Chapter 13 - THE LAST FAVOR
Ryan did not get arrested that minute.
Not yet.
The forged document and suspicious transfers required more investigation. Officer Ortiz told him he was not free to interfere with evidence and warned him that detectives would be contacting him.
The security guards escorted him outside so I could decide whether he was allowed back on the property.
The answer was no.
I changed the access code before his car reached the gate.
At 1:17 in the morning, Ryan called nine times, then sent a stream of messages. The last one mattered most:
IF YOU TALK TO POLICE ABOUT THE ACCOUNT, EVERYTHING GETS WORSE.
I stared at that message for a long time.
Naomi, who had come to the house in person by then, read it over my shoulder.
"Screenshot it."
"Already did."
"Good. Now block him for tonight."
I did.
Evan made coffee nobody drank.
At two in the morning, Marcus showed us an additional camera clip from the driveway.
Ryan had gone into Diane's car before police arrived.
He removed a small laptop bag.
Then he carried it into the detached guesthouse.
I had almost forgotten the guesthouse even had a separate entrance.
"Is he still outside?" I asked.
Marcus shook his head. "He left the property about forty minutes ago."
Naomi looked toward the dark window.
"Do not enter the guesthouse alone. If that bag contains documents or devices connected to the fraud, let police handle it."
We called Officer Ortiz.
She returned with a detective just before three.
Inside the guesthouse bedroom closet, they found the laptop bag.
Inside the bag was a notebook.
The first page contained a list of my assets.
The second contained dates.
The third contained passwords Ryan had apparently guessed or collected.
And halfway down the fourth page was a sentence written in Diane's handwriting.
GET CLAIRE OUT BEFORE CLOSING.
Underneath it, Ryan had written:
IF SHE WON'T LEAVE, FORCE A BLOWUP.
May you like
My hands began to shake.
Because suddenly the fight in the kitchen did not look spontaneous at all.
