We called Catherine back.<\/p>\n
Her attorney answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s done for tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca said, \u201cThen tell her Harold Venn just said she gave Mark Emily\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
The attorney asked us to wait.<\/p>\n
Catherine returned to the screen five minutes later.<\/p>\n
Her face looked drained.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou spoke to Harold?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe spoke to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if he\u2019s talking, he wants something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says you identified me for Mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Her attorney whispered, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, she does,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Legally, no.<\/p>\n
Morally, yes.<\/p>\n
Catherine looked back at the camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave him your family\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed without drama.<\/p>\n
No denial.<\/p>\n
No explanation first.<\/p>\n
Just truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout a year before you met.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Thomas Bennett was wealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecific.\u201d<\/p>\n
She inhaled.<\/p>\n
CB Freight was failing.<\/p>\n
Mark wanted capital.<\/p>\n
Traditional lenders refused.<\/p>\n
Catherine had access to databases used by freight companies to evaluate commercial customers.<\/p>\n
Through those records, she learned which privately held businesses maintained unusually large cash reserves.<\/p>\n
Bennett Manufacturing appeared repeatedly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark began researching Dad.<\/p>\n
Then he discovered the family foundation.<\/p>\n
Then me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was I?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine\u2019s voice became almost inaudible.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn access point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Thomas Bennett?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
I could not sit through that sentence.<\/p>\n
The room seemed suddenly too small.<\/p>\n
I walked to the window.<\/p>\n
Eight years of memory reorganized itself against my will.<\/p>\n
Mark asking about my father on our second date.<\/p>\n
Mark pretending embarrassment when I mentioned the trust.<\/p>\n
Mark insisting he loved that I was \u201cnormal\u201d despite money.<\/p>\n
Mark proposing at Dad\u2019s old factory.<\/p>\n
Had every detail been selected?<\/p>\n
Catherine continued behind me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first it was supposed to be social.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMeet you. Become friendly. Get introduced to Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDate me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cruelty of that phrase was almost clinical.<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked, \u201cWas there a written plan?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her attorney objected.<\/p>\n
Catherine ignored him again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept a copy.\u201d<\/p>\n
She retrieved a scanned document.<\/p>\n
The title:<\/p>\n
BENNETT ACCESS STRATEGY.<\/p>\n
Mark Carter.<\/p>\n
Catherine Blake.<\/p>\n
Eleven years old.<\/p>\n
The document was not romantic.<\/p>\n
That somehow made it worse.<\/p>\n
It listed my father\u2019s businesses.<\/p>\n
Estimated liquidity.<\/p>\n
Known philanthropic involvement.<\/p>\n
Potential succession.<\/p>\n
Then a section labeled FAMILY CONTACTS.<\/p>\n
My name appeared.<\/p>\n
Emily Bennett.<\/p>\n
Age.<\/p>\n
Education.<\/p>\n
Board memberships.<\/p>\n
Charity attendance.<\/p>\n
Public photographs.<\/p>\n
No intimate details.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
A later version contained more.<\/p>\n
Favorite restaurants.<\/p>\n
Friends.<\/p>\n
Events I regularly attended.<\/p>\n
The charity dinner where Mark claimed we met by chance.<\/p>\n
Catherine had identified it as the preferred introduction point.<\/p>\n
I read without breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho gathered this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly public sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA private researcher did some.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Venn involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark\u2019s role in the plan appeared at the bottom.<\/p>\n
Primary relationship development.<\/p>\n
Catherine\u2019s role:<\/p>\n
Financial research and background monitoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelationship development.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said the phrase aloud.<\/p>\n
Catherine looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next page described objectives.<\/p>\n
Initial objective: Gain direct access to Thomas Bennett.<\/p>\n
Secondary objective: Evaluate potential private financing.<\/p>\n
Contingent objective: Family-level investment relationship.<\/p>\n
No mention of marriage.<\/p>\n
No mention of a trust seizure.<\/p>\n
At least not yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did dating become part of it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mark liked you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
It came out harsh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect that to help?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine leaned closer to the camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally he was supposed to meet you twice, maybe three times, then ask for an introduction to your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd instead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kept seeing you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was useful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen tell me without trying to make him sound human.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine went silent.<\/p>\n
I forced myself to sit again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after our first month?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMark stopped reporting everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were still legally married.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence sharpened everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were participating while he dated me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd expecting money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom financing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSame difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked about the contract between Catherine and Mark.<\/p>\n
Catherine produced another document.<\/p>\n
A private agreement.<\/p>\n
If Mark secured financing from Bennett-related sources, Catherine would receive fifteen percent of fees, proceeds or related benefits arising from introductions supported by her research.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Mark excluded you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he proposed to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the arrangement was over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he wasn\u2019t going to use you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
The statement cut strangely.<\/p>\n
