Chapter 12 - The Flash Drive That Wasn't a Flash Drive
Leah remembered a hallway first.
Not the whole night. Just a white service hallway behind the ballroom, the smell of coffee, and her mother's fingers digging painfully into her wrist.
"She said, 'If Ryan asks, you never saw me.'"
Grant asked, "Then what?"
Leah closed her eyes.
"She put something in my purse. I thought it was a lipstick tube."
Tyler leaned forward. "The drive?"
"Maybe."
"Where is that purse?"
Leah's eyes opened.
"Ryan has it."
The room erupted.
Grant stood. "How?"
"I left it at his apartment when I ended things. He wouldn't let me back in for my stuff. I didn't care. I just wanted out."
Malik already had his phone in hand. "Address?"
Leah gave it.
Renee stopped him. "No one breaks into anything. We call police, explain the reopened homicide evidence, and request preservation."
Grant hated procedure exactly because Victor never seemed to obey any.
Two hours later, detectives entered Ryan's apartment with consent from the building owner after a reported water leak provided lawful access to common areas, while police secured a warrant for the unit itself.
Ryan was gone.
The purse was not there.
But one of Leah's storage boxes remained in a closet.
Inside it, beneath old college notebooks, was a lipstick tube.
Not the one she remembered.
This one was metal, heavier, with a magnetic cap.
Priya opened it.
There was no lipstick.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
"Caroline didn't trust a normal USB," Priya said. "Smart."
The card was encrypted.
Leah stared at it. "Can you open it?"
"Probably. Give me time."
The first layer broke after forty minutes.
The second took another hour.
Then the screen filled with folders.
BOARD PAYMENTS.
GARAGE ACCESS.
VICTOR AUDIO.
RYAN.
And one folder titled TYLER - IF NEEDED.
Tyler looked physically ill.
Grant put a hand on his shoulder.
Priya opened it.
There were scans of Tyler's medical records, medication lists, school counseling notes, and a draft legal petition seeking temporary guardianship over him in the event Grant was "psychologically unfit."
At the bottom was a signed statement.
The signature belonged to Ryan.
It claimed Grant had been violent, unstable, and responsible for Caroline's fear before her death.
Leah whispered, "He was building a case to take Tyler away from you."
Priya scrolled to the final document.
A life insurance policy on Grant Mercer.
Beneficiary: Tyler Mercer Trust.
Contingent trustee: Victor Mercer.
Effective date: two weeks earlier.
Grant stared at it.
"I never signed this."
Renee's phone rang.
May you like
She listened, then looked at Grant.
"Your car was just found in the company garage with the brake line cut."
