Chapter 6 - The BackupKiara had learned something important from Serena Mercer.
Never keep the only copy.
Serena had applied that rule to photographs, medical records, insurance documents, and family videos.
Kiara had applied it to Melanie.
Before confronting her in the basement, Kiara’s phone had automatically uploaded the affair video to cloud storage.
After the police arrived, she sent another copy to a private email account.
Now Detective Bell asked the question that mattered.
“Does Melanie know you backed it up?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Ayla appeared in the library doorway.
Everyone stopped talking.
Grant immediately stood.
“You should be resting.”
“I heard Melanie’s name.”
Grant walked over.
“We’re handling it.”
Ayla looked past him at Kiara.
“Did she come back?”
“No.”
“Can she?”
Grant knelt.
“Not while I’m here.”
Ayla’s eyes stayed on his.
“Are you leaving again?”
The question cut deeper than any accusation.
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
“What about work?”
“Work can survive me being a father.”
Ayla considered this.
Then nodded.
Rachel closed her laptop.
“I need signatures authorizing the forensic review.”
Grant’s expression tightened at the word.
Signatures.
That was exactly what Melanie needed from him Friday.
He turned to Ayla.
“Would you like breakfast with Kiara?”
Ayla immediately sensed she was being sent away.
“Are you talking about Mom’s money?”
Grant stared.
“How do you know that?”
“I heard you say Mom’s trust.”
Kiara moved closer.
Ayla continued.
“Melanie talked about Mom’s money before.”
Grant’s skin prickled.
“When?”
“A lot.”
“What did she say?”
Ayla looked uncertain.
“That the house should belong to married people, not children.”
Rachel and Bell exchanged a look.
Grant’s voice went quiet.
“What else?”
“One time she told someone on the phone that I was ‘the problem with the title.’”
Rachel closed her eyes briefly.
Grant asked, “When?”
“Last summer.”
“You never told me?”
“I didn’t know what title meant.”
Grant looked away.
How much had happened in his home while he was absent?
Ayla added, “There was something else.”
Everyone waited.
“Melanie hated when I went into Mom’s room.”
“Why?”
“She said Mom’s things were unhealthy.”
Ayla frowned.
“But one night I saw Melanie in there.”
Grant turned toward the staircase.
“Doing what?”
“Looking under the floor.”
Silence.
Kiara asked, “Under the floor?”
Ayla nodded.
“There’s a loose board near Mom’s old dresser.”
Grant had forgotten it.
Serena had complained about that board for years.
They had joked about fixing it.
Never did.
Grant ran upstairs.
The others followed.
Serena’s old bedroom remained almost exactly as she left it.
The dresser.
The faded blue chair.
A row of novels.
Grant knelt beside the floorboard.
He pushed.
It lifted.
There was a narrow cavity underneath.
Empty.
Almost.
Kiara reached in.
“Wait.”
Her fingers found a small object.
A memory card.
Grant stared at it.
Rachel said, “Don’t put that into a random computer.”
Bell took an evidence envelope.
“We’ll image it properly.”
Ayla stood in the doorway.
“Was Melanie looking for that?”
Grant answered carefully.
“I don’t know.”
But he suspected the answer.
Later that morning, Bell’s digital technician created a forensic copy.
The card contained five folders.
Most were ordinary family photographs.
Ayla as a toddler.
Grant and Serena on vacation.
Serena in the garden.
Then a folder labeled:
G — IF NEEDED
Grant’s hands went cold.
Inside were scanned financial documents from four years earlier.
Before Serena died.
Invoices.
Internal emails.
Vendor payments.
Rachel leaned closer.
“These are Mercer Urban records.”
Grant nodded.
“Why did Serena have them?”
The final file answered.
A recorded voice memo.
Serena’s voice filled the library.
Weak from illness.
But unmistakable.
“Grant, if you’re hearing this, something happened that I hoped wouldn’t.”
Grant stopped breathing.
Ayla stood beside him.
Serena continued.
“I found irregular payments inside Mercer Urban. I asked Spencer about them.”
Grant looked at Bell.
Spencer.
Four years ago.
Long before Melanie.
“I don’t know whether Spencer is stealing,” Serena said, “but I know he lied to me.”
Grant’s hand clenched against the table.
Serena’s voice went on.
“He told me the vendor accounts were closed. They weren’t.”
Rachel whispered, “My God.”
Then Serena said:
“I did not tell Grant because he was trying to hold everything together while I was sick. I told Evelyn instead. If the problem disappears, destroy this. If it doesn’t…”
A pause.
Serena coughed.
Then:
“Protect Ayla before you protect the company.”
The recording ended.
Grant sat motionless.
Spencer’s betrayal had not begun with Melanie.
May you like
Melanie had entered a crime already in progress.
And Serena had discovered its first trace four years before anyone else.
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