Chapter 12 - THE MISSING PAGES
The pages were exactly where Rebecca said.
Under the velvet lining of an old wooden ring box.
Sarah had hidden six pages.
They documented her final investigation.
Nathan had begun moving client money years earlier.
At first, Thomas covered for him.
Then Nathan became more aggressive.
Sarah discovered it.
She threatened to report both men.
Nathan confronted her.
Sarah wrote that he had begun visiting her office.
Watching her.
Threatening her.
The final page contained a sentence that destroyed every remaining doubt.
Nathan told me accidents happen every day.
If he comes near Emily, I will go directly to the police.
Sarah died three days later.
Investigators obtained old security archives from the office building.
Most footage had been deleted years earlier.
But one backup survived.
Nathan entered Sarah's office carrying two coffees.
He left seventeen minutes later.
Sarah remained.
Thirty-four minutes after that, she stumbled into the hallway.
The evidence wasn't enough by itself.
Then police searched Nathan's storage unit.
They found financial records.
Fake IDs.
Forged documents.
And an old laptop.
On that laptop were searches from the week Sarah died.
Substances that could worsen cerebral blood vessel weakness.
Symptoms that might resemble aneurysm complications.
How long certain compounds remain detectable.
The case exploded.
Nathan was charged initially with kidnapping, fraud, forgery and conspiracy while prosecutors reviewed Sarah's death.
Thomas was charged with financial crimes tied to the original embezzlement.
Margaret cooperated fully.
Rebecca faced fraud, conspiracy, unlawful surveillance, forgery-related charges and child endangerment allegations.
But none of it fixed Emily.
She stopped sleeping alone.
She checked every smoke detector.
She asked me repeatedly if Rebecca could come back.
So I took her to therapy.
And every night, I repeated the same thing.
“You're staying with me.”
One evening she asked:
“Forever?”
“As long as you'll have me.”
She smiled.
Then she pulled something from beneath her pillow.
A folded piece of paper.
My heart jumped.
“Where did you get that?”
“Rebecca gave it to me at the cabin.”
I unfolded it.
It wasn't a threat.
It was a letter.
Rebecca had written:
Emily,
I did something cruel because I cared more about what I wanted than what it would do to you.
You were never the problem.
I was.
Don't believe anything I told you about your father.
He never agreed to send you away.
He loves you more than I understood.
I'm sorry.
I stared at the words.
Emily asked:
“Do I have to forgive her?”
“No.”
“Will you?”
I looked at Rebecca's letter.
“No.”
Then I folded it.
“But someday I might stop being angry.”
Emily nodded.
That seemed enough.
Then my phone rang.
Martin.
“Daniel, turn on the news.”
I did.
Nathan's photograph filled the screen.
May you like
The headline underneath made my blood freeze.
SUSPECT ESCAPES DURING HOSPITAL TRANSFER.
