Chapter 8 - The Enemy Who Helped Her Escape
Victor Rane was not the hero of my story. He had stolen from the company, threatened former colleagues, and profited from secrets he should never have possessed. But the highway footage changed the question.
Why was Caroline helping him?
Alvarez located Victor through an emergency-room admission in western Maryland. His injuries included a fractured rib and a deep cut to the scalp. He had given a false name, but an old surgical scar confirmed his identity.
Police brought him in after doctors cleared him for questioning. I saw him only through an interview-room window. His hair had gone mostly gray, and his arrogant posture had collapsed into a painful hunch.
"Marcus tried to kill me," he said.
Alvarez asked for dates, locations, witnesses. Victor supplied a motel address, the name of a driver, and details about the funds. He said he'd helped move stolen recordings to Northbridge until he learned Marcus intended to frame him for every transaction.
"Caroline contacted me," he continued. "She knew I had copies of the delivery receipts. She wanted proof that someone above Marcus gave the orders."
"Why did you help?" Alvarez asked.
"Because I was next."
When shown the highway footage, he flinched at Emily's face.
"She followed us. We lost her at the service road. Caroline drove me to the hospital, then left."
"Where did she go?"
"She said she needed to find the original recording. The one Marcus couldn't edit."
He told Alvarez that the recordings inside my house were not merely business intelligence. Some were edited to make my instructions sound like orders for illegal transactions. They had been held back as leverage against me. The person who authorized those edits used a voice-changing application and signed messages only with a single initial: E.
Emily, I thought.
But there were two E's in my family.
Evelyn.
That evening Mother called me from her attorney's office. "Daniel, I want to give the authorities everything. I should have done it years ago."
"Then do it."
"There is something I haven't told you. Emily didn't meet Marcus through you. I introduced them before your wedding."
"Why?"
"She was managing a fundraising gala for the foundation. Marcus was handling our accounts. I thought they would work well together."
"Did you know they were stealing?"
"Not at first. Later I suspected. And I was afraid if the old accounts surfaced, the honest work you built would die with them."
I closed my eyes. My mother had confused protecting our name with protecting us. Emily had exploited the difference.
At midnight a courier delivered a package to Alvarez's office. Inside was a cracked digital recorder and a note in Caroline's handwriting.
PLAY THE LAST FILE BEFORE YOU TRUST ANYONE.
The recording began with Marcus saying, "The child is leverage."
Emily answered, "Then we keep her alive."
A third voice interrupted them.
May you like
My mother's voice.
"If either of you touches that child," she said, "I will destroy everything we've built."
