“Nothing,” he said.
“Then why does the document say otherwise?”
“Because someone appears to have transferred control of an asset without authorization.”
“Which asset?”
He looked at the page.
“The trust’s principal investment account.”
Detective Ortiz pointed to an amount.
“Thirty-eight million dollars.”
I stared at her.
“Thirty-eight million?”
“That’s the current estimated value.”
The room seemed to close around me.
The fifty-million-dollar insurance policy was not the whole story. Michael had been attempting to gain access to a separate fortune.
My mother’s fortune.
I looked at Gabriel.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the account was supposed to remain inaccessible until the beneficiary’s identity was confirmed.”
“And that’s me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would the trust transfer anything to Michael’s company?”
“It shouldn’t have.”
Detective Ortiz closed the folder.
“We need to locate the original trust documents and determine whether the transfer was forged. If it was, this case becomes considerably larger.”
I looked at the broken window.
“Where do we start?”
“Your husband’s office,” she said.
I shook my head.
“No. Ashley said she has a recording. Victor came here to stop her from talking. She knows something about the original, and she’s frightened.”
“Which means she may lead us to Michael.”
I thought about the way she had looked at the car, the terror in her face when Victor stepped out.
“She doesn’t want to save me,” I said. “She wants to save herself.”
“Those motives can still produce useful evidence,” Ortiz replied.
An officer appeared in the doorway.
“Detective, we’ve received a message from an unknown number. It’s a video file.”
Ortiz opened it on her phone.
The recording showed Michael sitting at his desk, looking directly into the camera.
He seemed perfectly calm.
“Emma,” he said, “I don’t know who is helping you, but I suggest you stop listening to people who want to use you.”
My heart hammered.
“If you’re watching this, it means someone has convinced you that I’m responsible for what happened in the mountains.”
He paused.
“I loved you. I still love you. And if you’d just come home, we could resolve this privately.”
He leaned closer.
“But there’s something you need to understand. The trust your mother left you is not what you think it is. And if you open that box, you will destroy more than my life.”
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Then another message appeared.
An address.
May you like
And a final line.
Bring the key, Emma. Come alone, or you’ll never learn what happened to Evelyn Rowan.
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