Not because I believed it absolved him.<\/p>\n
It did not.<\/p>\n
But it complicated the timeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told you that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo days after he proposed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked toward the old contract on her desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019m marrying Emily. This ends now. I\u2019m not taking Bennett money through her.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
That was not the Mark I knew from the last few days.<\/p>\n
But perhaps it had been Mark once.<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked, \u201cDid he pay you to exit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI threatened to expose the original plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he threatened you with CB Freight crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their marriage became mutually destructive silence.<\/p>\n
Catherine disappeared.<\/p>\n
Mark married me.<\/p>\n
For several years, according to her, she received nothing.<\/p>\n
Then Northstar began failing.<\/p>\n
Mark contacted her again.<\/p>\n
Not the other way around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHelp moving money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout six and a half years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exactly when Venn\u2019s ledger showed the manipulated Northstar crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he went back to the old methods.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had losses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGambling?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cA private investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat investment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dundalk maintenance yard?<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Earlier.<\/p>\n
Mark had purchased industrial land through a hidden entity expecting a major logistics-development project.<\/p>\n
The project collapsed.<\/p>\n
He owed millions.<\/p>\n
Instead of admitting it, he used Northstar funds.<\/p>\n
Then more.<\/p>\n
Then Daniel and Raymond Price.<\/p>\n
Then the company itself became unstable.<\/p>\n
My financing rescued it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he never intended to take my trust money,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Catherine answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was true when he married you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it stopped being true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction did not forgive anything.<\/p>\n
But it mattered.<\/p>\n
Mark had entered my life for money.<\/p>\n
Then apparently abandoned the original plan.<\/p>\n
Then later, under pressure, returned to it.<\/p>\n
The betrayal had not been one straight line.<\/p>\n
It had been a choice repeated.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
And again.<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked about the final clause in Catherine\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n
I had not reached it.<\/p>\n
I scrolled.<\/p>\n
Termination provision.<\/p>\n
If Mark Carter enters a genuine personal relationship with a Bennett family member and elects to terminate the Access Strategy, all research obtained concerning that person must be destroyed and no financial solicitation shall be made through the relationship.<\/p>\n
Signed:<\/p>\n
Mark Carter.<\/p>\n
Catherine Blake.<\/p>\n
A handwritten note appeared beside it.<\/p>\n
Executed termination \u2014 M.C.<\/p>\n
Date: six weeks before Mark proposed to me.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe terminated it before the proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy keep the documents?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked miserable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mark destroy his copies?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That explained why Dad\u2019s early investigation found Mark asking legal questions later rather than evidence of the original targeting.<\/p>\n
Mark may actually have tried to bury the initial scheme.<\/p>\n
Until money trouble brought the behavior back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat made him contact Venn seven years ago?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Catherine shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That timeline was key.<\/p>\n
The Venn recording occurred before Northstar\u2019s major collapse.<\/p>\n
Mark had already asked how to control assets if I became incapacitated.<\/p>\n
So even if he had terminated the original access scheme, he was exploring control again soon afterward.<\/p>\n
Whatever conscience he briefly had did not last long.<\/p>\n
Then Catherine said, \u201cThere\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMark wasn\u2019t the person who reopened the Bennett file.\u201d<\/p>\n
I went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho did?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout seven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venn had contacted Catherine.<\/p>\n
He knew about CB Freight because of prior court cases.<\/p>\n
He also knew she was still legally married to Mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me Mark had married Emily Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew already.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Venn want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original research.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said somebody was willing to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne hundred thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you sell it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sold my personal research to Venn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he gave it to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked whether payment records remained.<\/p>\n
Catherine opened archived bank statements.<\/p>\n
The payer was a consulting entity.<\/p>\n
Marlowe Strategic Services.<\/p>\n
We searched it.<\/p>\n
Dissolved.<\/p>\n
Registered agent deceased.<\/p>\n
But the bank account from which it paid Catherine had a beneficial owner.<\/p>\n
The name appeared after James obtained archived compliance data.<\/p>\n
Evelyn Carter.<\/p>\n
Mark\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
I stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn bought the file.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked shocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca checked the date.<\/p>\n
Seven years and three months ago.<\/p>\n
Three months before Mark asked Adrian about incapacity.<\/p>\n
The sequence became clear.<\/p>\n
Mark had once terminated the original scheme.<\/p>\n
Catherine kept the research.<\/p>\n
Years later Harold Venn purchased that research.<\/p>\n
With money from Evelyn.<\/p>\n
Then Mark began asking questions about incapacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis mother restarted it,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Rebecca did not answer yet.<\/p>\n
We needed proof of what Evelyn knew.<\/p>\n
James searched transfers from Evelyn\u2019s accounts.<\/p>\n
The $100,000 payment to Marlowe had come from a personal investment account.<\/p>\n
No Mark signature.<\/p>\n
No Daniel.<\/p>\n
No Northstar.<\/p>\n
Evelyn alone.<\/p>\n
We called her attorney.<\/p>\n
An emergency interview followed.<\/p>\n
