Chapter 3 - The Black DriveDetective Ruiz obtained judicial authorization to examine the USB drive before midnight.
By the next morning, the Reed family’s crisis had become much larger than Nadine.
Beatrice sat in the mansion library with Laura and Daniel when Ruiz arrived.
Wesley was upstairs with Laura’s sister, who had come to stay temporarily.
Ruiz placed a folder on the table.
“The drive contains financial records.”
Daniel stared at the folder.
Beatrice watched his hands.
They were trembling.
Ruiz continued.
“Bank statements. Scanned signatures. Vendor invoices. Copies of correspondence addressed to Mrs. Reed.”
Beatrice looked at Daniel.
“Correspondence I never received?”
Ruiz nodded.
“Apparently.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
Laura said, “Tell her everything.”
Daniel did not move.
“Daniel.”
He looked at his wife.
“I was going to fix it.”
Laura laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“That sentence is what people say after they’ve already decided everyone else should pay for their mistake.”
Daniel looked toward his mother.
Reed Heritage Development had been founded by his father, Charles, thirty-two years earlier.
After Charles died, Daniel took control of the company.
For years, it performed well.
Then Daniel expanded too aggressively.
He purchased two large commercial properties shortly before interest rates rose and construction costs surged.
The projects stalled.
Credit tightened.
Payroll was approaching.
Daniel needed money quickly.
“How quickly?” Beatrice asked.
“Forty-eight hours.”
“So you stole from me.”
“I transferred it.”
“Without permission.”
Daniel looked down.
“Yes.”
Beatrice felt the answer like a physical blow.
Two years earlier, during a surgery, she had granted Daniel a limited power of attorney so he could manage several household and investment matters if complications occurred.
She revoked it after recovering.
Daniel knew that.
But he still possessed scanned copies.
“I thought I could move the money back before you ever knew.”
“You thought that made it acceptable?”
“No.”
“Then why are we discussing what you thought?”
Daniel had no answer.
Laura asked, “Where does Nadine enter this?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She found one of the bank notices.”
Because Nadine handled much of the household mail, she saw a confirmation addressed to Beatrice.
She confronted Daniel.
He begged her not to tell his mother.
That first secret gave Nadine leverage.
She began helping him hide correspondence.
At first, Daniel told himself she was protecting the family.
Then she demanded money.
Five thousand.
Then ten.
Then twenty.
“She said she deserved compensation for the risk.”
Beatrice stared at him.
“And you paid her?”
Daniel nodded.
Ruiz opened the folder.
“That isn’t all.”
One of the files on the USB drive showed transfers totaling another $187,000 to companies Daniel did not recognize.
A second folder contained photographs of Beatrice’s driver’s license, passport, Social Security card, and signature samples.
Beatrice stared at them.
“My documents are kept in the upstairs safe.”
Laura whispered, “Nadine knew the combination?”
Beatrice shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked sick.
Ruiz said, “Someone did.”
The detective placed a final photograph on the table.
Wesley had taken it accidentally two days before the SUV incident.
His tablet automatically synchronized pictures to a cloud account.
The image showed Nadine standing in Daniel’s study.
She was holding a document.
The photograph was slightly blurred, but the heading was readable.
AUTHORIZATION FOR ELECTRONIC TRANSFER
The amount beneath it was not $740,000.
It was $1,300,000.
And beside Beatrice Reed’s typed name was a signature.
Her signature.
Beatrice stared at it.
“I never signed that.”
Ruiz nodded.
“We suspected you would say that.”
Daniel looked toward the document.
“I’ve never seen it.”
Beatrice turned sharply.
“You expect me to believe you now?”
“I swear.”
“You swore you had no idea why Nadine took Wesley.”
“I didn’t know about this.”
Laura crossed her arms.
“What did Wesley see that Nadine was willing to put him in a trunk for?”
Ruiz answered.
“We think Wesley saw her with this document.”
Daniel went pale.
Ruiz continued.
“His tablet also recorded nineteen seconds of audio.”
She pressed play.
Nadine’s voice filled the room.
“…once the second transfer clears, it won’t matter what Daniel wants. The old woman won’t know until the account is empty.”
Then another voice answered.
A man.
Low.
Distorted by distance.
But Beatrice recognized it immediately.
Daniel did too.
Laura turned toward her husband.
Because the second voice belonged to him.
May you like
And it said:
“Then make sure my mother never sees the statement.”
Related Stories
