The Funeral Without a Body
Chapter 02 - The Funeral Without a Body
The stranger pulled out a federal badge.
Special Agent Daniel Reyes had been investigating Victor Lawson for six months. Victor managed the Lawson family foundation, but millions of dollars had vanished through shell charities. Emma’s signature appeared on every transfer, even though she had never approved them.
Daniel had followed the missing money to Claire Spencer, the foundation’s legal director—and Victor’s secret partner.
“Victor needed you declared dead,” Daniel explained. “Your grandfather’s trust passes to your husband if you die before your child is born. If the baby survives, Victor controls the money as the legal guardian.”
Emma felt sick. Her unborn daughter was not only a witness to Victor’s crime. She was part of the prize.
Henry revealed why he had hidden Emma under another patient’s name. Twenty years earlier, he had been close friends with Emma’s late father. After her rescue, Henry called Victor to say a woman matching Emma’s description had arrived alive. Victor offered him half a million dollars to change the records and let her “slip away.”
Henry recorded the call.
“I told him you died in surgery,” he said. “It was the only way to buy time.”
Emma watched footage from the funeral. Victor spoke about devotion, while Claire stood beside him wearing the pearl earrings Emma had received from her mother. Reporters praised Claire for comforting the grieving widower.
Then Victor signed a temporary estate transfer before the memorial portrait.
His pen barely paused above Emma’s forged name.
Daniel wanted to arrest them immediately, but the recording alone would not prove the attempted murder. Victor could claim he believed Emma was dying and panicked. Claire could deny being at the overlook.
Emma remembered something.
Before confronting Victor, she had activated the voice recorder on her phone and slipped it into her coat. The phone had fallen with her.
Search crews had recovered the coat but reported no device inside.
Daniel checked the evidence log. The officer who collected Emma’s belongings was Lieutenant Mark Spencer—Claire’s older brother.
The conspiracy reached into local law enforcement.
Emma’s eyes returned to the memorial video. Behind the framed portrait, Claire leaned toward Victor and whispered something. The microphone barely caught it:
“The doctor knows too much.”
At that moment, alarms sounded in the hallway. Hospital staff rushed toward Henry’s office.
Smoke rolled beneath the door.
Someone had set fire to the records room.
Henry looked at Emma, horrified.
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Victor was no longer waiting for confirmation.
He was erasing everyone who knew she had survived.
