Chapter 17 - Someone Else’s Idea
Evelyn claimed the alarm had been malfunctioning.
“It went off twice in May.”
“So you disconnected it?”
“I ordered Lucas to have it replaced.”
Lucas shook his head.
“You never told me.”
“I told maintenance.”
“Which maintenance?”
Evelyn hesitated.
That was enough.
Sarah folded the work ticket.
“Jonathan?”
Evelyn looked furious.
“With the company paying the house expenses, he handled vendors.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“You gave him your company, your security system, your passwords, your house.”
“I did not give him my house.”
“Mia owns most of it.”
The words landed cruelly.
Sarah knew it.
She did not take them back.
Evelyn’s eyes hardened.
“This isn’t a game.”
“No.”
Sarah pointed toward the pool.
“That became clear when my daughter disappeared.”
Detective Ruiz joined them ten minutes later.
She had interviewed the technician who disconnected the alarm.
“He received the order through Mercer Facilities,” Ruiz said. “Electronic request originated from Jonathan Reed’s office.”
Evelyn stared at her.
“He used my name?”
“The work order lists you as requesting owner. The email transmission came from his assistant’s system.”
Sarah looked at Evelyn.
“Did Jonathan know you might put Mia in that room?”
“No.”
Ruiz asked, “Did you discuss the room with him before the party?”
Evelyn said nothing.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
Sarah felt her stomach turn.
“When?”
“The morning of the party.”
“What did he say?” Ruiz asked.
Evelyn sat.
For a long moment she looked at the covered pool.
Then she said, “I told him Mia had Michael’s key.”
“How did you know?”
“Rebecca Lane told me before she died that Michael had left something with Mia.”
Sarah stared.
“Rebecca told you?”
“She was sick. We spoke after Michael’s memorial. She said she regretted being placed in the middle.”
“Did she tell you where the key was?”
“No.”
“So Jonathan suggested the room?”
Evelyn rubbed her hands together.
“He said if Mia had hidden the key, a child might tell the truth if she thought she would miss her cake.”
Sarah’s breath stopped.
Ruiz’s expression changed.
“That’s what he said?”
Evelyn nodded.
“He called it a bluff.”
“And you agreed?”
“I didn’t plan—”
“You agreed.”
“Yes.”
Sarah turned away.
The lawn blurred.
Five candles.
A waiting cake.
Mia alone beneath concrete.
Not because Evelyn lost her temper spontaneously.
Because two adults discussed how to frighten a child into revealing a secret.
Ruiz continued.
“Did Mr. Reed instruct you to lock Mia in?”
“He said close the door. Give her a minute. Then ask again.”
“Did he say he would release her?”
“Later.”
Sarah spun back.
“You knew this was planned.”
“I knew we might take her downstairs.”
“You told me you panicked.”
“I did.”
“You planned the location.”
“I didn’t know how far it would go.”
“That is what people say when they want credit for the line they crossed accidentally after deliberately walking toward it.”
Evelyn flinched.
Ruiz ended the interview soon afterward.
Sarah drove away without saying goodbye.
At Danielle’s house, Mia and Zoe were building a blanket fort.
Sarah stood in the doorway watching them.
Two five-year-olds arguing over whether a stuffed giraffe belonged inside the fort.
Zoe saw her.
“Miss Sarah?”
“Yes?”
“Is Mia allowed cookies?”
Mia groaned.
“You weren’t supposed to ask.”
Sarah laughed despite everything.
“One.”
Mia held up two fingers.
“One big one.”
“Deal.”
Normal life.
Sarah wanted to wrap herself around it.
That evening, David called with news from the independent forensic review.
Jonathan’s related entities had received at least five-point-four million from Crescent Point.
Some services were legitimate.
Some appeared inflated.
At least two vendors had no employees.
“Shell companies,” Sarah said.
“Likely.”
“Did Evelyn know?”
“No evidence yet.”
“What about Michael?”
“His scanner files include a spreadsheet tracing payments.”
“So he knew.”
“He was figuring it out.”
“When?”
“About three weeks before he died.”
Sarah sat on Danielle’s back porch.
“Why didn’t he go to the police?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t he go to the board?”
“He may have been preparing to.”
Sarah remembered Jonathan’s words.
If you expose Crescent Point, you expose yourself too.
“What could Michael have done wrong?”
David exhaled.
“We found transfers he approved to keep Crescent Point from violating lender covenants.”
“False reporting?”
“Potentially misleading reporting.”
“Illegal?”
“Potentially.”
She almost laughed at the familiar word.
David continued.
“Sarah, this may be why he changed the trust. He knew litigation could hit the company.”
Her phone buzzed with an incoming email.
Sender: FORENSIC REVIEW TEAM.
Subject: SECURITY SYSTEM ACCESS — PARTY DATE.
She opened the attached audit.
Jonathan’s account had logged into the mansion security platform at 2:08 p.m.
Two minutes before Evelyn followed Mia inside.
At 2:10, cameras were disabled.
At 2:58, they were reactivated.
But one more entry appeared.
2:19 p.m.
BELOW-POOL EMERGENCY ALARM — STATUS CHECK.
Sarah stared.
May you like
Jonathan had checked whether the alarm was disconnected while Mia was inside.
And he had done it before Evelyn returned to the party.
