The police found Olivia\u2019s sedan twenty-three minutes later.<\/p>\n
Empty.<\/p>\n
It had been abandoned behind a closed pharmacy less than two miles from Richard\u2019s old office.<\/p>\n
The keys were gone.<\/p>\n
So was Olivia.<\/p>\n
By then the fire was under control, the seven steel chests had been logged into evidence, and Daniel had convinced Margaret to leave with us rather than return to her own house alone.<\/p>\n
No one knew whether Olivia had accomplices.<\/p>\n
No one knew whether Ethan had contacted her after we left.<\/p>\n
No one knew how much of the archive remained readable.<\/p>\n
The list of what we did not know had become exhausting.<\/p>\n
We went to Daniel\u2019s temporary office instead of the Blackwood estate.<\/p>\n
It occupied the second floor of a modest law building downtown.<\/p>\n
No marble.<\/p>\n
No assistants gliding through glass corridors.<\/p>\n
No family portraits.<\/p>\n
Just desks, files, computers, stale coffee, and a conference room with a whiteboard covered in dates.<\/p>\n
I stood in front of it.<\/p>\n
Some dates went back more than twenty years.<\/p>\n
This investigation was older than my involvement.<\/p>\n
Mara removed her coat.<\/p>\n
Daniel locked the conference room door.<\/p>\n
Margaret sat down without waiting to be invited.<\/p>\n
She looked twenty years older than she had that morning.<\/p>\n
I remained standing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me about Olivia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel opened his laptop.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe joined Blackwood Development twelve years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore that, she worked for a commercial accounting firm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFenton & Shore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked up.<\/p>\n
Daniel noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know it?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard used them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside audits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara sat across from her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Caroline disappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel pulled up an old employment record.<\/p>\n
\u201cOlivia was nineteen when Caroline disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they didn\u2019t work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot officially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why would Olivia care about Caroline?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we need to determine.\u201d<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Ethan.<\/p>\n
The name filled the screen.<\/p>\n
Everyone looked at it.<\/p>\n
Daniel said, \u201cYour choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
I let it ring out.<\/p>\n
A voicemail notification appeared.<\/p>\n
Then he called again.<\/p>\n
Margaret whispered, \u201cAnswer.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if he thinks you\u2019ve disappeared with Daniel, he\u2019ll panic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe already panicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can panic more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something in her tone made me listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve seen him like this before.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel sat very still.<\/p>\n
She finally answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was twenty-one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room changed.<\/p>\n
The same age.<\/p>\n
The Larkspur transaction.<\/p>\n
Caroline\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n
The ledger.<\/p>\n
I took the chair opposite her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret pressed her lips together.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan had come home from university.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor summer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He\u2019d left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDropped out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he wanted to join the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Richard want him there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe discovered Ethan had been going through files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat files?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her gaze moved toward the whiteboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they were records connected to Larkspur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara asked, \u201cWhy would Ethan care about Larkspur?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer came immediately.<\/p>\n
Margaret seemed ashamed of how certain she sounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan had always been fascinated by how Richard built the company. He wanted to understand every loophole, every deal, every favor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel said, \u201cAnd he found the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was in it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Richard tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Caroline knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe handled certain accounts Richard kept outside the ordinary corporate system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cOff-book accounts?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIllegal?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my marriage, suspicion was often safer than knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood that sentence better than I wanted to.<\/p>\n
Daniel asked, \u201cWhat happened after Ethan found the ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe confronted his father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard them through Richard\u2019s office door. Ethan accused him of hiding assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestors?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTax authorities?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel did not let her retreat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exact words do you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan said, \u2018If you can do it, so can I.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara and Daniel exchanged a glance.<\/p>\n
Margaret continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard told him he had misunderstood what he was reading.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Ethan believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard took the ledger back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Caroline?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe called that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe call you mentioned.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret\u2019s hands began shaking.<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think Ethan did something to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did not answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why you reacted when Daniel mentioned the archive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why?\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I remembered what happened after Caroline vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel asked, \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret\u2019s voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan came home at three in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich night?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night she disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was soaked,\u201d Margaret said. \u201cThere had been a storm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s pen stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said his car had broken down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see the car?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret\u2019s breathing had become shallow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was blood on his shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold spread through me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel interrupted gently.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret, do not exaggerate or minimize. Describe only what you remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cA smear. Near the cuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat color was the shirt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Ethan say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat he cut his hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas his hand cut?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t check.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I didn\u2019t want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence sat between us.<\/p>\n
