Emily did not answer immediately.
Peter Pike’s voice came through the speaker with the careful restraint of someone who had rehearsed the conversation before making it.
Daniel stood beside the crooked table, his attention fixed on Emily’s phone.
“What records?” Emily asked.
Peter exhaled. “My brother kept files on people.”
“We know.”
“No. You know about the work Laura paid him to do.”
Daniel leaned closer. “What’s the difference?”
“The files I’m talking about weren’t client files.”
Emily exchanged a glance with Daniel.
“What were they?”
“Insurance.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “Against whom?”
“Anyone he thought might become a problem.”
Peter paused.
“Clients included.”
Emily looked toward Marissa’s box.
“Laura?”
“Yes.”
“Marissa?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
Another pause.
“I believe so.”
Daniel swore quietly.
Emily remained still. “Why are you calling now?”
“Because somebody contacted me yesterday asking whether I still had Owen’s storage-unit key.”
Daniel’s posture changed.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You answered a stranger asking about your dead brother’s storage unit?”
“No. I hung up.”
Peter’s irritation sounded genuine.
“Then I received a photograph.”
Emily’s skin prickled.
“Of what?”
“My house.”
Daniel looked toward her windows.
Peter continued. “Taken recently. My truck was in the driveway.”
“Did you call the police?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They made a report.”
“Do you still have the key?” Emily asked.
“Yes.”
“Does anyone know where the unit is?”
“Whoever sent the picture might.”
Daniel shook his head.
“This sounds like a trap.”
Peter heard him.
“It might be.”
“Then why involve Emily?”
“Because I found her name in Owen’s things after he died.”
Daniel’s voice sharpened. “And you waited eighteen months?”
“I didn’t understand what I was looking at.”
“That’s not good enough.”
Emily raised a hand.
Daniel stopped.
“Peter,” she said, “what exactly did you find?”
“A notebook.”
“Where is it?”
“With me.”
“What does it say?”
“Mostly codes. Initials. Dates.”
“And my name?”
“Not your full name. E.C.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
Peter continued. “But one page has an address beside it.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“Mine?”
“An old one, according to public records.”
The apartment she had lived in before marrying Daniel.
Emily sat down.
Daniel’s face darkened.
“What else?”
“A date and the words ‘client terminated.’”
Emily thought about the surveillance photographs ending seven months before her wedding.
“What date?”
Peter told her.
Emily opened the timeline on her laptop.
She found the final photograph.
Then compared it.
“Two days later.”
Daniel leaned over her shoulder.
“The surveillance stopped two days before Owen wrote client terminated.”
Emily corrected him. “We don’t know that’s what it means.”
Daniel nodded reluctantly.
Peter said, “There’s another notation.”
Emily waited.
“‘Retain independently.’”
Silence settled over the apartment.
Daniel stared at the phone.
“So Laura stopped paying him.”
“That’s what it sounds like,” Peter said.
“And Owen kept collecting information.”
“Possibly.”
Emily rubbed her forehead.
“Why?”
Peter’s answer came quietly.
“Because my brother liked leverage more than money.”
Emily thought of Marissa’s warning.
She had been afraid of Owen.
Now the reason was becoming clearer.
“Tell us about the storage unit.”
Peter explained that Owen had rented it under a business name. After Owen’s death, Peter had inherited responsibility for several remaining possessions. He had visited once, seen boxes of old business records, and left them alone.
“Why didn’t you throw them away?” Daniel asked.
“I almost did.”
“What stopped you?”
“Marissa.”
Emily looked up.
“She contacted you?”
“About three months after Owen died.”
That placed the conversation more than a year before Marissa’s own death.
“What did she say?”
“That some of Owen’s records involved people who never consented to being investigated.”
Emily’s fingers tightened around a pen.
“She asked you to preserve them?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she take them?”
“She said she was afraid removing anything would alert someone.”
“Who?”
“She never said.”
Daniel paced toward the window.
Emily asked, “Did Marissa have access to the unit?”
“No.”
“Did Laura?”
“I don’t know.”
Peter’s voice lowered.
“But Owen kept a second key somewhere.”
Daniel stopped pacing.
“And you don’t know where.”
“No.”
Emily looked at the box on her table.
Marissa had copied records because she feared Owen.
Owen had preserved records because he wanted leverage.
Laura had spent years operating through both of them.
Now someone wanted the storage key.
“We should not go there ourselves,” Emily said.
Daniel nodded immediately.
Peter sounded relieved. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”
They agreed that Peter would provide the unit information to the detective assigned after Emily’s report.
Nothing would be moved without documentation.
Nothing would be privately retrieved.
For once, everyone involved would resist the temptation to become their own investigator.
After the call ended, Daniel remained standing.
Emily closed her laptop.
“You should go home.”
He looked surprised.
“That’s it?”
“For tonight.”
“What if whoever called Peter—”
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
“I am already staying somewhere else.”
“Yes.”
“The police have the report.”
“Yes.”
“My locks are being changed tomorrow.”
His expression shifted.
“You arranged that?”
“This afternoon.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“Of course you did.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“That wasn’t criticism.”
“What was it?”
“Recognition.”
She looked away.
He put on his coat.
At the door, Daniel paused.
“Emily.”
She waited.
