Chapter 6 - The Truth at 7:42
They reached Blackwood headquarters at 12:38 a.m.
Daniel insisted they use the underground entrance.
Lauren barely listened.
Her mother had ignored every call.
Ethan had sent messages.
Nothing.
The elevator climbed.
Thirty-nine.
Forty.
Forty-one.
The doors opened.
Evelyn sat inside Ethan’s office.
Alone.
The black folder rested on the desk.
Lauren rushed toward her.
“Mom.”
Evelyn stood.
Lauren grabbed her arms.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“You were with Marcus.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at Ethan.
“Because I called him.”
Lauren stared.
“You what?”
“I needed him to think I was ready to make a deal.”
“You went alone?”
“I’ve been afraid of him for fourteen years.”
Her voice tightened.
“I’m tired of being afraid.”
Ethan looked toward the black folder.
“What’s inside?”
Evelyn sat.
“The part I never told Lauren.”
Lauren’s anger cooled into dread.
“What happened at 7:42?”
Her mother’s eyes filled.
“The morning after Catherine died, Marcus came to our motel.”
Lauren remembered that morning.
Her mother had told her to pack.
Fast.
They had left before breakfast.
“He said Catherine was dead because she refused to stop.”
Lauren whispered, “Mom.”
“He gave me an envelope with five thousand dollars.”
“You took it?”
“Yes.”
Lauren stepped back.
Evelyn flinched.
“I had nineteen dollars in my account. You were sleeping in a car. I took it.”
There was shame in her voice.
Lauren immediately moved back toward her.
“Mom, I don’t care about that.”
“I did.”
Evelyn wiped her eyes.
“For fourteen years.”
“What else happened?”
“He made me sign something saying the foreclosure records were accurate.”
Ethan cursed quietly.
“I knew they weren’t.”
“But you signed.”
“Yes.”
Lauren took her mother’s hand.
“You were scared.”
“I was a mother.”
Evelyn looked at Ethan.
“But before Catherine died, she had given me the original ledger.”
Ethan’s attention sharpened.
“What ledger?”
“The one showing every payment.”
She touched the black folder.
“I kept it.”
Lauren stared.
“For fourteen years?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you give it to someone?”
“I tried.”
“To who?”
“Henry.”
“He told me to hide it.”
Ethan opened the folder.
Rows of payments.
Dates.
Account numbers.
Transfers.
Signatures.
Daniel leaned closer.
“This is enough.”
“For the fraud,” Ethan said.
“Maybe more.”
He pointed to authorization initials.
M.V.
T.B.
Every redirected mortgage payment had been approved.
Lauren looked at her mother.
“Why did Marcus come tonight?”
“I called the number he left fourteen years ago.”
“It still worked?”
“He answered.”
A shiver moved through Lauren.
“What did you say?”
“I told him Lauren had found Catherine’s tape.”
Ethan looked sharply at Evelyn.
“Why?”
“Because I needed him to panic.”
Daniel frowned.
“That’s dangerous.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn met his eyes.
“So was hiding.”
She reached into her bag.
A tiny recorder.
“I recorded our conversation.”
Ethan pressed play.
Marcus’s voice filled the office.
“You should have destroyed the ledger.”
Evelyn: “You should have left us alone.”
Marcus: “That was never an option.”
Evelyn: “Did Thomas order Catherine’s death?”
A long silence.
Marcus: “Thomas ordered problems solved.”
Evelyn: “Did you kill her?”
Marcus: “I arranged for the car to fail.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
Ethan stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
Evelyn: “And Thomas?”
Marcus: “He died years later believing the company belonged to him.”
Evelyn: “It did.”
Marcus laughed.
“No. Catherine made sure it didn’t.”
The recording ended.
Ethan looked at his mother’s handwriting on the ledger.
Daniel said, “That confession is admissible enough to get people moving.”
Ethan stared at the recorder.
“My mother was murdered.”
Lauren touched his arm.
He looked at her.
For the first time since she had met him, the billionaire disappeared.
There was only a son.
A son learning that the worst day of his life had been manufactured by people he trusted.
“I’m sorry,” Lauren whispered.
Ethan nodded once.
Then became the CEO again.
“Daniel. Federal prosecutors. State attorney general. Outside counsel. Nobody employed by Blackwood.”
“Already preparing.”
“Freeze Marcus’s access.”
“Done.”
“Preserve every historical record.”
“Done.”
Ethan looked toward Evelyn.
“You may have just ended him.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“I think Marcus came because he wanted to be recorded.”
Lauren frowned.
“What?”
“He knew I had the recorder.”
“How?”
“I wasn’t hiding it well.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Then the confession may be a distraction.”
Ethan looked at the ledger again.
“What would he be distracting us from?”
The answer arrived seconds later.
Fire alarms began screaming.
Red lights flashed.
Daniel’s phone erupted with security warnings.
“Archive floor.”
Ethan swore.
The historical records were two levels below.
“They’re burning it.”
Daniel moved toward the door.
Ethan grabbed the ledger.
Lauren pulled her mother with her.
Smoke already filled the stairwell.
Sprinklers activated.
The archive floor doors were locked.
Daniel forced them.
Inside, flames climbed one wall.
Not everywhere.
One specific room.
Cedar Glen records.
“Targeted fire,” Daniel shouted.
Employees from overnight security rushed in with extinguishers.
Lauren saw a figure moving through smoke.
“Someone’s there!”
Daniel ran.
Ethan followed.
Lauren stayed with Evelyn.
A man burst from the archive room carrying a metal case.
He shoved Ethan.
Daniel tackled him.
The case slid across the floor.
Lauren caught it before it disappeared into the smoke.
The man fought wildly.
His mask came off.
Lauren froze.
It was not Marcus.
It was Henry Cole.
“Henry?”
The old lawyer looked at her.
His face broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel restrained him.
Evelyn stared.
“Why?”
Henry coughed.
“They had my daughter.”
“Who?”
Henry looked toward Ethan.
“Marcus.”
Ethan grabbed the case.
“What’s inside?”
Henry laughed weakly.
“You still think Marcus is the top.”
Ethan crouched.
“Who is?”
Henry’s eyes filled with terror.
“The person Catherine trusted.”
Ethan stopped.
“My mother?”
“No.”
Henry looked at Daniel.
Daniel’s face changed.
Lauren saw it.
“Daniel?”
Ethan slowly stood.
Henry whispered:
“Ask him where he was the night Catherine died.”
Everyone looked at Daniel.
For the first time in years, Ethan’s security chief had no answer.
May you like
Then the fire doors slammed shut behind them.
And Daniel reached for his gun.
