Chapter 5 - The Voice That Sounded Like His
“You think I'd take Lily from you?” Adrian asked.
“No.” Nora studied his face. “But for six minutes yesterday, I didn't know what to think.”
She handed him a small digital recorder that had been tucked in her handbag. Adrian pressed play.
His own voice filled the room: “Nora can't manage. We need Lily with my mother. Sign the papers before she finds out.”
It sounded exactly like him—his rhythm, his rough little pause before the word papers. Yet he had never spoken those words.
“That's fake,” he said.
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“The person who sent it included the original file by accident. An audio editor examined the metadata. Your voice was stitched together from old messages.”
Adrian replayed the clip. A cold anger settled into him. “Who had those messages?”
Nora swallowed. “Vanessa. She used to help you manage your phone backups when you two worked together.”
Vanessa Hale had been Adrian's business partner before she became Patricia's closest ally. She'd also spent a year trying to become more than his partner. When Adrian rejected her, she called him ungrateful and vanished from the company. He hadn't realized she still had access to anything.
“Why were you at the wedding?” he asked.
“Claire asked me to come. She was afraid of Patricia and wanted a witness.”
Before Adrian could answer, Nora tightened her grip on the bed rail. The monitor changed its tone. A nurse entered, followed by Dr. Flores.
“We need to reassess the baby,” the doctor said. “Right now.”
Adrian stepped aside while staff moved efficiently around the bed. He wanted to help and had no idea how.
Nora reached for him as they prepared to move her. “Please don't let them make Lily believe I left her.”
“You're not leaving her,” he said, though he couldn't guarantee anything.
The doctor ordered urgent imaging. Adrian waited outside, staring at the recorder in his palm.
A text arrived from an unfamiliar number: YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE WRONG WOMAN. ASK WHO PAID VANESSA.
Attached was an invoice for $18,000. The payer line read: COLE FAMILY FOUNDATION.
Then another message appeared.
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ROBERT COLE DID NOT HAVE A STROKE BY ACCIDENT.
