Chapter 6 - WHAT LILY HEARD
Lily refused to sleep in her own room. She stayed beside Olivia's hospital bed, curled beneath a blanket with her stuffed rabbit tucked under her chin.
Daniel sat in the chair near the window.
He had spent the day speaking with police, attorneys, and company investigators. But none of those conversations mattered as much as the one he needed to have with his daughter.
“Lily?”
She looked up.
“Are you angry with me?”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“Why would I be angry with you?”
“Because I broke the wedding.”
He moved to the bed.
“You didn't break anything. You saved your mommy.”
“But everyone was looking at me.”
“Let them look.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I heard her knocking. I told the lady with the flowers, but she said I was imagining it.”
Daniel gently touched her hair.
“I'm sorry nobody listened.”
Lily pulled something from beneath her pillow.
It was a small silver voice recorder.
“Mommy gave me this before she disappeared.”
Olivia stirred.
“Lily…”
The little girl looked at her mother.
“You told me to keep it safe.”
Olivia nodded.
Daniel took the recorder carefully.
“What's on it?”
“Mommy said it was important.”
He pressed play.
At first, there was only static.
Then Olivia's voice.
“If anything happens to me, the person responsible is not the person you expect. Daniel, please listen. Richard's records are incomplete. Marcus has a second set of accounts, and someone in the legal department has been helping him.”
A second voice followed.
Vanessa.
“You should have stayed out of this, Olivia.”
Then a man's voice.
Not Marcus. Not Daniel's father.
A voice Daniel recognized from the company boardroom.
His uncle, Peter Whitmore.
“Get the folder. The girl is no longer useful.”
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the device.
His uncle Peter had been the family's legal adviser for twenty years. He had managed Richard's estate, handled the funeral arrangements, and recommended Marcus as Daniel's chief operating officer.
Detective Ruiz took the recorder.
“We need to verify the voice.”
“I know that voice.”
“Knowing isn't proof.”
“Then let's find proof.”
Olivia reached for his hand.
“Peter was the one who arranged the car accident.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What accident?”
“The crash that made everyone believe I was dead. I was forced off the road. I escaped before the car caught fire, but Peter's men found me.”
Daniel felt sick.
“He was there?”
“He watched while they took me away.”
Lily began to cry. Olivia pulled her close.
“It's okay, sweetheart.”
But Daniel knew it wasn't.
May you like
The conspiracy had reached further into his family than he had imagined.
And Peter was still free.
