Chapter 6: A Dead Man’s Name
The burned body was identified the following afternoon.
The victim was Marcus Dean, a former accountant who had worked for Nathan’s company three years earlier.
Nathan recognized the name immediately.
Marcus had been fired after being accused of selling confidential financial information.
At the time, there had not been enough evidence to prosecute him.
Now he was dead in a car registered under a fake name.
Adrian’s identification had been planted beside his body.
Detective Bennett gathered Nathan, Ethan and Vanessa in a private interview room at the police station.
“Marcus Dean’s phone records show repeated contact with a prepaid number,” she explained. “We believe that number belonged to Adrian.”
Nathan looked at Vanessa.
“Did you know Marcus?”
“No.”
Ethan watched her closely.
She noticed.
“I’m telling the truth.”
Detective Bennett slid a photograph across the table.
It showed Marcus entering a restaurant with Vanessa six months earlier.
Nathan stared at the image.
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
“That isn’t what it looks like.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“You should stop saying that.”
“I met him once.”
“You just said you didn’t know him.”
“I didn’t know his name.”
Detective Bennett leaned forward.
“Why did you meet him?”
“Adrian sent him.”
“For what purpose?”
Vanessa’s hands tightened.
“He gave me the access device.”
Nathan frowned.
“What access device?”
She looked at him.
“The security token for your company’s reserve account.”
Nathan’s face changed.
“That token disappeared from my office.”
“Marcus took it before he was fired. Adrian bought it from him.”
Ethan asked, “Why kill him now?”
Vanessa looked at the photograph.
“Because Marcus wanted more money. And because Adrian needed a body.”
Detective Bennett nodded.
“A false death gives him time to leave the country.”
Nathan turned to Vanessa.
“Where would he go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were planning to disappear with him.”
“I was planning to run from him.”
“Where?”
Vanessa’s silence gave her away.
Detective Bennett placed another photograph on the table.
A lakeside house surrounded by trees.
“We found a lease in Lucent Consulting’s records. The property is two hours north.”
Vanessa stared at the image.
Nathan saw recognition.
“You know that place.”
“It belonged to our father.”
“You told me your parents were dead.”
“My mother is dead.”
“And your father?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Missing.”
Detective Bennett leaned forward.
“For how long?”
“Fifteen years.”
Ethan studied her.
“Did Adrian have something to do with it?”
Vanessa looked at him slowly.
“I never proved it.”
Nathan felt another layer of his wife’s past opening beneath him.
“What happened?”
“Our father discovered Adrian stealing from his business. He planned to turn him in. Two days later, Dad disappeared.”
“And you stayed with Adrian?”
“I was eighteen. He was all I had.”
“He may have killed your father.”
“I know.”
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“I have known for fifteen years.”
Detective Bennett gathered the photographs.
“We are searching the lake house.”
Vanessa stood abruptly.
“You can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if Adrian believes the police know about it, he’ll destroy what is inside.”
“What is inside?” Nathan asked.
Vanessa looked at him.
“Records. Names. Accounts. Everything he has used to control people.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ve seen them?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago. That’s when I decided not to complete the transfer.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You found evidence that could stop him, and you didn’t go to the police?”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“The files include evidence against me too.”
There it was.
The truth beneath her fear.
Even while claiming to protect Nathan, Vanessa had still been protecting herself.
Nathan stepped away from the table.
“You didn’t choose me over Adrian.”
She looked at him.
“You chose whichever option kept you out of prison.”
Before she could answer, Detective Bennett’s phone buzzed.
She read the message and looked up.
“The officers have reached the lake house.”
Vanessa held her breath.
“And?”
“The front door was open.”
May you like
The detective paused.
“There is blood inside.”
