Chapter 3 - The Dead Wife's Phone
Nobody moved.
The phone vibrated against Sheriff Daniels's gloved palm.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
Evelyn stared at it.
"Answer."
Daniels shook his head.
"Not yet."
"It's for me."
"Which is exactly why we don't answer blindly."
The call stopped.
Five seconds passed.
A text appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD.
Walter went pale.
Evelyn didn't.
Something inside her had changed.
Fear was still there.
But fear now had company.
Rage.
Daniels photographed the message.
"Brandon just made a mistake."
"If it was Brandon."
Evelyn looked at Walter.
Walter nodded.
"Could be Vanessa. Could be someone else."
Another message arrived.
COME HOME IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOUR FATHER REALLY DIED.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
"My father?"
Walter's expression shifted.
Daniel noticed.
"What?"
Walter looked away.
Evelyn's voice sharpened.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"I don't know anything."
"That wasn't a nothing face."
Walter sat down.
"Your father's death was ruled cardiac arrest."
"I know."
"He had been receiving threats for several months."
Evelyn stared.
"You never told me that."
"He made me promise."
"Why?"
"Because he believed the threats came from inside Halstead Aerospace."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Walter continued.
"Your father was preparing to remove several executives. He believed someone had been manipulating procurement contracts and moving money through shell companies."
"Who?"
"He never proved it."
"Was Brandon involved?"
Walter hesitated.
"I don't know."
Evelyn looked at the message again.
COME HOME IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOUR FATHER REALLY DIED.
"They want me emotional."
Daniels nodded.
"They want you to expose yourself."
"Then we don't give them what they want."
For the next two days, Evelyn remained hidden.
Meanwhile Brandon moved aggressively.
He petitioned for temporary control over Evelyn's estate.
He met privately with Halstead board members.
He filed preliminary insurance paperwork.
And he brought Vanessa into the Prescott home permanently.
Investigators documented everything.
But they still needed proof of the attempted murder.
Evelyn's testimony mattered.
The financial motive mattered.
Yet Brandon could still claim she had slipped and blamed him after trauma.
Then Tom found something.
He returned to the cliff with investigators.
Beneath the snow near the overlook, they recovered a tiny object.
A button.
Not from Evelyn's uniform.
From Brandon's suit sleeve.
Beside it were two sets of footprints.
One matched Evelyn.
The other approached from behind.
Then continued to the edge.
The physical evidence supported her story.
But Daniels wanted more.
"We arrest him now, his lawyers spend six months arguing accident and contamination."
Evelyn looked at him.
"So we let him keep talking."
"Exactly."
Brandon gave them plenty.
Three days after the memorial, he met Vanessa at a private hangar.
Surveillance captured their conversation.
"You said no body was enough," Vanessa snapped.
"It should be."
"Then why is the insurer delaying?"
"Routine."
"And Halstead?"
"The board vote is Friday."
Vanessa lowered her voice.
"What about the baby clause?"
"Both presumed dead."
"You sound very sure."
Brandon stared at her.
"I watched her go over."
Evelyn listened from the clinic.
Her hands trembled.
There it was.
Not a complete confession.
But close.
Vanessa asked, "Did she know?"
"At the end."
"You told her?"
"I didn't need to."
"You said something."
Brandon didn't answer.
Vanessa laughed softly.
"God, Brandon. You wanted her to know."
"No."
"You did."
He turned toward her.
"Stop."
"You hated that she owned everything."
"Stop talking."
"You hated being Mr. Evelyn Prescott."
Brandon grabbed her wrist.
"I said stop."
Vanessa pulled free.
"You should remember who helped you set this up."
Evelyn leaned closer to the speaker.
Brandon's voice dropped.
"And you should remember what happens to people who become problems."
The recording ended ten minutes later.
Daniels looked at Evelyn.
"We have conspiracy territory now."
"Not enough."
"No."
"What would be enough?"
"A direct admission."
Evelyn stared at the monitor.
Then she made a decision.
"I'll give you one."
Walter immediately objected.
"No."
"I'm the only person he wants badly enough."
"Which is exactly why you don't go anywhere near him."
"I'm not suggesting I walk into the house alone."
Daniels studied her.
"What are you suggesting?"
Evelyn smiled without warmth.
"Let the dead wife come home."
The plan took forty-eight hours.
Authorities installed additional cameras.
Evelyn wore a concealed microphone.
Her injuries made movement difficult, but she could walk with a brace.
Her contractions had stopped.
The doctor reluctantly approved limited activity provided medical support remained nearby.
