Ashley called again at 2:13 a.m.

I knew it was her because the number matched the one stored in my call history. I also knew I shouldn’t answer without Detective Ortiz listening.

But when the phone vibrated beside my bed, I was already awake, staring at the ceiling and wondering what else my husband had planned.

I accepted the call and immediately switched on the hospital room speaker.

Detective Ortiz, who had agreed to stay nearby after Ashley’s first call, signaled for me to remain calm.

“Hello?” I whispered.

“Emma?”

“Why are you calling me?”

Ashley was crying.

“Because Michael is going to kill me.”

The detective leaned forward, silently motioning for me to keep her talking.

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he knows I heard him. He knows I know what happened on that mountain.”

“You were there.”

“I was.”

“You watched him push me.”

Silence.

Then Ashley whispered, “Yes.”

The admission felt like another fall.

I had known she was involved, but hearing it from her mouth made the betrayal painfully real.

“Why?” I asked.

“I didn’t think he’d actually do it.”

“You heard him discussing fifty million dollars. You followed us into the mountains. You stood above me while I was dying.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know. You went home afterward.”

Ashley sobbed.

“I know what I did.”

The detective wrote something on a notepad and pushed it toward me.

Ask what else he planned.

I swallowed hard.

“You said Michael wasn’t there only for the insurance money. What did you mean?”

Ashley took a shaky breath.

“The policy is only part of it. He was looking for something you inherited from your mother.”

I went still.

“My mother left me nothing.”

“That’s what he told you.”

“That’s what I know.”

“No. Your mother left something in a trust. Michael found out about it last year. He said it was worth much more than the insurance.”

I stared at Gabriel.

He had gone completely rigid in his chair.

“What trust?” I asked.

Ashley lowered her voice.

“The Rowan Legacy Trust.”

Gabriel closed his eyes.

I looked from him to the phone.

“You know what she’s talking about.”

He didn’t answer.

“Ashley,” I said, “how did Michael learn about a trust with my mother’s name on it?”

“I don’t know exactly. He met someone in Denver. A lawyer, I think. After that, he started acting differently around you. He became obsessed with your mother’s old belongings.”

“What did he want?”

“A brass key. He said your mother had hidden it somewhere in your house.”

I remembered an old wooden jewelry box that had belonged to my mother. After she died, I kept it in the back of a bedroom closet. It contained a few photographs, a silver bracelet, and a small key that had never opened anything I owned.

I had almost forgotten it existed.

“Where is the key now?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Did Michael find it?”

Ashley hesitated.

“Yes.”

A cold feeling spread through my body.

“When?”

“About six weeks ago.”

That was shortly before Michael increased the insurance policy.

“Where is it?”

“He keeps it in a safe at his office. Or he did the last time I saw it.”

Detective Ortiz wrote another question.

Ask why she helped him.

I stared at the phone.

“Why did you help him?”

Ashley fell silent.

“Tell me the truth.”

“I owe him money.”

“How much?”

“Two hundred thousand dollars.”

The amount shocked me, although it was nothing beside the insurance payout.

“He lent you that much?”

“No. He arranged it through a company and then used the debt to control me. He said if I helped him, he’d erase it. He promised we’d leave Colorado after everything was settled.”

“You were going to leave with my money.”

“Yes.”

“And my husband.”

“Yes.”

She sounded so miserable that for a moment I almost felt sorry for her.

Then I remembered the ledge.

“Did you know I was pregnant when you agreed to help him?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know he planned to push me?”

“I thought he would frighten you into giving him the key.”

“What?”

“He said you had something he needed and that you would never cooperate unless you were scared. He said the hike was supposed to be an accident.”

I shook my head.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“No. I don’t expect you to believe anything. I just want you to know what happened.”

“Why should I trust you now?”

“Because Michael has already decided I’m expendable.”

There was a sound on her end of the line.

A door closing.

Ashley stopped speaking.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Someone’s here.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Then I can’t help you.”

“Emma, please. I have a recording.”