Chapter 13 - The Locket
I called the hospital so fast I almost dropped my phone.
“Nia, where’s your locket?”
A pause.
“What?”
“The silver one from Dad. Where is it?”
“In my bag.”
“Do not touch it.”
“Mom, you’re scaring me.”
“Good. Be scared and listen.”
She went quiet.
I hated myself for saying it, but fear had kept her alive once already.
I told the officer guarding her to secure the bag.
Dr. Hale came on the line.
“What is this about?”
“I don’t know yet.”
That was the truth.
Police retrieved the locket.
Inside, behind Andre’s tiny photograph, they found a microSD card sealed under the metal backing.
Seven years.
It had been around my daughter’s neck for seven years.
Martin had been looking for the safe because he believed the evidence was there.
Andre had hidden the real copy with the one person Martin would never suspect.
His daughter.
The card contained everything.
Client names.
Transfer records.
Internal emails.
Voice recordings.
And one spreadsheet labeled contingency.
In it, Andre listed people he suspected were helping Martin.
Owen Price.
Two bank employees.
A county clerk.
And one name that made my stomach drop.
Caleb Brooks.
Not current Caleb.
The date was seven years ago.
Before I met him.
I stared at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Ortiz looked grim.
“Did Caleb ever tell you what he did before you met?”
“Construction. Sales. Random jobs.”
The spreadsheet listed him as a courier.
Paid three times by Fletcher Rowe Financial.
I felt something inside me break cleanly in half.
Caleb had known Martin before me.
Before our marriage.
Maybe before Andre died.
I drove back to the station with Ortiz.
Caleb sat behind glass in an interview room.
When I entered, he looked at my face and knew.
“You found my name.”
I didn’t sit.
“How long?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Denise—”
“How long have you known Martin?”
“Since I was twenty-two.”
My vision blurred.
“Did you know Andre?”
“No.”
“Did you help kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know Owen?”
“Yes.”
I stepped back like he had struck me.
Caleb’s eyes filled.
“I delivered envelopes. Cash. Documents. I was broke and stupid. I didn’t know what they were doing.”
“You married me.”
“I didn’t know who you were when we met.”
“But you found out.”
He closed his eyes.
“When?”
“Before the wedding.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“And you still married me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at me through the glass.
“At first, because Martin told me to.”
The room went silent.
Then Caleb whispered, “Later, because I loved you.”
I wanted to scream.
May you like
But he wasn’t finished.
“And that is exactly why Martin started poisoning Nia.”
