Chapter 8 - Monica Said Richard Had Lied to Her TooDaniel was not permitted to question Monica.
Good.
He no longer trusted himself to sit across from her calmly.
Investigators did.
Her attorney did.
Daniel received a summary afterward.
Monica Sloane admitted Richard contacted her five days before the flight.
The assignment sounded simple at first.
A document recovery.
Richard claimed Claire had removed privileged materials from Harper & Cole before her death.
He said those materials had recently resurfaced in Lily’s possession.
Monica was to retrieve a blue envelope before Daniel reached Emma Brooks.
Monica asked why Richard could not simply request it from his son.
Richard answered:
Because Daniel would open it if I showed interest.
That sounded painfully plausible.
Monica asked where Lily would be.
Richard provided travel details.
Flight number.
Seat assignments.
A photograph.
The blue envelope description.
Then Monica asked:
What if she won’t give me the bag?
Richard replied:
You need enough time to take the envelope without a scene.
Investigators did not publicly describe subsequent instructions.
Daniel did not need them.
He had seen the result.
Monica admitted she knew the plan involved making Lily temporarily unable to resist or immediately raise an alarm.
She claimed Richard told her the child would not be seriously harmed.
That defense disgusted Daniel.
Monica still chose.
Still sat beside Lily.
Still pressed the cloth against her.
Still lied.
Richard’s alleged assurance changed motive.
Not responsibility.
Then came the part that mattered.
Monica had expected Daniel in row 23.
When the airline changed aircraft that morning, his seat moved.
Monica received no update because the travel agent’s final seat-change alert went only to Daniel’s phone.
Richard did not see it.
Monica boarded believing the plan remained intact.
Daniel had almost missed the flight after a security line delay.
If he had boarded two minutes later, Monica might have believed everything was even safer.
Instead, she targeted Lily while Daniel watched from across the aisle.
Chance.
Nothing more.
Daniel hated how much safety sometimes depended on chance.
Monica also said Richard gave her the false caregiver packet.
He did not expect police to inspect it deeply.
Its purpose was to create seconds of confusion if another passenger noticed.
“Mother.”
“Daughter.”
“Family matter.”
Enough uncertainty for strangers to hesitate.
Daniel thought of how quickly he might have hesitated if Lily had not been his child.
That frightened him.
Then Monica claimed Richard lied about something else.
The envelope’s contents.
“He said it was privileged firm material.”
According to her attorney, Monica only learned after arrest that Claire’s evidence concerned Richard’s own conduct.
“She expects us to feel sorry for her?”
Daniel asked Lena.
“No.”
“Good.”
“She expects cooperation to matter.”
“That’s for prosecutors.”
“Yes.”
Daniel had learned to appreciate adults who did not pretend every moral question belonged to them.
Then Lena showed him one payment.
$75,000.
From:
Ridge Administrative Consulting
To a company controlled by Monica.
Daniel stared.
“Juniper Ridge.”
“Possibly connected.”
The same network.
Richard paid Monica with money moving through the very structure Claire had been investigating.
Then another payment.
$25,000 three months earlier.
Same recipient.
“For what?”
“We’re investigating.”
Daniel felt cold.
“What happened three months ago?”
Lena looked at him.
“Think.”
He did.
Three months earlier, Richard visited Daniel’s mansion after Lily’s birthday.
He stayed overnight.
The next morning Claire’s old office had been disturbed.
Daniel thought housekeeping moved things.
Then one object disappeared.
Claire’s laptop.
Old.
Broken.
Daniel assumed it had been discarded during cleaning.
Avery? Wrong family. He caught himself internally—there was no Avery here. Exhaustion was making names blur.
He focused.
Claire’s laptop.
He called home.
His housekeeper, Rosa, answered.
“Mr. Harper?”
“Do you remember Claire’s silver laptop?”
“Yes.”
“When did it disappear?”
A pause.
“I thought Mr. Richard took it.”
Daniel went still.
“What?”
“He said you gave permission.”
“I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did he take it himself?”
“No.”
“A woman came.”
Daniel’s heart pounded.
“What woman?”
Rosa thought.
“Dark hair.”
“About thirty.”
“Very polite.”
Daniel looked at Lena.
“Monica.”
Three months before the plane, Monica had already entered Daniel’s home.
With Richard’s authority.
Looking for Claire’s files.
May you like
The attack on Lily was not the first attempt to destroy the trail.
It was the first attempt Daniel saw.
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