Chapter 17 - The Girl They Tried to Discredit
Tove's legal team moved fast.
Within forty-eight hours, they released a statement calling the lighthouse recording "coerced, chaotic, and misleading."
They claimed Mireya's memories had been influenced by grieving adults.
They claimed Cullen was using his daughter to repair his own guilt.
Mireya saw none of it.
Cullen turned off the television, surrendered his phone to Mara when he was around her, and followed the child therapist's advice.
No rehearsing.
No leading questions.
No treating Mireya like evidence.
She was his daughter first.
Then Nora found Marisol's cloud backup.
It had been scheduled to upload automatically from the hallway camera.
Most files had been deleted.
One survived.
The date was eleven days before Marisol died.
Tove appeared on screen entering Mireya's room at 2:14 a.m.
She took the inhaler from the nightstand.
Then she looked directly at the camera.
And smiled.
Vale sent it to the prosecutor.
That afternoon, Bryce asked to speak again.
His lawyer was different this time.
Federal.
Bryce had learned something: Rourke's allies were not going to protect him. They were preparing to blame the entire scheme on the wounded CFO.
So Bryce talked.
He gave account numbers, burner phones, payment records, and the location of a hidden server.
Then he gave them the detail Cullen had waited eighteen months to hear.
Rourke had not merely chased Marisol.
He had struck her car once with the Range Rover.
She kept driving.
Tove called Rourke and screamed, "Don't let her reach the police."
Rourke hit Marisol's car a second time.
It went through the guardrail.
Cullen sat motionless.
"Did she die immediately?"
Bryce stared at his hands.
"No."
Cullen's heart pounded.
"What happened?"
"Tove went down the embankment first."
"Why?"
Bryce started crying.
"To get the file from Marisol's purse."
Cullen's voice barely worked.
"Was Marisol conscious?"
Bryce nodded.
"She asked Tove to help her."
May you like
The room went silent.
"And Tove walked away."