I looked at her differently after that.<\/p>\n
Not innocent.<\/p>\n
Not guilty in the way Ethan might be.<\/p>\n
But someone who had spent decades surviving through deliberate blindness.<\/p>\n
Mara asked, \u201cDid Richard know Ethan came home late?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went upstairs and woke Ethan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey argued.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout Caroline?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard her name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard said, \u2018Tell me you didn\u2019t follow her.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
No one moved.<\/p>\n
Daniel asked, \u201cWhat did Ethan say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard told him to leave the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor how long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
Ethan had never told me that.<\/p>\n
He described his twenties as a smooth ascent through the family business.<\/p>\n
There had been no exile in the story.<\/p>\n
No missing accountant.<\/p>\n
No blood.<\/p>\n
No ledger.<\/p>\n
No fight with his father.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did he go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret answered, \u201cTo Olivia\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt my stomach drop.<\/p>\n
Margaret continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer father knew Richard through Fenton & Shore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOlivia was nineteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey already knew each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned back.<\/p>\n
The affair had not begun recently.<\/p>\n
Maybe it had not even begun during our marriage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow close were they?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere they together?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course she had.<\/p>\n
She suspected everything.<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
Then my phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
Ethan had left a voicemail.<\/p>\n
Daniel again said, \u201cYour choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pressed play on speaker.<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s voice filled the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, whatever Daniel is telling you, he is using you. You need to come home. My mother is vulnerable and confused, and he knows it. Olivia has disappeared, which means this is becoming dangerous. Call me before you do anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The message ended.<\/p>\n
Margaret laughed once.<\/p>\n
It was a bitter sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cConfused again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does it feel?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
For perhaps the first time, she understood exactly what Ethan had done to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cUgly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI owe you an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not answer.<\/p>\n
It was too early.<\/p>\n
Maybe too late.<\/p>\n
Mara\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
She answered, listened, then stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel asked.<\/p>\n
She held up one finger.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d she said into the phone. \u201cPhotograph everything before opening anything further.\u201d<\/p>\n
She listened again.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she ended the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evidence team opened the first chest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProperty records. Account ledgers. Correspondence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cReadable?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything relevant to Caroline?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cA sealed envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret whispered, \u201cFrom whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt says \u2018If Caroline is missing, open immediately.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n
Daniel stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho wrote it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Mara continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s addressed to Margaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every eye in the room moved toward Ethan\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
She went completely pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s phone rang next.<\/p>\n
He answered.<\/p>\n
We watched his expression change.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right. Do not let him leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ended the call.<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan went to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe claims he was attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says Olivia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret stood so fast her chair nearly fell.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel held up one hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinor cut to the shoulder. No life-threatening injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to Ethan, Olivia came to the house after we left. They argued. She attacked him with a kitchen knife and ran.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
It was too convenient.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo police believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara said, \u201cDid he mention the archive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about the second phone?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMissing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course it was.<\/p>\n
Margaret sank back into her chair.<\/p>\n
I thought of Ethan\u2019s voicemail.<\/p>\n
Olivia has disappeared.<\/p>\n
He knew that before I did.<\/p>\n
Maybe because she had attacked him.<\/p>\n
Maybe because he was helping her disappear.<\/p>\n
Maybe because he had decided to turn her into the explanation for everything.<\/p>\n
Daniel read my expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re thinking the same thing I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s making Olivia the villain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPotentially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara added, \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The photo from across the street proved Olivia had been watching us.<\/p>\n
The messages proved she knew about the archive.<\/p>\n
But Ethan had survived scandals before by making other people look guilty.<\/p>\n
I would not make the mistake of choosing one villain simply because he offered me one.<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
A message.<\/p>\n
He read it.<\/p>\n
Then handed the screen to Margaret.<\/p>\n
The evidence team had sent a photograph of Richard\u2019s sealed envelope.<\/p>\n
Across the front, in black ink, were eight words.<\/p>\n
Margaret \u2014 if Caroline disappears, Ethan has the ledger.<\/p>\n
Margaret covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
I looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one years earlier, Richard Blackwood had been afraid enough of his own son to leave instructions in a fire-resistant chest.<\/p>\n
And whatever Ethan had done with that ledger, someone had spent two decades making sure nobody found out.<\/p>\n
The police found Olivia\u2019s sedan twenty-three minutes later. Empty. It had been abandoned behind a closed pharmacy less than two miles from Richard\u2019s old office. The keys were gone. So … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28244","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\/28244","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=28244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28290,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28244\/revisions\/28290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}