Chapter 8 - Unit 214
The storage facility sat behind an abandoned shopping center.
Unit 214 was registered to Raymond Vale.
When police opened it, the first thing Ethan saw was his father's desk chair.
The second was a stack of boxes labeled REED DEVELOPMENT - ARCHIVE.
Amanda had told him the company records were destroyed in a basement flood.
They hadn't been.
Inside the third box, Detective Cole found printed bank transfers from company accounts to shell corporations.
Mara recognized the names.
"These companies don't exist."
More than three million dollars had moved over eighteen months.
Every transfer carried Daniel's authorization code.
But the device records told a different story.
Daniel had discovered his credentials were being used while he was asleep or traveling.
Then Lily found a pink lunchbox behind the boxes.
"That's mine."
Amanda had thrown it away months ago after Lily spilled juice inside it.
Now it was here.
Inside was an old phone.
The battery was dead.
At the station, technicians revived it.
The phone contained hundreds of messages between Amanda and Raymond.
Most were about money.
One was about Daniel.
RAYMOND: He is driving to Cincinnati Thursday. If he gets there, Bennett will freeze everything.
AMANDA: Then make sure he doesn't get there.
Ethan stopped reading.
The room became very quiet.
Detective Cole looked at Mara.
"This changes the case."
Lily gripped Ethan's hand.
"Did Mom hurt Daddy?"
Cole answered carefully. "We don't know yet."
But Ethan knew what fear looked like now.
He had seen it on Amanda's face when the recorder appeared.
And he saw it again an hour later when police brought her into the station for questioning.
Amanda looked through the glass at Ethan.
Then she said something to her attorney.
The attorney turned toward Cole.
"My client says she wants to make a deal."
Cole folded his arms.
"In exchange for what?"
May you like
Amanda looked at Ethan.
"The truth about Daniel's crash."