“I know this isn’t the important thing right now.”
“That sentence usually means the opposite.”
He accepted the correction.
“I miss you.”
Emily’s face became still.
Daniel continued before she could answer.
“I’m not asking you to come back.”
“Good.”
“I just didn’t want every conversation between us to become evidence and police reports without saying it once.”
Emily looked at him.
“I miss parts of us too.”
Hope flashed across his face.
She saw it and continued.
“That is not a promise.”
His expression steadied.
“I know.”
He left.
Emily locked the door.
Then checked it once.
Not twice.
The following afternoon, Detective Ramos called.
The storage unit had been located.
Peter had provided the key.
A warrant was being sought because ownership and privacy issues surrounding the business records were complicated.
Emily appreciated the caution even though waiting made her restless.
Daniel handled waiting badly.
He cleaned.
By evening, the barbecue debris was finally gone.
He swept every remaining shard of glass from the patio.
Ava watched through the kitchen window.
When he came inside, she asked, “Why now?”
Daniel leaned the broom against the wall.
“Because I should have done it days ago.”
Ava looked toward the patio.
“You left the glass there because of Emily.”
“Yes.”
“Like punishment?”
Daniel thought about it.
“Maybe.”
“For you?”
“Yes.”
Ava sat at the table.
“That seems dramatic.”
Daniel laughed.
The sound surprised both of them.
Ava smiled faintly.
It disappeared quickly.
“Did Mom call?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Daniel did not ask whether she meant it.
She was allowed contradictory feelings.
Her second therapy session had gone better than the first.
At least, that was all she had volunteered.
Daniel was learning not to treat privacy as resistance.
He started making dinner.
Ava watched him chop onions.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think Emily will ever come back?”
The knife stopped.
“I don’t know.”
“To the house?”
“I know what you meant.”
Ava picked at a loose thread on her sleeve.
“If she did, I wouldn’t act like before.”
Daniel set the knife down.
“I believe you mean that.”
Ava looked up.
“But?”
“But Emily does not owe us another chance so we can prove we learned something.”
Ava swallowed.
“I know.”
Daniel resumed chopping.
After a moment, she said, “I want her to know I’m trying.”
“She probably does.”
“How?”
“Because you apologized without demanding forgiveness.”
Ava considered that.
Daniel added the onions to the pan.
His phone rang.
Detective Ramos.
He answered immediately.
“We got access to the unit.”
Daniel turned off the stove.
Ava watched his face.
Ramos continued.
“There are a lot of records.”
“How many?”
“Dozens of boxes.”
Daniel gripped the counter.
“Anything involving Emily?”
“Yes.”
His stomach dropped.
“Is she safe?”
“We have nothing indicating an immediate threat.”
“What did you find?”
“A file with her name.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Ramos continued.
“Photographs. Notes. Public records. Some material we haven’t identified yet.”
“Recent?”
“The file appears to stop several years ago.”
Daniel exhaled.
“But there’s something else.”
Ava was watching him.
Daniel turned slightly away.
“What?”
“We found a file labeled Whitmore.”
“Laura?”
“Not exactly.”
Daniel waited.
“It contains information on you, Ava, your mother Helen, and Laura.”
Daniel stared at the wall.
“Why would Owen investigate Laura if she was his client?”
“That’s one of the questions.”
Ramos continued.
“There are audio recordings.”
Daniel’s pulse accelerated.
“Of who?”
“Several people.”
“Emily?”
“Not in the samples we checked.”
“Laura?”
“Yes.”
Daniel lowered himself into a chair.
“What is she saying?”
“We need to review everything before drawing conclusions.”
“Detective.”
Ramos paused.
“One recording appears to be a conversation between Laura and Owen.”
“About Emily?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward Ava.
“What does Laura say?”
“She tells him to stop.”
Daniel went still.
“When?”
“Approximately seven months before your wedding.”
That aligned with the end of the photographs.
Daniel whispered, “She did stop it.”
“Apparently.”
“Then Owen continued?”
“That is what we’re investigating.”
Ava stepped closer.
Daniel held up one finger.
Ramos added, “There’s another recording you should know about.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What?”
“It predates Laura leaving you.”
Daniel frowned.
“How far?”
“About three weeks.”
Daniel stood again.
“Who is on it?”
“Owen and Laura.”
Daniel’s voice became quiet.
“What are they talking about?”
Ramos hesitated.
“Your divorce.”
Daniel stared.
“There was no divorce.”
“I understand.”
“What does she say?”
“She says she found documents on your computer and believes you’re preparing to leave her.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Mark’s divorce packet.
The misunderstanding that had metastasized into years of damage.
But Ramos was not finished.
“Owen tells her he can find out whether you’re seeing someone.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“And?”
“Laura says no.”
That surprised him.
“She says she doesn’t want him following you.”
Daniel looked toward Ava.
“Then what does she want?”
Ramos answered.
“She asks him to find someone else.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Who?”
The detective paused.
“Emily Carter.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: A Recording Made Before Laura Vanished Revealed Why Emily Became Her Obsession—and Why Owen Pike Never Truly Let Her Go
At a Family Barbecue, One Accusation Forced Emily to See Exactly Where She Stood in Her Own Marriage
Part 13 of 35
