Chapter 3 - The Man Who Walked Priscilla OutThe bank footage did not show a kidnapping.
That almost made it worse.
Priscilla entered at 9:56 a.m.
She looked normal.
Alert.
Well dressed.
She spoke with the branch manager.
Signed several documents.
Was escorted into the secure vault.
At 10:17, she emerged carrying the black leather bag.
At 10:21, she sat in the lobby.
A woman approached.
Dark hair.
Gray jacket.
Employee-style identification card clipped near her waist.
She placed a paper cup on the table beside Priscilla.
They exchanged a few words.
The woman left.
Priscilla drank.
At 10:34, Priscilla began rubbing her forehead.
At 10:38, she stood.
Swayed.
Sat again.
At 10:42, a man entered the bank.
Rebecca leaned toward the detective’s laptop.
“Pause.”
The detective did.
The man was perhaps fifty.
Tall.
Gray suit.
Baseball cap low over his forehead.
Rebecca did not recognize him.
“He talks to her?”
“Yes.”
The video resumed.
The man crouched beside Priscilla.
She looked confused.
He took her elbow.
Helped her stand.
Then picked up the black bag.
Rebecca’s stomach tightened.
“He touched it.”
“Yes.”
The man carried the bag while guiding Priscilla outside.
“What happens after?”
“Exterior camera loses them for thirty-seven seconds behind a delivery truck.”
“And then?”
The footage switched.
Priscilla appeared beside a rideshare vehicle.
Alone.
The black bag was again on her shoulder.
She climbed into the back seat.
The man was gone.
Rebecca looked at the detective.
“The pills could’ve been added during those thirty-seven seconds.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“We’re working on it.”
“The woman with the coffee?”
“She doesn’t work for the bank.”
Rebecca stared.
“Fake badge.”
“Appears so.”
“Did they come together?”
“We don’t know.”
“What about the rideshare?”
“Already identified.”
The driver said Priscilla gave him Rebecca’s address.
That detail bothered Rebecca.
If Priscilla had no memory, how did she provide the destination?
The detective had the answer.
“She didn’t.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“The ride was booked through her phone before she left the vault area.”
“When?”
“10:14.”
Before the coffee.
Before the memory gap.
“So Priscilla planned to come to me.”
“Looks that way.”
Rebecca felt something soften.
Her sister had intended to bring the bag to her.
Whatever else she had hidden before, this morning she had chosen Rebecca.
The detective continued.
“The ride request was later modified.”
“To what?”
“Nothing. Same destination. But someone added a stop that was canceled thirty seconds later.”
“Where?”
He turned the screen.
CARROW FIDUCIARY SERVICES.
Rebecca felt cold.
Miles.
“Who made the change?”
“From your sister’s phone.”
“While she was disoriented.”
“Yes.”
“Could the man have had her phone?”
“Possibly.”
Rebecca stared at the still image.
Gray suit.
Cap.
Hand on Priscilla’s elbow.
“Send me that picture.”
“I can’t while this is active evidence.”
“Then tell me when you identify him.”
“We will.”
Rebecca returned to Priscilla’s room.
Her sister looked exhausted.
“Did they find something?”
“Yes.”
Priscilla pushed herself upright.
“What?”
“You planned to come to my house.”
A small relief crossed her face.
“So I wasn’t…”
“What?”
“I kept thinking maybe I chose your house after taking something.”
“You booked the ride before.”
Priscilla began crying.
Rebecca stayed standing.
She was not ready to comfort her.
Not yet.
“Why didn’t you call me from the bank?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you were going to.”
“I was scared you wouldn’t believe me.”
“About Dad’s will?”
Priscilla nodded.
Rebecca sat.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t tell you what happened after he called.”
Rebecca waited.
Priscilla looked toward the door.
“Dad called me the night before he died.”
“You said that.”
“He sounded weak.”
“What did he say?”
“That Miles had lied.”
Rebecca felt anger return.
“About what?”
“Dad wouldn’t explain everything.”
“He said there were transactions in Ethan’s trust he never approved.”
Rebecca froze.
Ethan’s trust.
Harold had created an education and inheritance trust for Ethan when he was born.
Rebecca knew it existed.
She had never managed it.
Miles did.
“What transactions?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why didn’t Dad call me?”
Priscilla looked ashamed.
“He did.”
Rebecca stared.
“What?”
“He said you didn’t answer.”
Rebecca grabbed her phone instinctively, as if eleven-month-old call history might appear.
“I would remember Dad calling the night before he died.”
“He called from another number.”
“What number?”
Priscilla hesitated.
“The hospice nurse’s.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
She ignored unknown numbers constantly.
Especially during business travel.
“Did he leave a message?”
“He said he didn’t want to.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought someone had access to your voicemail.”
Rebecca stared.
“Who?”
“Miles.”
That sounded paranoid.
Then again, Rebecca had just watched a stranger apparently drug her sister inside a bank.
“What exactly did Dad tell you?”
Priscilla inhaled.
“He said there was another will.”
Rebecca’s jaw tightened.
“You knew.”
“I knew one existed.”
“For eleven months.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Miles told me Dad was confused.”
Rebecca stood.
“Oh, that is convenient.”
“I know.”
“He told you the new will was invalid.”
“Yes.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
Priscilla looked directly at her.
“Because Dad made me promise something I didn’t want to do.”
Rebecca stopped.
“What?”
“He said if the second will disappeared…”
Her voice broke.
“…I was supposed to accuse Miles publicly.”
Rebecca stared.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Priscilla looked toward the evidence bag.
“He said I should tell you where he hid the audit records.”
Rebecca’s pulse accelerated.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“He didn’t tell me the location.”
“Then how were you supposed to tell me?”
Priscilla wiped her face.
“He said the will would.”
Rebecca remembered Article Nine.
Forensic audit.
Maybe there was coded language.
Then the detective knocked.
He held a photograph.
“We identified the man from the bank.”
Rebecca stood.
“Who?”
He turned it toward her.
The man in the gray suit looked different without the cap.
Rebecca recognized him immediately.
Gavin Shore.
Miles Carrow’s private investigator.
The same man Miles had used years earlier during Harold’s business litigation.
Priscilla closed her eyes.
Rebecca stared at the image.
Miles had told her Priscilla was unstable before Rebecca even knew about the second will.
Now his investigator had been alone with Priscilla during the exact window when pills appeared in her bag.
Rebecca finally answered Miles’s next call.
“What did you do to my sister?”
Silence.
May you like
Then Miles said calmly:
“Rebecca, whatever you think happened today, you’re about to make a very expensive mistake.”
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