Friday afternoon, Brandon held a private reception at the Prescott house.
Several Halstead board members attended.
Vanessa wore a red dress.
Brandon wore the same black suit he had worn at the memorial.
At 7:14 p.m., the front door opened.
A housekeeper screamed.
Every conversation stopped.
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
Alive.
Brandon's glass fell from his hand.
It shattered.
Vanessa turned white.
One board member whispered, "Oh my God."
Evelyn stepped inside.
Her ankle brace was visible beneath her coat.
Her face still carried bruises.
But she stood straight.
Brandon could not speak.
Evelyn looked directly at him.
"Miss me?"
His lips parted.
"Evelyn."
Vanessa backed away.
Brandon stared as if he were seeing a ghost.
"How?"
Evelyn smiled.
"How what?"
He caught himself.
"How are you alive?"
The room went silent.
Evelyn slowly removed her coat.
"You tell me."
Brandon's eyes flicked toward the other guests.
"You fell."
"Did I?"
"I tried to save you."
"No, you didn't."
His face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
"You were confused."
"I remember your hands."
"Evelyn—"
"I remember you saying they would call it an accident."
Vanessa moved toward the hallway.
Sheriff Daniels, listening remotely, sent two officers around the back.
Brandon forced a laugh.
"You hit your head."
Evelyn stepped closer.
"Then remind me."
"What?"
"Tell me what happened."
"You slipped."
"And?"
"I grabbed you."
"With which hand?"
Brandon hesitated.
Wrong question.
Evelyn saw it.
So did everyone else.
He pointed toward his right.
"This one."
She looked at the sleeve.
A replacement button had been sewn near the cuff.
"Interesting."
Brandon looked down.
Evelyn said, "Because investigators found one of your original buttons where you were supposedly trying to save me."
His face drained.
Vanessa suddenly shouted, "I didn't push her!"
Everyone turned.
Evelyn looked at her.
"I never said you did."
Vanessa realized her mistake.
Brandon's expression became murderous.
"Shut up."
Vanessa shook her head.
"No. You said she would die. You promised me she would die."
Brandon lunged toward her.
Officers burst through the doors.
"Police!"
Chaos erupted.
Brandon stopped.
For a moment Evelyn thought it was over.
Then he did something nobody expected.
He grabbed Vanessa.
Pulled a small knife from his pocket.
Pressed it against her throat.
"Back up."
Officers raised their weapons.
Vanessa screamed.
"Brandon!"
"Back up!"
Evelyn stared at him.
The mask was gone.
This was the man from the cliff.
Desperate.
Cold.
Cornered.
"You don't want to do this," Daniels said.
Brandon dragged Vanessa toward the rear hallway.
"You have no idea what I want."
Evelyn stepped forward.
"Evelyn, don't," Daniels warned.
She ignored him.
"Fifty million?"
Brandon laughed.
"You think this was about fifty million?"
"Wasn't it?"
"You still don't understand."
"Then explain it."
His eyes locked on hers.
"Your father understood."
Evelyn's heart stopped.
"What did you do to my father?"
Brandon smiled.
Vanessa suddenly drove her heel onto his foot.
He jerked.
Police rushed him.
The knife fell.
Within seconds Brandon was on the floor in handcuffs.
Vanessa collapsed, sobbing.
Evelyn stood frozen.
Her father's name echoed in her head.
Later that night Brandon refused further questioning.
Vanessa didn't.
She demanded immunity.
Daniels gave her no promises.
But she talked anyway.
The insurance plot.
The forged transfers.
The affair.
The planned board takeover.
Everything.
Then Daniels asked about Evelyn's father.
Vanessa's face changed.
"I don't know."
"Brandon implied you did."
"I swear."
"Then who would?"
Vanessa looked toward Evelyn through the interview-room glass.
"There was someone before me."
"Who?"
"Brandon had a partner."
"Name."
"I never knew it."
"Man or woman?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"Man."
"Halstead employee?"
"I think so."
"Why?"
"Because Brandon called him Chairman."
Evelyn went cold.
Halstead Aerospace had only one chairman after her father's death.
A man she had trusted since childhood.
Richard Mercer.
Her father's oldest friend.
At that exact moment, Walter's phone rang.
He answered.
His face went pale.
"What?"
Evelyn stood.
"What happened?"
Walter lowered the phone slowly.
"The Halstead archives were broken into."
"What's missing?"
"Only one file."
"Which one?"
Walter looked at her.
May you like
"Your father's autopsy records."
Then the lights in the interview room went out.
