Chapter 5 - The Memory Card
Mara brought scissors.
Cullen cut three stitches.
Inside the stuffed fox was a memory card wrapped in plastic.
Nobody spoke.
Vale pulled a clean laptop from his bag and disconnected it from the internet before inserting the card.
There were six files.
Five spreadsheets.
One video.
The video showed Marisol sitting in her office two weeks before she died.
She looked exhausted.
But not unstable.
"If you're watching this," she said, "I ran out of time."
Cullen gripped the edge of the table.
Marisol named Tove and Bryce.
She said she had discovered nearly two million dollars moving from Harbor House Foundation into shell vendors approved by Bryce. Tove had pressured her to sign retroactive authorizations that would make the transfers look legitimate.
Marisol refused.
Then the threats started.
Anonymous messages.
A slashed tire.
Missing medication.
Cullen looked at Mireya.
"Missing medication?"
Mireya nodded slowly.
On the video, Marisol lifted a blue rescue inhaler.
"Someone has taken this twice. I bought a second one and hid it in my car. If anything happens to me, do not assume it was an accident."
The recording ended.
Vale opened the spreadsheets.
"These are enough to trigger a financial investigation. Maybe more."
"Maybe?"
"We still need to connect them to the crash."
Mireya spoke from the couch.
"I know where Mommy's blue inhaler is."
Three adults turned toward her.
"Where?" Cullen asked.
"Tove has it."
"How do you know?"
Mireya's face pinched.
"Because she showed it to me."
Cullen's stomach dropped.
"When?"
"Last week. She came into my room and said Mommy should have listened the first time. Then she put the inhaler in a little glass box in her closet."
Vale leaned forward.
"Did you see anything else in that box?"
"Mommy's necklace. And a key with a red tag."
Cullen knew that necklace.
Marisol had been wearing it the night she died.
The police report said it was never recovered.
Vale went very still.
"Cullen," he said, "we need a warrant."
Then Mara's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen and went white.
"It's Tove."
The message was a photo of Mara's building entrance.
May you like
Under it were four words.
I know where you are.
