Chapter 13 - Rachel’s Account
Ethan looked at the screen until the letters blurred.
“Rachel is dead.”
Daniel nodded. “Someone still has her credentials.”
“Can you trace the login?”
“Already trying.”
Claire folded her arms. “Or maybe Rachel gave someone access before she died.”
Everyone looked at her.
She shrugged. “You all keep talking as though she left clues everywhere. Maybe she gave the account to Mara.”
“Mara was in police custody when the account logged in,” Ethan said.
Claire’s mouth tightened.
Daniel tapped the screen. “Local network. Whoever used it was inside the house.”
Harold looked toward the ballroom, where guests still murmured nervously.
“There are forty people here.”
“Fifty-three,” Daniel said. “Including staff.”
Ethan closed the library doors.
“No one leaves.”
Harold blinked. “You cannot detain people.”
“I’m not. But I can ask police to keep witnesses until they finish collecting statements.”
Claire laughed. “This is your plan now? Lock down your own charity gala?”
Ethan looked at her. “My daughter may have been used as evidence in a fraudulent guardianship case. My wife may have been murdered. Yes. The party is over.”
A knock sounded.
One of the officers entered. “Mr. Cole, there’s a detective here about your wife’s crash.”
Detective Laura Kim walked in carrying a thin gray folder.
Ethan remembered her from the worst night of his life.
She did not waste time.
“We found the SUV Rachel entered after the gala,” she said.
“Where?”
“Impound auction records. It was sold six months ago under a salvaged title.”
“And?”
“We recovered the vehicle yesterday.”
Ethan’s pulse rose.
“There was dried blood under the rear seat.”
Claire looked away.
Ethan saw it.
Kim continued. “DNA results came back this afternoon. The blood belonged to Rachel.”
The room went cold.
“So she was hurt in the SUV before her car crashed?” Ethan asked.
“That’s what it suggests.”
“Who owned the SUV?”
Kim opened the folder.
“A holding company called Northstar Domestic Services.”
Daniel frowned. “That’s a staffing agency.”
Mara had been hired through Northstar.
Ethan felt the pieces rearrange themselves.
Detective Kim placed a printed ownership form on the desk.
May you like
The registered agent for Northstar was not Claire.
It was Leonard Shaw.
