Chapter 5 - The Witness Who Lied
I ran downstairs.
“Ana!”
Rachel followed.
The front door stood open.
Ana was outside.
Alive.
A black SUV was reversing away from the curb.
Ana pointed.
“Someone was at the window.”
Ruiz arrived fifteen minutes later.
Security footage showed a hooded figure approaching Ana's house, looking through the study window, then fleeing when Ana noticed.
The person had been searching for something.
Probably Grandma's records.
Stephen Keller agreed to meet the next morning at Ruiz's office.
He arrived with an attorney.
He looked exhausted.
Rachel wouldn't look at him.
Stephen began with the forged evaluations.
Mark had paid him.
Not once.
For years.
He had manipulated medical documentation for business partners, elderly property owners, and anyone Mark needed discredited.
“Did you falsify Abigail's records?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know?”
“Eventually.”
“What happened after she discovered it?”
“She threatened to expose us.”
“Us?”
Stephen looked down.
“Mark. Richard. Me.”
“And my mother?”
Stephen became silent.
Ruiz leaned forward.
“Dr. Keller.”
He looked at me.
“Emily discovered the financial operation first.”
“What operation?”
They were acquiring distressed properties through shell companies and using insider information to manipulate sales.
Grandma's name and credit had been used without permission.
My mother found the records.
“She confronted Mark,” Stephen said.
“When?”
“The night she died.”
My hands clenched.
“Was my father following her?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hit her car?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was in Mark's car.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“Then whose car hit hers?”
Stephen closed his eyes.
“Richard's.”
My breath stopped.
But something didn't fit.
Richard's preserved statement blamed Mark.
Stephen now blamed Richard.
One of them was lying.
“Why would Richard hit my mother?”
“He panicked.”
“About what?”
“She had evidence.”
Stephen claimed Richard tried to stop Emily from reaching police.
His car clipped hers.
Emily lost control.
Mark stopped.
Richard stopped.
But neither called emergency services immediately.
“How long?”
Stephen looked sick.
“Seven minutes.”
Seven minutes.
My mother might have been alive.
Seven minutes while three men protected themselves.
I stood.
Ruiz stopped me.
“Alana.”
I looked at Stephen.
“Was my mother alive?”
“I don't know.”
“You were a doctor.”
“I never reached the vehicle.”
“Why?”
“Mark wouldn't let me.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I asked the question that mattered.
“Why did Richard preserve evidence if he caused the crash?”
Stephen had no answer.
That was when I knew.
He was still lying.
Ruiz knew too.
She ended the interview.
Outside, Rachel cried.
“I believed him for twenty-five years.”
I didn't know what to say.
Ana joined me.
“There's something I need to tell you.”
I showed her the indentation from Grandma's letter.
C.B.
DO NOT TELL ANA UNTIL YOU KNOW.
Ana sat down.
“Charles Brennan.”
“Your husband.”
“Yes.”
“Was he part of this?”
“He discovered it.”
“When?”
“After Emily died.”
Ana explained that Charles had been Grandma's attorney before her.
He found irregular transactions.
Then he confronted Mark.
Two months later, Charles left the firm.
He told Ana it was because of health problems.
He died six years afterward.
“Why would Grandma tell me not to tell you?”
“Because Charles hid something from me.”
“What?”
Ana's eyes filled.
“I think Abigail wanted you to discover it without forcing me to choose between my husband and the truth.”
We searched Charles's archived files.
Ana had kept everything.
Hours passed.
Then I found a folder labeled E.D.
Emily Darcy.
Inside was a photocopy of an insurance policy.
My mother had taken out a $5 million life insurance policy six months before she died.
Beneficiary:
Mark Darcy.
But the beneficiary had been changed twelve days before the crash.
New beneficiary:
Alana Darcy Trust.
My father had lost five million dollars if my mother died.
That weakened one motive.
Then Ana found another document.
A handwritten note from Charles.
MARK DOESN'T KNOW EMILY CHANGED IT.
So Mark thought he was still beneficiary.
My stomach turned.
We gave everything to Ruiz.
She called two hours later.
The insurance company confirmed that Mark had attempted to claim the policy after my mother's death.
He discovered only then that the beneficiary had changed.
That was motive.
But still not proof.
Then Gillian called me.
I almost didn't answer.
“Alana.”
“What?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Talk to your attorney.”
“Dad lied to me.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Congratulations.”
“No. About Grandma.”
That stopped me.
“What did he say?”
“He told me Grandma changed her will because you manipulated her.”
“She didn't.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I found something.”
Gillian sounded frightened.
“What?”
“Dad left a safe open.”
“Where are you?”
“At the Fremont house.”
“You're not supposed to be there.”
“I know.”
“What did you find?”
“A recording.”
My pulse jumped.
“Of what?”
“Dad and Grandma.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
“Send it to me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because there's something else here.”
“What?”
Gillian whispered.
“A photograph of Mom.”
“Yasmin?”
“No.”
My skin prickled.
“Then who?”
“Your mother.”
Silence.
“Gillian—”
“She wasn't alone, Alana.”
“Who was with her?”
Gillian began crying.
Then I heard a door slam through the phone.
“Gillian?”
She stopped breathing.
Someone spoke in the background.
A man's voice.
Gillian whispered two words.
May you like
“He's here.”
The call disconnected.
