Chapter 3 - The Uninvited Guest
The reflected face belonged to Patricia Cole.
Rachel’s former supervisor.
Daniel knew her because Rachel had once worked under Patricia at Lakeside Academy before transferring to a public middle school.
But Patricia was not a family friend.
She had no reason to be at Edward Bennett’s birthday party.
More troubling, she had supposedly moved to Wisconsin the previous year.
Daniel stared at the frozen image.
“Why was Patricia here?”
Lauren stopped crying.
That frightened him.
She looked relieved.
Almost as though the appearance of another suspect had given her oxygen.
“I didn’t invite her.”
Edward shook his head.
“Neither did I.”
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“I know her face. She came in with the catering staff.”
The detective turned.
“Are you sure?”
“She was wearing black. I assumed she was part of the service team.”
Daniel looked at Lauren.
“You knew her.”
“No.”
“You were standing ten feet apart.”
“I didn’t see her.”
The detective said nothing.
Daniel walked back to Rachel’s room.
He didn’t want her learning this from police.
She listened quietly.
When he said Patricia’s name, her entire body stiffened.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Rachel stared at him.
“She threatened me.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
Daniel felt another layer of the floor disappear beneath him.
Rachel explained.
At Lakeside Academy, Patricia had managed several scholarship funds.
Rachel discovered discrepancies.
Donations meant for student instruments were being redirected through false invoices.
At first Rachel assumed accounting errors.
Then she found signatures that had been copied.
One of them was hers.
Rachel reported it.
An internal investigation followed.
Patricia resigned before the school board completed its review.
Nothing criminal was proven because many records disappeared.
Rachel had changed schools months later.
“You told me she quit.”
“I didn’t want you involved.”
“Why?”
“Because Patricia knew your family.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Rachel looked confused by his reaction.
“She said your father’s company had donated to the school. I thought you knew.”
Daniel sat slowly.
Bennett Construction had donated to dozens of nonprofits.
But Edward never mentioned Lakeside.
“Did Patricia ever meet Lauren?”
Rachel searched her memory.
“At one fundraiser. Maybe.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
The detective.
He stepped into the hallway.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“Your sister’s attorney arrived. She’s willing to give a formal statement.”
“About the drink?”
“Yes.”
Daniel braced himself.
“She says Patricia Cole gave her the pills.”
The interview was recorded.
Lauren sat with her attorney while Daniel watched from another room after receiving permission.
Lauren admitted Patricia had contacted her three months earlier.
Patricia knew Lauren disliked Rachel.
She fed that resentment.
She sent messages suggesting Rachel was manipulating Daniel.
That Rachel intended to isolate him from his family.
That once the baby arrived, Rachel would pressure Daniel into taking control of the Bennett company.
Daniel almost laughed at the absurdity.
But Lauren had believed it.
Patricia then offered something she described as “a harmless relaxant.”
Lauren claimed Patricia told her it would simply make Rachel drowsy and embarrass her at family gatherings.
Lauren admitted putting crushed pills into Rachel’s drinks three times.
The detective asked, “Did you understand they were prescription medication?”
Lauren stared at the table.
“Yes.”
“Did you know Rachel was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Did you lock her outside tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lauren began crying again.
“Because she confronted me.”
“About what?”
“She said I was cruel.”
The detective waited.
Lauren whispered, “And I wanted to punish her.”
Daniel turned away.
Some part of him had hoped for an explanation that made Lauren less monstrous.
There wasn’t one.
Patricia may have manipulated her.
But Lauren had chosen every step.
Then the detective asked the question that changed everything.
“Why was Patricia at the party?”
Lauren looked genuinely confused.
“I didn’t know she was.”
“You were communicating with her.”
“By text.”
“Did you contact her tonight?”
“No.”
The detective slid a printout across the table.
A message from Lauren’s phone at 7:42 p.m.
Rachel will be here tonight.
Lauren stared.
“I didn’t send that.”
Her attorney interrupted.
The detective continued.
“Your phone sent it.”
Lauren shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel leaned closer to the monitor.
Lauren looked terrified again.
“My phone was missing for twenty minutes while I was getting dressed.”
The detective asked, “Who was at the apartment?”
“My parents. Daniel briefly. Staff.”
“Anyone else?”
Lauren hesitated.
Then said, “Uncle Thomas.”
Daniel’s blood chilled.
