Chapter 14 - Martin Comes Back
Martin walked into the federal building the next morning.
Bruised. Exhausted. Alive.
He had cut his own hand in the rental car.
The blood was staged.
I wanted to slap him.
Instead, I asked why.
"I needed George to believe I was out of play."
"So you terrified everyone who cared whether you were alive."
He looked ashamed.
"Yes."
Martin had agreed to cooperate with investigators two days earlier, before the car was found. The staged disappearance was part of an operation designed to make George and Patricia move hidden records.
I turned to the federal agent.
"You couldn't tell me?"
"Operational necessity."
I understood the words.
I did not like them.
Martin gave me David's original letter.
The envelope had been opened.
"I'm sorry," he said.
I took it without answering.
Then he handed investigators a recording device.
After his fake disappearance, George called a number Martin had been instructed to keep active.
The recording played.
George's voice:
"Once Margaret stops the loan, we pivot. Ethan has enough separate assets to keep us alive if Vanessa gets him to sign the marriage vehicle."
Patricia answered:
"The engagement is over."
George said, "Then fix it. Cry, apologize, get pregnant, I don't care."
The room went cold.
Martin closed his eyes.
There was one more voice on the call.
Vanessa.
She said, "No."
George shouted at her.
She repeated it.
"No. I'm done."
Then the recording captured a slap.
A chair scraping.
Patricia yelling.
Vanessa crying.
Ethan stood.
"Where is she?"
May you like
The agent answered carefully.
"Missing.