Evelyn looked exhausted when she appeared by video.<\/p>\n
Rebecca showed her the payment.<\/p>\n
At first she denied recognizing Marlowe.<\/p>\n
Then we showed Catherine\u2019s invoice.<\/p>\n
Evelyn stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you buy?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to protect Mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word hit strangely.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had all the power.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had done nothing to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had money. Your father had money. Mark had nothing that was fully his.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe owned Northstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
She closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Rebecca said, \u201cWhy purchase Catherine Blake\u2019s research on Emily?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn\u2019s answer came slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Catherine contacted me first.\u201d<\/p>\n
That changed everything again.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe contacted you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said Mark had married into money and abandoned people who helped build him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she offer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProof he had targeted your family originally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you want it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought if Mark ever needed leverage with Thomas, he should have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou bought information about me so your son could use it against my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Thomas would eventually destroy him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father financed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter making him beg.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. After Mark helped create a financial crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked confused.<\/p>\n
She apparently did not know that part.<\/p>\n
Rebecca returned to the purchase.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you give the file to Mark?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Thomas changed the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you know he changed it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMark told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI showed him what Catherine had kept.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you suggest guardianship?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn\u2019s face crumpled.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the file contained research about Emily\u2019s inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Mark kept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective asked who introduced Evelyn to Harold Venn.<\/p>\n
Her answer was Catherine.<\/p>\n
The triangle predated almost everything.<\/p>\n
Catherine.<\/p>\n
Evelyn.<\/p>\n
Venn.<\/p>\n
Each had information the others could use.<\/p>\n
Mark stood in the center until the scheme eventually became his.<\/p>\n
Or perhaps it had always been all of theirs in different ways.<\/p>\n
Then Evelyn said something none of us expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Mark to destroy the file.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Thomas died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was happy with Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
Evelyn wiped her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you think I hated you from the beginning. I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered every cutting remark.<\/p>\n
Every comparison.<\/p>\n
Every dismissal.<\/p>\n
But perhaps dislike and conspiracy had evolved too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat changed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMark started losing money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGambling?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLater.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe land deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Same trigger Catherine mentioned.<\/p>\n
Evelyn continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he told me how much he owed, I reminded him of the file.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou reopened the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him there were protections we could challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou suggested using me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally.<\/p>\n
No excuses.<\/p>\n
Then Evelyn whispered, \u201cBut Harold pushed it further.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the cleanest solution was incapacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The idea had passed through multiple hands.<\/p>\n
Mark asked Adrian years earlier.<\/p>\n
Evelyn later revived the financial research.<\/p>\n
Venn transformed it into a procedural strategy.<\/p>\n
Mark eventually forged everything needed to execute it.<\/p>\n
A network of choices.<\/p>\n
No single mastermind.<\/p>\n
Enough greed shared among enough people.<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s phone vibrated.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor\u2019s office had completed a preliminary review of Catherine\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n
One detail mattered immediately.<\/p>\n
The original Bennett Access Strategy carried a third signature.<\/p>\n
Not visible on the first scan because Catherine had omitted the witness page.<\/p>\n
Rebecca requested it.<\/p>\n
Catherine hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then sent the missing page.<\/p>\n
Witness to agreement:<\/p>\n
Harold Venn.<\/p>\n
Date: eleven years ago.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
Venn had been involved before Mark ever met me.<\/p>\n
Before Catherine supposedly introduced him later.<\/p>\n
Before Evelyn hired him.<\/p>\n
Before my father investigated him.<\/p>\n
His involvement stretched all the way back to the original plan.<\/p>\n
Catherine had lied again.<\/p>\n
Rebecca called her.<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
The detective contacted Delaware police.<\/p>\n
They reached Catherine\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
Front door open.<\/p>\n
Computer gone.<\/p>\n
Suitcase gone.<\/p>\n
Her car missing.<\/p>\n
On the dining table sat one printed note.<\/p>\n
Emily deserves the whole truth.<\/p>\n
Harold won\u2019t let me give it to her.<\/p>\n
Below that was an address.<\/p>\n
Not in Delaware.<\/p>\n
Maryland.<\/p>\n
A rural property outside Frederick.<\/p>\n
Owner:<\/p>\n
Marlowe Strategic Services.<\/p>\n
The supposedly dissolved company Evelyn once used to buy my personal research.<\/p>\n
And according to utility records, the property had consumed electricity continuously for eleven years.<\/p>\n
Someone had been using it the entire time.<\/p>\n
We called Catherine back. Her attorney answered. \u201cShe\u2019s done for tonight.\u201d Rebecca said, \u201cThen tell her Harold Venn just said she gave Mark Emily\u2019s name.\u201d Silence. The attorney asked us … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27532,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27497\/revisions\/27532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}