Chapter 18 - Evan's Briefcase
The briefcase had been sitting for six months in a police evidence overflow room under the wrong case number.
The leather was scratched from the crash. One clasp was broken.
Inside were three things.
A photograph of Natalie and Noah at the beach.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten note addressed to Dominic.
Natalie's hands shook as she gave him the note.
Dominic read it aloud.
"Dom, I hope I'm wrong. Brooke and Voss have been moving foundation money through companies tied to Bellweather. I found drafts involving Catherine's house. I don't know how deep it goes. I'm meeting Helen tonight to verify the trust. If anything happens, don't let Natalie think I kept this from her because I didn't trust her. I kept it from her because she's finally sleeping again. - Evan."
Natalie cried quietly.
Noah, who had been kept away from the evidence room, waited with Emma outside. Natalie pressed Evan's photograph to her chest.
The flash drive contained copies of bank records, emails, and one audio file.
On the recording, Voss confronted Evan in a parking garage two days before the crash.
"Give it back," Voss said.
"Tell Brooke I'm going to Dominic."
"You don't understand what you're stepping into."
"I understand children are losing hospice grants while your clients buy condos."
Then Voss said, "If you drive to Portsmouth Thursday, don't expect to make it back with those files."
Dominic's attorney stopped the playback.
The room went silent.
That sentence changed everything.
Voss had not merely panicked after an accident. He had threatened Evan beforehand.
Police upgraded their investigation.
Late that evening, Dominic returned to the mansion with Natalie. The house felt different, stripped of glamour. Brooke's photographs still sat on tables. Her coat still hung in the entry closet.
Dominic took off his wedding ring and set it on the hall console.
Natalie watched him.
"You okay?"
"No."
It was the most honest answer he had given all day.
She nodded. "Me neither."
They stood there together, two people betrayed in different ways by the same woman.
Then Emma came running from the kitchen holding Noah's tablet.
"Dominic, you need to see this now."
A live alert had triggered from Catherine's house.
May you like
Someone had entered through the basement door.
And the security camera showed Julian walking inside.
