Chapter 5: The Second Part of the Plan
Lauren had recorded the conversation from inside the bathroom.
“I started recording because Preston had been acting strange for weeks,” she explained. “He kept taking calls from your father and refusing to tell me what they were discussing.”
“Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I didn’t understand the plan until last night.”
Her voice broke.
“He told me Sophie had a history of stealing. Your parents confirmed it. They said you covered for her.”
I felt anger rise inside me.
“Sophie has never stolen anything.”
“I know that now.”
Lauren looked toward the safe.
“When Preston pulled the phone out of her jacket, I thought they had been telling the truth. Then I saw him smile.”
The same smile I had seen.
Victory.
“What happened after he hurt her?” Maya asked.
“Your mother told me to go upstairs and bring her the transfer document. She said they needed to complete the plan before the police arrived.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“I gave her an empty envelope. Then I left the real documents in the safe.”
That explained why my mother had taken the envelope into the kitchen corridor but still didn’t have the forged transfer.
“Where is Sophie’s jacket?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Celia had it.”
Maya examined Lauren’s video.
“Did they say what they planned to do after obtaining the drive?”
Lauren nodded.
“They were going to enter Evelyn’s hotel room and remove every copy of the financial records.”
“My laptop is in that room.”
“We already checked,” Maya said. “Your room was searched.”
My stomach dropped.
“The laptop?”
“Gone.”
The silver drive contained the strongest evidence, but the laptop held months of analysis.
Account numbers.
Transfer dates.
Names of shell corporations.
If they destroyed both, the embezzlement case would become much harder to prove.
Lauren suddenly looked toward the bedroom door.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Preston had a second phone.”
She searched the open suitcase and removed a garment bag.
Inside the front pocket was another device.
Maya turned it on.
A map appeared.
A blue location marker blinked several blocks from the hotel.
“What are we looking at?” I asked.
Lauren’s face tightened.
“Preston put tracking software on my phone after our engagement. I found out and installed the same software on his.”
The marker was moving west.
“He’s not at the police station?” I asked.
“No,” Maya said. “He left the ballroom before officers sealed the exits. He used the service elevator.”
The marker stopped.
At Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The same hospital where Sophie was sleeping.
I grabbed my phone.
The officer assigned to Sophie’s door didn’t answer.
Then a text appeared from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph.
Sophie’s hospital room.
Taken from the hallway.
May you like
Beneath it were seven words.
Tell the police to back off, Evelyn.
