sheriff asked.
Price looked past him.
Harrison stood beside the fireplace.
The briefcase was now on a desk.
Open.
Empty.
Price looked back at Mercer.
“You searched it?”
“Nothing relevant.”
“You searched it without me?”
Mercer stepped close.
“This investigation belongs to me.”
Price glanced at the empty briefcase.
Then at Harrison.
Something had been removed.
May you like
Something important.
And from the way Sheriff Mercer avoided his eyes, Price knew exactly who had removed it.