Thomas Bennett was Edward’s younger brother.
He also happened to be the chief financial officer of Bennett Construction.
And he had been at the apartment before the party.
But he had left before Rachel arrived.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Daniel called his father immediately.
“Where’s Uncle Thomas?”
Edward frowned.
“Home, I assume.”
“Call him.”
“No.”
“Dad.”
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Edward’s expression hardened.
“Thomas has worked beside me for thirty years.”
“And Patricia had connections to companies that donated through Bennett Construction.”
Edward stared.
Daniel continued.
“Rachel uncovered missing money at Lakeside Academy.”
Edward went silent.
Daniel saw recognition.
“Dad?”
Edward sat.
“Two years ago, our auditors found irregularities in charitable accounts.”
“How much?”
“Approximately eight hundred thousand dollars.”
Daniel couldn’t speak.
“We recovered part of it. Thomas told me it was an accounting contractor.”
“You believed him?”
“He had documentation.”
“Did you report it?”
Edward looked ashamed.
“No.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“Why?”
“I didn’t want a scandal.”
“So you buried it.”
“I protected the company.”
“You may have protected the people who targeted my wife.”
Margaret entered just in time to hear the last sentence.
“What does Thomas have to do with Rachel?”
Nobody answered.
Daniel began connecting pieces.
Patricia stole money from a school charity.
Bennett Construction donations were involved.
Rachel discovered discrepancies.
Patricia vanished.
Thomas handled company finances.
Lauren was manipulated into repeatedly drugging Rachel.
Why?
Making Rachel sick accomplished nothing financially.
Unless sickness wasn’t the goal.
Maybe it was intimidation.
Maybe they wanted her judgment questioned.
Maybe they expected something else.
Daniel returned to Rachel.
She was asleep.
He sat beside her.
For the first time since the balcony, the baby monitor sounded reassuring.
A steady rhythm.
Daniel took Rachel’s hand.
At dawn, she opened her eyes.
“You’re still here.”
“I’m never leaving.”
She smiled weakly.
Then frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
Daniel told her about Thomas.
Rachel listened.
Then she suddenly sat straighter.
“The envelope.”
“What envelope?”
“From Lakeside.”
“What about it?”
“The week before I resigned, I copied documents.”
“Where are they?”
“I mailed them.”
“To who?”
“Myself.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“I was scared Patricia would search my desk. I mailed copies to our old apartment.”
“We moved two years ago.”
“I know.”
“Did you ever receive them?”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel felt cold despite the warm hospital room.
“Who had access to our mail then?”
Rachel thought.
Daniel already knew.
For three weeks during their move, they had forwarded mail to his parents’ address.
He called Edward.
His father answered after two rings.
“Did an envelope ever arrive for Rachel at your apartment from Lakeside Academy?”
Silence.
“Dad?”
Edward’s voice changed.
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to Thomas.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“He said it concerned company donations.”
“Where is it now?”
“I don’t know.”
Thirty minutes later police officers went to Thomas Bennett’s home.
He was gone.
His car remained in the garage.
His passport was missing.
So was his laptop.
But his home office contained something unexpected.
A photograph.
Rachel standing outside Lakeside Academy.
Taken from across the street.
On the back were three handwritten words:
SHE KEPT COPIES.
The detective called Daniel.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“We checked the building cameras from your parents’ apartment.”
Daniel tightened his grip on the phone.
“Thomas came back after the ambulance left.”
“When?”
“Eleven forty-two.”
“What did he do?”
“We don’t know. Interior cameras were disabled.”
“Then how do you know?”
“He used the service entrance.”
Daniel looked toward Rachel.
“Did he leave?”
The detective paused.
“No.”
Daniel felt his pulse accelerate.
“What do you mean no?”
“There’s no footage of Thomas leaving the building.”
Daniel stood slowly.
His father’s apartment was forty floors above the street.
Thomas’s car was at home.
And according to the cameras, he had entered the Bennett apartment almost five hours earlier.
The detective lowered his voice.
“We’re heading back there now.”
Then Margaret called Daniel from the apartment.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Daniel.”
“Mom?”
“I heard something in your father’s study.”
“Get out of the apartment.”
“I thought it was Edward.”
“Mom, listen to me. Leave now.”
A floorboard creaked behind her.
Margaret stopped breathing.
May you like
Daniel heard a door slowly open.
Then a man said her name.
