Chapter 7 - The Pattern of Blood
I sat across from Detective Alvarez and ADA Evelyn Cross in a soundproof interrogation room at the precinct, Chloe Bennett sitting beside me with her public defender. On the steel table between us lay a slim, black solid-state hard drive.
The tech team had spent four hours extracting the encrypted files. On the projector screen mounted on the wall, a forensic timeline was illuminated in cold, blue digital blocks.
"Rebecca Shaw died on September 14th, 2019," Alvarez said, pointing a laser at the screen. "Official cause of death: blunt force trauma to the occipital bone consistent with a slip and fall from an icy ledge into a rocky creek bed. The local sheriff’s office ruled it accidental. Daniel was the only witness."
"Look at the financial ledger from that month," ADA Cross said, leaning forward. "Six days prior to the hike, Daniel’s offshore accounts were down four hundred thousand dollars due to unauthorized margin trading. His firm was preparing to audit his books. If he didn't replenish the funds, he was facing federal prison for wire fraud."
"And Rebecca's life insurance?" I asked, my hands locked tightly in my lap to stop them from shaking.
"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars," Cross replied grimly. "Margaret Vance covered the remaining one hundred and fifty thousand to keep the brokerage firm from referring Daniel’s fraud to the SEC. Margaret bought his silence, bought the brokerage’s silence, and then paid off Rebecca’s grief-stricken parents to drop their wrongful death inquiry."
"She knew," I breathed, the sheer monstrosity of it suffocating me. "Margaret knew what he did to Rebecca."
"Margaret didn't just know," Alvarez said, pulling out a printout of an encrypted email sent from Margaret’s personal domain to Daniel three days after Rebecca’s autopsy. "She facilitated it. Look at this text: *'The local coroner is a family associate. The death certificate will say accidental fall. You will take a six-month leave of absence, you will enter therapy, and you will never speak of this again. If you ever put this family’s name at risk again, I will cut you off completely.'*"
"She covered up a murder," Chloe whispered, her eyes wide with terror. "Margaret protected him because of the family name."
"And by protecting him," I said, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper, "she created a monster who knew he could kill whenever he ran out of money. He pushed Rebecca off a ledge. He pushed me down the stairs. It was his signature. It was the only way he knew how to solve his financial problems."
ADA Cross stood up, pacing the length of the steel table. "This changes the scope of our indictment. We are no longer just looking at attempted murder and fetal homicide for Daniel. We are looking at a RICO conspiracy involving Margaret Vance as an accessory after the fact to murder, witness tampering, and money laundering."
"Can you arrest Margaret now?" I asked.
"Not yet," Cross admitted, frustration tightening her jaw. "The emails from four years ago are old, and Margaret’s attorneys will claim her account was compromised or that she was merely repeating what Daniel told her. We need an overt act in furtherance of the current conspiracy. We need Margaret on tape actively attempting to suborn perjury or destroy evidence regarding *your* case."
"She already tried," I said, looking at Alvarez. "She came to my hospital room. She offered a settlement, and then she threatened to destroy me."
"Your word against hers," Cross said gently. "In a courtroom, Sterling will say you were an emotionally unstable patient misinterpreting an offer of financial support from a grieving grandmother."
"Then give her an opportunity she can't resist," I said, cold resolve hardening my spine.
Alvarez narrowed her eyes at me. "Emily, what are you thinking?"
"Margaret believes I'm poor, broken, and desperate," I said, staring at the file on the table. "She thinks that without Daniel, I have no money, no home, and no future. Set up a meeting. Tell Sterling that I'm willing to sign a non-cooperation agreement and recant my grand jury testimony for a price. Let Margaret come to buy me off."
"It's too dangerous," Alvarez immediately countered. "Margaret is ruthless. If she suspects a trap—"
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"She won't suspect a trap," I interrupted, my voice devoid of fear. "Because Margaret Vance cannot conceive of a world where someone cannot be bought by her money. She thinks everyone has a price, because her son had one, and she paid it."
***
